Exodus 8

The narrative that has been read to us is indeed most renowned, and, by reason of its greatness, is known to the whole world; through it is signified how Egypt, together with king Pharaoh, was chastised by the mighty blows of signs and wonders, so that it might restore to its native liberty the Hebrew people, which, though born of free forefathers, it had "by violence" reduced to servitude. But the account of these deeds is so interwoven that, if you inspect the several details carefully, you will find more matters in which the understanding sticks fast than in which it can extricate itself. And because it is a long task to set forth each thing said by Scripture in its order, let us review the substance of the whole history in a more compendious way. So then, at the first sign "Aaron cast down his rod, and it became a dragon"; and the enchanters and sorcerers of the Egyptians were summoned, and "they did likewise" out of their rods, making dragons. But the dragon that had been made from Aaron's rod swallowed up the dragons of the Egyptians. And whereas this ought to have caused Pharaoh astonishment and to have profited toward belief, it was turned to the contrary. For Scripture says that: "the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not hearken to them". And here indeed it says that "the heart of Pharaoh was hardened"; but no less in the first plague also, where the water is turned into blood, it is written in like manner, and in the second when the frogs bubble up, and also in the third when the gnats come on; in the fourth too when the dog-fly is brought forth, and in the fifth, where "the hand of the Lord comes upon the cattle" of the Egyptians, things equal and similar are said on this point. But in the sixth, where Moses "took ashes of the furnace" "and sprinkled them, and there arose sores and burning blisters upon men and upon the four-footed beasts, and now the sorcerers could not stand in the presence of Moses", it is not said that the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, but something more terrible is added; for it is written that: "the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not hear them, even as the Lord had appointed". Again in the seventh, when hail and fire lay waste all Egypt, "the heart of Pharaoh" is indeed "hardened", but not by the Lord. But in the eighth, where the locust is brought forth, "the Lord" is said "to harden the heart of Pharaoh". And in the ninth also, when "palpable darkness comes over the whole land of Egypt", "the Lord" is written "to harden the heart of Pharaoh". And at the very last too, when, the firstborn of the Egyptians having been destroyed, the Hebrew people had departed, after many things it is thus said: "and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and of his servants, and he pursued after the children of Israel". Moreover, when Moses is sent from the land of Midian to Egypt and is commanded "to do all the wonders which the Lord had put into his hands", it is added: "thou shalt do them", he says, "in the presence of Pharaoh. But I will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and he will not let the people go". Here first it was said by the Lord: "I will harden the heart of Pharaoh". And a second time also, where the princes of Israel have been enumerated, after a little he adds in the person of the Lord: "I", he says, "will harden the heart of Pharaoh, and I will multiply my signs".

But if we believe these letters to be divine and written by the Holy Spirit, I do not think that we should feel so unworthily of the divine Spirit as to suppose that in so great a work this variation was made by chance — that now indeed God is said to have "hardened the heart of Pharaoh", but now it is said to have been hardened not by God, but as it were of its own accord. For my part, I confess myself too little fit and too little capable to be able to search out the secrets of the divine wisdom amid variations of this kind. Yet I see Paul the Apostle, who, because of the Spirit of God dwelling in him, dared to say with confidence: "but to us God has revealed it through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God". — him, I say, I see, as one understanding what difference there is between "the heart of Pharaoh being hardened" and "the Lord having hardened the heart of Pharaoh", saying elsewhere indeed: "or dost thou despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the patience of God leads thee to repentance? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart thou treasurest up for thyself wrath against the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God"; whereby without doubt he blames him who has been hardened of his own accord. But elsewhere, as though proposing a certain question upon this matter, he says: "therefore on whom he will he has mercy, and whom he will he hardens. Thou wilt then say to me: why then does he yet complain? For who shall resist his will?". He adds also to these: "O man, who art thou that repliest against God?". Whereby concerning him who is said to be hardened by the Lord he answers, I believe, not so much by the resolution of the question as by Apostolic authority, not judging it worthy, because of the incapacity of his hearers, to commit the secrets of resolutions of this kind to "paper and ink"; just as in another place also he himself says concerning certain words that he had "heard" certain things "which it is not lawful for men to speak". Whence too in what follows he deters, with the severity of a great teacher, the man who, not so much by the merit of his studies as by a craving to know, plunges himself curiously into more hidden questions, when he says: "O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: why hast thou made me thus?" and the rest. Whence for us too let it suffice only to have observed and inspected these things, and to have shown our hearers how great are the mysteries plunged in the depths of the divine law, on account of which we ought to say in prayer: "out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord".

But that observation too seems to me to be no less worthy of consideration, that certain blows are said to be inflicted upon Pharaoh or upon Egypt by Aaron, certain by Moses, and certain by the Lord himself. For in the first plague, when "he turned the waters into blood", Aaron is said to have lifted up the rod and to have struck the water. And in the second also, when he struck the waters "and brought forth frogs", and in the third, when "he stretched out the rod with his hand and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats". In these three blows there was the ministry of Aaron. But in the fourth the Lord is said to have done it, so that "the dog-fly should come" and fill "the houses of Pharaoh". And in the fifth also, when "the cattle of the Egyptians are destroyed", the Lord no less is said to have done "this thing". But in the sixth Moses "sprinkles ashes of the furnace, and there arise sores and blisters with burning upon men and cattle". And in the seventh too "Moses lifts up his hand to heaven", and there arise "thunders and hail, and fire runs about upon the earth". In the eighth likewise the same Moses stretches out his hand to heaven, "and the Lord brings a wind all that day and all that night", and brings the locusts. And in the ninth also the same "Moses stretches out his hand to heaven, and there arise darkness and gloom over all the land of Egypt". But in the tenth the end and completion of the whole work is administered by the Lord. For thus it is written: "and it came to pass about midnight, and the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat upon the throne, unto the firstborn of the captive woman who is in the pit, and every firstborn of the cattle".

There is also another difference in these matters, which we have observed: that in the first plague indeed, when the water flows into blood, it is not yet said to Moses that he should go in to Pharaoh, but it is said to him: "go to meet him at the bank of the river, when he comes out to the water". But in the second plague, after the first had been ministered by them constantly and faithfully, it is said to him: "go in to Pharaoh", and going in he says: "thus says the Lord", and the rest. But now in the third, where the gnats are brought on, the magicians, who had before withstood, yield, confessing that "this is the finger of God". In the fourth too Moses is bidden to "rise early in the morning and to stand before Pharaoh as he goes forth to the water", when the houses of the Egyptians are filled with the dog-fly. In the fifth no less, where the cattle of the Egyptians are destroyed, "Moses is bidden to go in to Pharaoh". In the sixth, however, Pharaoh is despised, and it is not related that Moses or Aaron went in to Pharaoh, because "there arose sores and blisters with burning even upon the sorcerers of Egypt, and they could not withstand Moses". In the seventh he is bidden to "rise very early in the morning and to stand before Pharaoh", when he brings forth hail and fire and thunders. In the eighth he is commanded to go in to him, when the locust is brought forth. In the ninth again Pharaoh is despised, and "Moses is commanded to stretch out his hand to heaven, that there may be darkness over all the land of Egypt, palpable darkness", and indeed he does not go in, but is called to Pharaoh. Likewise also in the tenth, when the firstborn are destroyed and he is compelled with haste to go out from Egypt. There are also very many other observations, in each of which the tokens of the divine wisdom are shown. For you will find that at first Pharaoh is not bent nor yields to the divine blows, when the waters have been turned into blood. But in the second he seems to be somewhat softened: for "he called", it says, "Moses and Aaron, and said to them: pray for me to the Lord, and let him take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go". In the third the magicians yield and say to Pharaoh: "this is the finger of God". In the fourth, beaten by the dog-fly, he says: "go, sacrifice to the Lord your God, but you shall not go too far on your way. Pray therefore for me to the Lord". In the fifth, where he is smitten by the slaying of the cattle, he not only does not yield, but is hardened all the more. Likewise also in the sixth he does the same over the plague of sores. But in the seventh, when he is laid waste by hail and by fires: "Pharaoh sent", it says, "and called Moses and Aaron and said to them: I have sinned even now; the Lord is just, but I and my people are ungodly. Pray therefore for me to the Lord". In the eighth, when he is pressed by locusts: "and Pharaoh hastened", it says, "and called Moses and Aaron, saying: I have sinned before the Lord your God and against you. Take away my sin even now, and pray to the Lord your God". In the ninth, when he is covered with darkness: "Pharaoh called", it says, "Moses and Aaron, saying: go, serve the Lord your God". But now in the tenth, when the firstborn of men and of the cattle are destroyed: "Pharaoh called", it says, "Moses and Aaron by night and said to them: arise and go out from my people, both you and the children of Israel; go, serve the Lord your God, as you say: and taking your sheep and your oxen, depart, as you have said. But bless me also. And the Egyptians urged the people to go out of the land of Egypt as quickly as possible. For they said: we shall all die".

Who is he whom God may fill with that Spirit with which he filled Moses and Aaron, when they were accomplishing these wonders and signs, so that, illumined by the same Spirit, he might be able to expound the things done through them? For otherwise I do not think that these varieties and differences of mighty matters can be explained, unless they are expounded by the same Spirit by which they were done, since Paul the Apostle too says that: "the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets". Not therefore to any persons whatsoever are the sayings of the prophets said to be "subject" for their explanation, but "to the prophets". But since the same blessed Apostle bids us become imitators of this grace, that is, of the prophetic gift, as being in some part and within our power, saying: "but be zealous for the better gifts, and rather that you may prophesy", let us too attempt to take up a zeal for good things and to exert whatever is in us, but to await from the Lord the fullness of the gift. For with regard to the one it is said by the Lord through the prophet: "open thy mouth, and I will fill it", but with regard to the other another Scripture says: "prick the eye, and it brings forth a tear; prick the heart, and it brings forth understanding". Let us not therefore out of despair give ourselves over to silence, which certainly does not edify the Church of God; but let us briefly go back over the things of which we are able and in so far as we are able.

But now, if the moral figure too is to be treated by us, we shall say that every soul in this world, while it lives in errors and in ignorance of the truth, is placed in Egypt. If the law of God begins to draw near to this soul, it turns its waters into blood, that is, it converts the fluid and slippery life of youth to the blood of the old or new testament. Then next it draws out of it the vain and empty talkativeness and the frog-like complaint against the providence of God. It also purges its malignant thoughts and shakes off the stings of craftiness like the biting of the gnats. It drives away too the bites of lusts like the darts of the dog-fly, and destroys in it the folly and the understanding like the cattle's; through which "man, when he was in honor, did not understand, but was compared to the senseless beasts of burden and became like unto them". It convicts also its sores of sins, and extinguishes the swelling of arrogance and the burning of fury in it. After these it applies also the voices of the "sons of thunder", that is, the evangelical and apostolic teachings. And it brings to bear also the chastisement of hail, that it may restrain luxury and pleasures. It applies at the same time also the fire of repentance, so that it too may say: "did not our heart burn within us?" Nor does it withdraw from it the examples of the locusts, by which all its restless and turbulent motions may be bitten and fed upon, so that it too may learn what the Apostle teaches: "that all its things may be done according to order". But when it has been sufficiently chastised as to its morals and constrained toward the correction of an amended life, when it has perceived the author of the blows and has now begun to confess that "it is the finger of God", and has received some little of recognition, then especially does it see the darkness of its own deeds, then does it feel the gloom of its own errors. And when it has come to this, then will it deserve that the firstborn of Egypt be extinguished in it. In which I think something of this sort can be understood: every soul, when it has come to the completion of its age and, as it were, a certain natural law in it has begun to defend its own rights, without doubt produces first the motions according to the desire of the flesh, which the incentive force stirs up from the tinder of concupiscence or of anger. Whence, as of something special and not common with the rest of men, the prophet says concerning Christ alone: "he shall eat butter and honey; before he does or brings forth evil things, he shall choose the good, since, before the child knows good or evil", he resists malice, that he may choose that which is good. But another prophet, speaking as it were of himself, said: "remember not the sins of my youth and of my ignorance". Since therefore these first motions of the soul, produced according to the flesh, rush into sin, rightly in the moral sense the firstborn of the Egyptians will be set down, which are then extinguished, if the conversion of the remaining life directs a more amended course. Thus therefore in the soul, which the divine law, having taken it up from its errors, chastises and corrects, the firstborn of the Egyptians too are understood to be destroyed — unless after all these things it persists in unbelief and refuses to be joined to the Israelite people, so as to go out from the deep and escape unharmed, but remains in iniquity and goes down "like lead in the mightiest water". For iniquity, according to the vision of the prophet Zachariah, sits upon a talent of lead, and therefore he who remains in iniquity is said to be sunk "like lead" into the deep. Indeed, as to what we observed above, that certain wonders were ministered through Aaron, certain through Moses, and certain through the Lord himself, they can be understood thus far, that we recognize that in certain things we are to be purged through the sacrifices of the priests and the intercessions of the pontiffs, which the person of Aaron designates; but in certain things we are to be amended through the knowledge of the divine law, as the office of Moses designates; but in others, without doubt those which are more difficult, we have need of the power of the Lord himself.

But neither is that to be thought to have been observed by us in vain, that at first indeed Moses does not go in to Pharaoh, but meets him as he goes out to the waters, but afterward goes in to him, and after this does not go in, but is summoned and approaches. And in this too I think it can be understood thus: that whether we have a contest against Pharaoh in the word of God and the assertion of religion, or whether we also strive to snatch souls besieged by him out of his power and there is for us a wrestling in disputation, we ought not at once at the very front to enter into the ultimate places of the questions, but we must meet the adversary, and meet him at his waters; for his waters are the authors of the Gentile philosophers. There therefore, when we first wish to dispute, he must be met, so that we may convict them and teach that they too have erred. After this we must now enter even into the inner parts of the contest. For the Lord too says: "unless one first binds the strong man, he cannot go into his house and plunder his goods". First therefore the "strong man" must be bound by us and constrained with the bonds of the questions, and thus we must go in to plunder "his goods" and to free the souls which he had possessed by the fraud of deception. And when we have done this rather often and have stood against him — and we have stood in that manner in which the Apostle says: "stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth", and again: "stand in the Lord, and act manfully" — when therefore we have stood in this manner against him, that ancient and crafty artificer will feign even to be conquered and to yield, if perchance through this he may make us more negligent for the contest. And he will feign repentance too and will beseech us indeed to depart, but not to depart far. He wishes us to be in some part near to him, he wishes us not to depart far from his borders. But unless we withdraw farther from him and pass over the sea and say: "as far as the east lies from the west, so far has he removed our iniquities from us", we cannot be saved. Wherefore let us beseech the mercy of the Lord, that he too may snatch us out of the land of Egypt, out of the power of darkness, and may sink Pharaoh with his army "like lead in the mightiest water". But let us, being freed, with joy and exultation sing a hymn "to the Lord, for he has been gloriously honored", because to him is "honor and glory unto the ages of ages. Amen".

For what reason do you puff yourself up with human pride? A man insulted you, and you swelled up and were angered. Rid yourself of the fleas that you may sleep. Find out who you are! For that you may know, brothers, that these things which would bother us were created to enable us to control our pride, [remember], God could have tamed the proud people of Pharaoh with bears, with lions or with snakes; he sent flies and frogs upon them that their pride might be tamed by the most ignoble of things.

In the second plague frogs are brought forth. They are thought to stand figuratively for the songs of the poets. The poets have brought deceptive fables into this world, with their empty and conceited songs that are like the croaking of frogs. For the frog stands for empty loquacity. That animal is good for nothing else but to give out the sounds of its voice in offensive and annoying noises.

But by the second plague, in which the frogs are brought forth, I judge that the songs of the poets are figuratively indicated, who, by a certain empty and inflated modulation, like the sounds and songs of frogs, have brought upon this world the fables of deception. For that animal is useful for nothing else except that it renders the sound of its voice with wicked and importunate clamors.

One should also observe that the term prayer,which often differs in meaning from "invocation," is here employed in the case of one who promises in a vow to do certain things if God grants him certain other things. But the term is also used in the ordinary way. For example, we found this to be so in Exodus after the description of the plague of the frogs, which was the second of the ten plagues: … "But Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said to them: 'Pray to the Lord on my account to take away the frogs from me and my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.' " When Pharaoh employs the word prayer the habitual meaning of "prayer" is conveyed in addition to the above meaning. If anyone finds this difficult to see, it becomes clear in what follows, namely: "And Moses said to Pharaoh: 'Set me a time when I shall pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the frogs may be driven away from you and from your house and from your people, and may remain only in the river.' "We noted, however, that in the case of the sciniphs, the third plague, Pharaoh does not ask that prayer be made, nor does Moses pray. And in the case of the flies, the fourth plague, he says, "Pray therefore for me to the Lord." And then Moses said, "I will go out from you and will pray to the Lord. And the flies shall depart from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from his people tomorrow." And a little further on we read: "So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to God." Again in the case of the fifth and also of the sixth plague Pharaoh did not ask that prayer be made, nor did Moses pray. In the seventh plague "Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 'I have sinned this time. The Lord is just, but I and my people are wicked. Pray to the Lord, that the thunderings of God and the hail and the fire may cease.' " And a little further on we read: "And Moses went from Pharaoh out of the city and stretched forth his hands to the Lord; and the thunders … ceased." We shall discuss more suitably at another time why it is not said as on the previous occasions that "he prayed" but rather that "he stretched forth his hands to the Lord." And in the case of the eighth plague Pharaoh says, "And pray to the Lord your God, that he take away from me this death. And Moses going forth from the presence of Pharaoh, prayed to the Lord."

But Pharaoh, who was devoted to beliefs and vain superstitions (Egypt being filled with frogs, which produced empty sounds and noisy clamor), when Moses said to him: 'Appoint a time for me to pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, so that the Lord may exterminate the frogs' (Exod. VIII, 9); though he should have been compelled by such great necessity to pray, and not delay any longer, he replied: 'Tomorrow'; idle and negligent, intending to destroy Egypt by incurring the punishment of delay. And so, when he obtained these things, he became ungrateful; and being lifted up in his mind with his flesh, he forgot God.

After this the gnats are brought forth. This animal is indeed suspended by its wings, flitting through the air, but it is so subtle and minute that it escapes the sight of the eye unless one sees sharply; yet when it has settled on the body, it bores in with a most bitter sting, so that the one whom a man is not able to see flying, he feels stinging. This kind of animal therefore I think most fittingly compared to the art of dialectic, which bores through souls with minute and subtle stings of words and circumvents them with such craftiness that the deceived man neither sees nor understands whence he is deceived.

After these plagues, gnats are brought forth. This animal flies through the air suspended on wings. But it is so subtle and minute that it escapes being seen by the eye unless one looks closely. But when it lands on the body it drills in with a sharp sting. If anyone cannot see it flying, he still feels its sting immediately.This sort of animal can be compared with the subtlety of heretics, who drill into souls with the subtle stings of their words. They attack with such cunning that one who is deceived neither sees nor understands the source of his deception. At the third sign the magicians yielded and said, "The finger of God is here." Those magicians stand for heretics and their animosity. The apostle states this when he says, "Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so too these men resisted the truth. They are corrupt in mind and reprobate in matters of faith. But they will not advance any further. Their madness will be manifested to everyone, just as Jannes' and Jambres' was." The minds of the Egyptian magicians were disquieted by their own corruption, and their power failed at the third sign. They confessed that the Holy Spirit was against them, for the Spirit was in Moses. The Holy Spirit is put in the third place, and he is the finger of God. Thus the magicians failed at the third sign and said, "The finger of God is here." The Holy Spirit, well disposed and favorable, gives rest to the meek and humble of heart but, when he is opposed, stirs up disquiet against the merciless and the proud. Those tiny gnats signified this disquiet, at which Pharaoh's magicians failed and said, "The finger of God is here."

Here I see a difficulty occurring to one of limited knowledge [of Scripture], that is, why miracles are also done by magical arts, for the magicians of Pharaoh also made serpents and other similar things. But what is a much greater cause of wonder is how the power of the magicians, who could make serpents, utterly failed when it came to very small gnats. For the sciniphs, by which the proud people of Egypt were afflicted, are very small flies. And there certainly the magicians who failed, exclaimed, "This is the finger of God." We are thereby given to understand that not even the angels and the spirits of the air, who transgressed and were cast from that home of sublime and ethereal beauty into this most profound darkness, as into a prison peculiar to them, could do anything that they could by means of their magical arts, if the power had not been given to them from above.

Isn't the finger of God to be understood as being the Holy Spirit? Read the Gospel, and see that where one Evangelist has the Lord saying, "If I with the Spirit of God cast out demons," another says, "If I with the finger of God cast out demons." So if that law too was written by the finger of God, that is, by the Spirit of God, the Spirit by which Pharaoh's magicians were defeated, so they said, "This is the finger of God, … why can it not be said of it, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has delivered you from the law of sin and death"?

"For in her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle." This spirit lifts up the soul and teaches unforeseen things. "This is the finger of God" which the Pharaoh's magician cannot touch, that is, our mind. Many wise men possess the first faces of wisdom, but only a few have this one.

In the fourth place, Egypt is struck with flies. The fly is an insolent and restless animal. What does it stand for except the arrogant concerns of carnal desires? Egypt is struck with flies because the hearts of those who love this world are battered by the disquiet of their desires.The translators of the Septuagint put cynomyia here, which means "dog fly." This word meant the habits of a dog, in which the pleasures of the mind and the indulgence of the flesh are constantly expressed. By dog fly this passage can also mean the eloquence of lawyers, which they use to tear at one another like dogs.

Kynomyia does not represent "dog fly," as the Latins translated it, with the Greek letter upsilon; according to the sense of the Hebrew the diphthong oi should be written so that the word is koinomyia, that is, "every genus of flies."

And in the fourth place I would compare the dog-fly to the sect of the Cynics, who, among the rest of the wicked doings of their deception, even proclaim pleasure and lust to be the highest good. Since therefore through each of these the world was previously deceived, the word and law of God, coming, convicts it with corrections of this kind, so that from the quality of the punishments it may recognize the qualities of its own error.

You tell me that you have felt a difficulty in the text We shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God. But you had the means of solving it, for it is written in the book of Genesis, that a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians, and this not on account of the shepherd himself, but of his flocks. For the Egyptians were tillers of the ground, but Abraham and Jacob, and afterwards Moses and David, were shepherds, and in this function exercised a certain kingly discipline. The Egyptians then hated sacrifices which were duly offered; the pursuit of virtue, that is, which is perfect and replete with discipline. But that which these evil men hated is in the sight of the good sincere and pious. The licentious man hates the works of virtue, the glutton shrinks from them. And so the Egyptian's body, loving the charms of pleasure, has an aversion to the virtues of the soul, hates its rule, and shrinks from the discipline of virtue, and all such like works. But what the Egyptian shrinks from--he who is an Egyptian rather than a man--that do thou, who hast the knowledge of what befits man, embrace and follow: and shun those things which they pursue and choose; for these two things cannot agree together, wisdom and folly. Thus as wisdom and continence remove themselves from those who are, as it were, in the ranks of unwisdom and intemperance, so no foolish and incontient man has any part in what belongs to the goods and heritage of the wise and continent man.

The Egyptians disdained the eating of sheep. But what the Egyptians abhor, the Israelites offer to God. The unjust despise a clean conscience as weak and abject, but the just turn it into a sacrifice to God of virtue. The righteous, as they worship God, offer their purity and gentleness to him. The reprobate despise these virtues and consider them foolishness. Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Exodus

The Egyptians disdained the eating of sheep. But what the Egyptians abhor, the Israelites offer to God. The unjust despise a clean conscience as weak and abject, but the just turn it into a sacrifice to God of virtue. The righteous, as they worship God, offer their purity and gentleness to him. The reprobate despise these virtues and consider them foolishness.

This Pharaoh, who is the prince of Egypt, when he sees himself more vehemently pressed to let the people of God go, in the second place desires to obtain this, "that they should not go far off", that they should not set out the whole three days, and he says: "do not go far off". He does not want the people of God to be made "far" from himself; he wants it, if not in deed, at least to sin in word; if not in word, at least to offend in thought. He does not want them to set out from him the whole three days. He wants to have at least one of his days in us; in others two, in others he possesses the whole three days. But blessed are those who withdraw from him the entire three days, and he possesses no day of his own in them.