LUTHER, MARTIN, the great German Re former, whose world-fame renders it superfluous to give here more than the barest outline of his his tory, was born at Eisleben loth November 1483 ; became a monk of the Augustinian order at Er furt in 15o5 ; was appointed professor of dialectic and physics at Wittenberg in 1508 ; became D.D. in 1512 ; published his Theses against In dulgences in 1517 ; burned the Pope's Bull in 1520 ; and after a life of incessant labour to promote the cause of the Reformation and evangelical re ligion, died at Wittenberg 18th February 1546. Luther is in an important sense the father of modem Biblical exegesis, for not only by precept and example did he maintain that the Bible in the original tongues is the ultimate authority in all re ligious questions, and that as such it is to be expounded to the community, but by his assertion of the right of private judgment in the interpreta tion of the Bible, and his advocacy of a grammati cal and philological method of interpretation in preference to one which would submit the inspired word to the influence of preconceived dogmatical theories, he boldly opened the path which alone a true exegesis can pursue, and in the steady pursuit of which all the successes of subsequent investigation into the meaning of Scripture have been secured. Luther's own contributions to Biblical literature, besides his immortal translation of the Scriptures into German [GERMAN VERSIONS]. are, in chrono log,ical order, as follows Ep. ad Galatas Com ment., 4;01519 ; Enarrationes epistolarum et CZAT)t geliorum, 152i ; Comment. in Ep. ad Galatas ab auctore recog.,1524; Denterononzium Ilfosis ex Hcb. cast/gal:1m cum annott., 1524 ; Al2120tt. hi Eccles.
Salomonis, 1532 ; Breves enarrationes Esaia proph., 1534; Enarr. Ps. xlv. ex predectionibus Collect., do. ; Enarr. in Pr. 7belem ex pra'lectt., in Pr. Amos, Pr. Abdiam, ex pralectt., 1536 ; Comment. in ep. ad Gal. denuo diligenter recogn. 1538 ; Enarr. in Cant. Cantle., do. ; in aliquot capp. Matthai do. t Eizarr.
in Ps. li., do. ; Enarr. Pss. graduunz, 1540 ; Enarr. Ps. xc., 154; ; COMM. Michanz Pr., 1542 ; Eflarr. HO.SOOlit Pr., 1545 ; In Ps. ii., 150 ; COM. ill 7oel Pr., 1547 ; Enarr. in Gene sinz, ;563. An edition of Luther's exegetical works by Elsperger, Schmid, and Irmischer has been com menced, of which 20 vols. have appeared, Erlang. 1829-49. English translations of his commentaries on the Galatians (by Middleton), on the Psalms (by Cole), and on Genesis (by Cole), have appeared. The best edition of his collected works is that by Walch, 24 vols. 4to, Halle 1737-53.—W. L. A.
LUZ (p19 almond tree ;' OUXa,uXoq, combin ing two wo;c1s ; AotTct ; Luza), a very ancient city of Canaan, better known by the name which Jacob gave it—Bethel [BETHEL]. It would seem from the sacred narrative that the term Beth-el, House of God,' the place of Jacob's pillar, of the Israelitish sanctuary, and of Jeroboam's iclol temple, was not in Luz. On his way from Beer sheba to Haran, Jacob ` arrived at a place (olpnzh and stayed there over night, for the sun had set ; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place' (Gen. xxviii. 11). ` The place' was certainly in the open country. But the city of Luz must have been close to it, for we read, He called the name of thatp/ace Bethel, but the name of the town (–tt::, 141.1i1, not 'that town ') was originally Luz ' (ver.
19). The same distinction between Beth-el and Luz is afterwards observed. On his return from Padan-aram Jacob came again ` to Luz, that is Bethel And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el ' (xxxv. 6, 7). The altar could not have been in Luz. It seems probable that at and after this period buildincrs began to be erected around the sanctuary, and'a village was formed distinct from Luz. On the occupation of Palestine by the Israelities, Bethel and Luz are spoken of as separate places. Thus, in describing the southern border of Ephraim, Joshua says, 'The lot of the children of Joseph went forth from Jordan by Jericho . . . . to the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho by Mount Bethel, and goeth out from Bethel to Luz' (xvi. 2). Luz thus lay west of Bethel, and the latter appears to have been situated on a mount. Keil's rendering of this passage is not satisfactory. He would interpret from Bethel' as meaning from the mountains of Bethel,' not from the city or sanc tuary (see, however, Comnzent. on Yosh., ad loc.) Others regard the phrase 13ethel-Luzah (trroz nri) as a composite name (Winer, R. W., s.v. 13ethel ; Clericus, ad loc.) This, however, is scarcely admissible, and is unnecessary. It seems probable that the two places were so close to each other that their suburbs met, and eventually the Canaanitish name Luz was superseded by the more distinguished Hebrew Beth-el. We hear no more of Luz after the conquest of the city by the F.phmirnites (Juclg. i. 24, 25). The city AN as betrayed into their hands by one of the inhabi tants, who was spared by the conquerors, and founded another Luz.