For your mercy: here is shown the manifold reason for the deliverance of the Israelites, of which the first was the compassion of God; the second, the danger of despair: For in remembrance; the third, the power of the divine word: For neither herb; the fourth, the manifestation of divine compassion: For you, O Lord; the fifth, human frailty: But man, etc.
I said well: but your sons, that is, the Israelites, the teeth of venomous serpents, that is, the bites of fiery serpents, did not overcome them: for your mercy, that is, the effect of your mercy, coming upon them, healed them: in the Psalm: "If I said: My foot has slipped: your mercy, O Lord, helped me"; Jeremiah 33: "I will close up your scar and give you health"; "for he wounds and he heals," Job 5.
(Vers. 11.). For in the remembrance of your words, that is, through the recompense of your commandments, they were being destroyed, some of them, namely, and they were quickly healed, or saved, namely others who were penitent, having seen the death or punishment of others; according to that verse of the Psalm: "When he slew them," that is, some of them, "they sought him," that is, others who were penitent. Or: the same ones were being destroyed, that is, severely punished, and were quickly healed, lest falling into deep, that is, profound, falling, that is, falling inwardly, forgetfulness, namely of despair; namely on account of the delay of help and remedy; they might not be able to make use of your help, that is, of your liberating grace, they, I say, having been made unworthy of your mercy on account of despair; Proverbs 18: "The wicked man, when he has come into the depth of sins, shows contempt"; in the Psalm: "They forgot God, who saved them," etc.
(Vers. 12.). And I said rightly: in the remembrance of your words: for indeed, meaning "because"; neither herb, that is, a potion made from herbs, which is taken internally by drinking; nor poultice, that is, a plaster, which is applied externally upon the place of pain; healed them, namely from the bites of serpents. But your word, O Lord, that is, the command concerning the making and gazing upon the bronze serpent, Numbers 21; which, namely the word, heals all things, namely those things which are healed: whence here there is an accommodated distribution: in the Psalm: "He sent his word and healed them." Or: the Word, uncreated, that is, the Son, of whom John 1 says: "In the beginning was the Word"; this Word, according to the Gloss, "heals bodies and saves souls from spiritual beasts"; Matthew 4: "Healing every disease and every infirmity."
(Vers. 13.). For you are, O Lord. I said rightly that your word heals all things: for you are, O Lord, namely the Creator of all things, who have power over life and death, that is, of giving life and putting to death, according to that passage of 1 Kings 2: "The Lord kills and makes alive," etc.; likewise Ecclesiasticus 11: "Death and life are from God."
But to the contrary: Because it is said above in chapter 1: "God did not make death."
I respond: it must be said that although God is not the meritorious or efficient cause of death, nevertheless with respect to the privation itself he has power over death, because, although he is not the cause of evils, he nevertheless has power over evils, because from them he knows how to and is able to bring forth good.
To that which is objected, that death is not from God: it must be said that in death there is a privation of life, which is nothing, and therefore does not have an efficient cause, but rather a deficient one: likewise, there is therein a penal affliction, which is something and is from God, who justly inflicts it upon sinners by the merit of their sins.
And you lead down to the gates of death, that is, to the final extremity of life, and you lead back, namely by healing, as is evident in the case of Hezekiah, Isaiah 38.
(Vers. 14.). But man etc., as if to say: thus you can put to death and give life: but, for "however": man can kill himself but not give life, and this is what it says: but man, namely the sinner, called man from the earth: indeed kills, that is, certainly, through the malice of sin, his own soul, on account of which it is said in the Psalm: "He who loves iniquity hates his own soul"; for he is a murderer of himself: for sin is a two-edged sword, for it kills both body and soul: Sirach twenty-one: "All iniquity is like a two-edged broadsword." And when the spirit has departed, namely from the body through death, it will not return, namely to the body in the present age; Job ten: "Before I go, and return not, to the land of darkness" etc.; likewise 2 Kings fourteen: "We all die, and like waters we flow down upon the earth, which do not return."
But to the contrary: Because it is said in the Psalm: "His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth."
It must be said that this is understood of the return to the earth of one's natural habitation and body by nature: but that Psalm passage [speaks] of the return to one's earth according to the justice of retribution, and this by divine power.
Nor will he call back, namely man, the soul, separated from the body, which has been received, in its place, namely in glory or in punishment; Sirach eleven : "Wherever the tree falls, whether to the south or to the north, there it shall be."
(Vers. 15.). But your hand, that is, your power, both in the present and in the future, both in life and in death: it is impossible to escape: Job ten: "There is no one who can deliver from your hand"; therefore it is said in the Psalm: "Where shall I go from your spirit, and where shall I flee from your face?" "For the hand of the Lord is not shortened," nay rather it is most far-reaching and contains all things, according to that Psalm: "In your hand, O Lord, are all the ends of the earth."
The second punishment of sense, inflicted through inanimate things.
For denying etc. Here he treats of the punishments inflicted on the Egyptians through inanimate things: and first is touched upon the punishment of the Egyptians; second, by contrast, the consolation of the Israelites: Instead of which, of Angels: third, the reason for the punishment of the Egyptians: But snow etc.; fourth, the reason for the consolation of the Israelites: On account of this, also then.
In the first he sets forth the meritorious cause of the punishment of the Egyptians; second, the mode and form: For that which was wondrous etc.; third, the diversity according to more and less: For at a certain time.
(Vers. 16.). For denying etc. I rightly said: it is impossible to escape your hand: for the ungodly who denied knowing you, that is, the Egyptians, namely Pharaoh with his servants: denying, I say, by word, whence Exodus 5: "I know not the Lord, and I will not let Israel go"; and in deed those of whom it is said in Titus 1: "They profess to know God, but in their deeds they deny him." By the strength of your arm, that is, by your mighty power: Exodus 15: "Who is like you among the mighty, O Lord?" etc.; they were scourged: Exodus 6: "I will bring them out from the prison of the Egyptians with an outstretched arm"; Exodus 15: "Your right hand has struck the enemy"; with strange waters: and, in place of "that is": with hailstones, for hail is like frozen water, and rains, which are like flowing waters, they suffered persecution; Exodus 9: "Pharaoh seeing that the rain and hail had ceased"; and by fire, that is, falling simultaneously, they were consumed: Exodus 9: "Hail and fire mingled together were carried"; likewise in the Psalm: "He turned their rains into hail, burning fire in their land."
(Vers. 17.). I rightly said: by fire with hailstones: for what was wonderful: namely, that a contrary was not destroyed by its contrary, although it is written in Sirach 3: "Water extinguishes a burning fire"; whence it follows: In water, which extinguishes all things, namely things set ablaze, fire prevailed the more, that is, it acted more powerfully together with water. For the whole world is an avenger, that is, an instrument of vengeance: an avenger, I say, the whole world of the just, that is, avenging the just: whence above in chapter 5: "The whole world shall fight for him against the senseless." Through the aforesaid text he indicates that the punishment of the Egyptians was carried out not according to the order of nature, but according to the order of divine justice avenging the Israelites against the Egyptians, who had oppressed them, Exodus 1; the Gloss: "It is not surprising that hail and fire are carried mingled together, because all things consent to the will of the Creator."
(Vers. 18.). For at a certain time, as if to say: it did not always act uniformly: for, in place of "but": at a certain time the fire was made gentle, namely until the animals of those who feared the words of Moses were called back or brought in from the fields: Exodus nine: "Send and gather your livestock and all that you have in the fields," or field: and afterwards: "He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and livestock flee into the houses." It was made gentle, I say, lest the animals that had been sent to the ungodly be burned, that is, the livestock divinely given to them. Nor only for this reason, but also, so that they themselves, seeing the aforesaid interruption, might know, namely through it, that by the judgment of God, not by natural occurrence, they suffer persecution. Likewise, according to the Gloss, "that they might recognize that every creature is prepared to avenge the injury done to the Creator"; in the Psalm: "The Lord shall be known executing judgments," who, as Bernard says, is not known when suffering injuries. And it should be noted that the Lord punished the Sodomites by fire, Genesis nineteen, without gentleness, and this because there were no good people among them; but the Egyptians by fire with gentleness, because the children of Israel were in Egypt, who were good.
(Vers. 19.). And at a certain time, namely when the animals had been called back, in water beyond its power, its natural power, namely, because by a miracle, the fire blazed forth on every side, namely throughout the whole land of Egypt, so as to destroy the wicked nation of the land, that is, the Egyptians, who were an earthly nation, not a heavenly one; against which, First Corinthians fifteen: "As we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear the image of the heavenly."
Instead of which, etc. Here, concerning the consolation of the Israelites, first is touched upon the bestowal of the benefit; second, the reason for bestowing: For the substance.
(Vers. 20.). Instead of which evils, that is, in place of which evils, contrariwise, with the food of Angels, that is, manna, which was prepared by the Angels, you nourished your people, etc.; whence in the Psalm: "Man ate the bread of Angels"; or because it prefigured the food of Angels, namely "the living bread that came down from heaven," John six. You nourished, I say, your people, namely the children of Israel: for with this food he nourished them "until they reached the borders of the promised land," as is found in Exodus sixteen. And ready bread, that is, refreshment, from heaven, namely descending from the airy heaven, according to that verse of the Psalm: "He rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them the bread of heaven"; you furnished to them without labor.
On the contrary: Because it is said in Numbers eleven: "The people went about and, gathering it, ground it in a mill or crushed it in a mortar, cooking it in a pot and making from it cakes as it were of the taste of bread made with oil."
I respond: without labor of acquiring through agriculture, but not without labor of preparing. We indeed have labor in acquiring and preparing: Genesis 3: "In the sweat of your face."