Chapter XVIII.
Second, concerning punishments inflicting death.
But to your holy ones. After having treated of punishments falling short of death, here he treats of punishments inflicting death: and first, of the extermination of their firstborn in Egypt, namely in this chapter; second, of their overthrow in the Red Sea, namely in the last chapter.
On the extermination of the firstborn in Egypt.
In the first part, first is touched upon the commendation of the Hebrews, whom they were oppressing; second, through their liberation, the worthy punishment of the Egyptians who were oppressing them: Worthy indeed etc.; third, after the liberation of the Hebrews, a grave trial, namely in the desert: It touched.
First, the commendation of the Hebrews.
Concerning the commendation, four things are touched upon: first, the bestowal of a divine benefit; second, thanksgiving for the bestowal of the benefit: And because not they themselves also; third, supplication for the continuation of the benefit: And that there might be; fourth, the hearing of the supplication, at: On account of which.
(Vers. 1.). But to your holy ones etc. Thus the Egyptians were in darkness; but, in the sense of however; to your holy ones: namely the Israelites, according to that passage of Leviticus 11: "Be holy"; there was the greatest light, because there was exterior bodily light; whence Exodus 10: "Wherever the children of Israel dwelt, there was light"; likewise interior spiritual light; whence the Gloss: " To your holy ones, that is the Israelites, whom faith and purity of conscience illumined"; 1 Thessalonians 5: "You are all children of light"; likewise superior heavenly light; John 1: "There was the true light, which enlightens every man" etc.; likewise Malachi 4: "To you who fear my name, the sun of justice shall arise." And indeed of these, namely the holy ones, the enemies heard the voice, whether of human conversation or of divine praise, namely the Egyptians; but they did not see their form, namely on account of the hindering darkness.
But to the contrary: Because one who is in darkness can see him who is in the light, and not conversely.
It must be said that this is true, unless there be an impediment in his eye, or in the medium itself. But there the impediment was in the eye of those seeing, because they had been struck with a kind of blindness, and in the medium, because the darkness there was dense and palpable.
And because not also, that is even, they themselves, namely the holy ones, had suffered through the same things, "that is, the same plagues," according to the Gloss, they magnified you, namely by praising; Luke 1: "My soul magnifies the Lord"; Ecclesiasticus 43: "Who shall magnify him, as he is from the beginning"?
(Vers. 2.). And those who before had been harmed, namely by Pharaoh oppressing and scourging them, as is clear from Exodus 1. Because they were not harmed, namely by the plagues inflicted by God, they gave thanks to you: Isaiah 51: "Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of praise." And that there might be a distinction, namely between themselves and the Egyptians; they sought you, O God, or: they prayed to you, O God, according to that verse of the Psalm: "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy nation," just as Abraham also asked that the just man not be destroyed like the impious: Genesis 18. Or: distinction, namely distance: this was granted to the Israelites when "the Angel, lifting himself up, stood between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel," as is clear from Exodus 14.
(Vers. 3.). On account of which, namely because they were grateful for the benefit bestowed, praying by offering thanks: they had a burning column of fire, namely by night, as is clear from Exodus 13; as a guide on an unknown way, namely through the desert, and a sun without harm, along the way; a sun, I say, of good lodging, supply: a guide to the end of the journey; you provided; without harm, I say, by day, and this because the column of cloud tempered the heat of the sun, as is clear from the same place and above in chapter 10: "It was for them a covering by day and a light of stars by night," so that they came to a place where they could suitably find lodging and pitch their tents: Isaiah 4: "The Lord will create over every place of Mount Zion, and where he has been invoked, a cloud by day"; and afterward: "and it shall be a shade by day from the heat."
Second, the worthy punishment of the Egyptians.
Worthy indeed. Here is shown the worthy punishment of the Egyptians who oppressed the Israelites: and first is touched upon, as if summarizing, the punishment common to all: second, specifically of those slain: When they thought: third, specifically of the living and the wakeful: There resounded: fourth, of the living who were sleeping: For when quiet.
(Vers. 4.). Worthy indeed were those, namely the Egyptians, supply: to lack light, with regard to the privation of sense, and to suffer the prison of darkness, with regard to the privation of movement: who kept them enclosed etc., not permitting them to go out from the land of Egypt; Exodus 5: "I know not the Lord, and I will not let Israel go." Your holy sons, namely the Israelites believing in you: John 1: "He gave them power to become sons of God, to those who believe in his name"; through whom was beginning, namely through the preparation of that people and the reception of the Law, because it had not yet been given: the incorrupt light of the law to be given to the world. It should be noted that the law is sometimes called a light, because it illuminates the intellect: Proverbs 6: "The commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light"; incorrupt, because it purifies or preserves the affections from corruption, according to that verse of the Psalm: "The word of the Lord, tested by fire, proven to the earth, purified seven times."
When they thought etc. Here is first touched upon the striking of the firstborn of Egypt; second, the foreknowledge of the striking: For that: third, the escape of the Hebrews: But there was received by the people; fourth, the reason for the escape: For in secret.
(Vers. 5.). When they thought, namely the Egyptians, of the just, that is, of the Hebrews, to kill the infants, not only by simple thought, but also progressively toward the deed, as is clear from Exodus 1. And one son, namely Moses, being exposed, namely by his mother, and delivered, namely by the daughter of Pharaoh, as is clear from Exodus 2. For the reproof of them, that is, the punishment of the Egyptians, or: for the leading forth of them, that is, of the Hebrews, that is, so that he might lead them out of Egypt through Moses who had been delivered. You took away a multitude of children, that is, the totality of the firstborn, Exodus 12. And at the same time, that is, simultaneously, them, namely the Egyptian parents of those children, you destroyed in a mighty water, namely by drowning them in the Red Sea, Exodus 14: "Not even one of them survived," and chapter 15: "They sank like lead in the mighty waters."
(Vers. 6.). For that: for, stands for but: night, namely the night on which the firstborn were slain, was known beforehand by our fathers, namely Abraham and others: whence Genesis 15: "Know assuredly that your seed shall be a stranger in a land not its own" etc.; or by the Israelites themselves in Egypt, with Moses foretelling it to them, as is clear from Exodus 12. So that truly, that is, with certainty, knowing in what oaths they trusted, that is, how firm were God's promises; Genesis 22: "By myself I have sworn, says the Lord"; likewise Hebrews 6: "That by two immutable things" etc.; they might be of better courage, namely in awaiting the fulfillment of the oath.
(Vers. 7.). But there was received etc., namely on that night, or according to the Gloss: "the law of the Passover," on that night, as if for a great benefit, by your people, namely the Israelite people, as is clear from Exodus 12, where it is said: "And they did" etc.; the salvation indeed of the just, for by it the Israelites were saved from the destroying Angel, as is clear from Exodus 12; but of the unjust, namely the Egyptians, destruction, that is, slaying by the destroying Angel, in the same place.
(Vers. 8.). For as you struck our adversaries, namely by slaying them on account of their sins, so also urging us on, supply: to better things, namely to faith and the reception of the Law; Deuteronomy 32: "As an eagle stirring up to fly" etc., you magnified us, namely by magnificently delivering us from that destruction.
(Vers. 9.). For in secret, namely on account of fear of the Egyptians, according to the Gloss; they sacrificed, namely by immolating the Passover, as is clear from Exodus 12. The just children, namely the sons, of the good, namely of the Israelites, together with their fathers themselves, on account of which they merited to be freed, the firstborn of the Egyptians having been slain. And the law of justice, namely the one given, in the same place, concerning the immolation of the Passover, which was just, because it signified the justification to be accomplished through the death of Christ; likewise it was called a law, because it bound to its observance for its own time. They disposed in concord, that is, they harmoniously received it and proposed to fulfill it and did fulfill it: whence in the Psalm: "Gather to him his Saints, who order his covenant upon sacrifices." Likewise, that is, with equanimity, good and evil, that is, prosperity and adversity, the just about to receive, namely themselves: repeat: they disposed, whatever God might wish to inflict: Job 2: "If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, why then should we not endure evil things?" Likewise Luke 16: "You received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise evil things." Ancestral praises, that is, established and celebrated by the fathers, singing forth, that is, devoutly singing, namely praising God both for evils, namely of punishment, and for goods, namely of grace, or of fortune, or of nature; in the Psalm: "His praise is always in my mouth"; always, that is, not only in prosperity, but also in adversity.
But there resounded etc. Here is touched upon the punishment of the Egyptians living and waking, namely the mourning over the death of their firstborn: and first is touched upon the matter of the mourning: second, the lot of the mourners: But with a similar punishment: third, the cause of the universality: Similarly therefore all: fourth, the consequent effect: For of all etc.
(Vers. 10.). Thus I said, that ancestral praises were being sung forth; but there resounded, namely loudly throughout the whole land of Egypt, the discordant voice of the enemies, that is, the voice of the Egyptians, horrible to hear: Exodus 12: "There arose a great cry in Egypt"; and there was heard a lamentable wailing, that is, weeping with lamentation: for there was a cry of the voice and weeping of the eyes and wailing of the hands: a lamentable, I say, wailing of those mourning children, that is, concerning the children or for the children, whom they were mourning, according to that of Jeremiah 6: "Make for yourself the mourning of an only child, a bitter lamentation."
(Vers. 11.). But with a similar punishment, that is, by the loss of his firstborn, the servant was afflicted together with the master, in one house: and the common man suffered similar things to the king, namely in the whole kingdom of Egypt, Exodus 12: "He struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, even to the firstborn of the captive woman, who was in the prison"; Isaiah 24: "As the people, so also the priest: and as the servant, so his master."