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and consumed their grass. 30. "And He smote every firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their labor." This last plague He brought upon the Egyptians; after which He compelled the Jews to depart; every house was filled with wailing and lamentation, as all the firstborn met a sudden end. For He brought the plague against their most beloved, striking with bitterest rays those who had been insensible to the former plagues. 37. "And He brought them out with silver and gold." For since the Egyptians did not even permit the Hebrews to take their own belongings, in addition to their own things they also took the wealth of the Egyptians, receiving the gold and silver as a kind of wage for their harsh servitude. For God did not command this to be done unjustly, but both to chastise the wrongdoers and to comfort the wronged. "And there was not a feeble person among their tribes." For they did not experience the plagues brought upon the Egyptians. 38. "Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen upon them." And they were so terrified by the various punishments, that they considered the freedom of the Hebrews a benefit to themselves. 39. "He spread a cloud for their covering, and fire to give light in the night." For this same cloud became a shelter for them by day, and kept away the harshness of the sun's ray; and by night, becoming fiery in appearance for them, it supplied them with the need of light. 40. "They asked, and the quail came, and He filled them with the bread of heaven." For since they also craved meat, He provided them with an effortless hunt of birds, and when they asked for bread He supplied it from above, granting them not rain through the clouds, but the nourishment itself. 41. "He broke the rock, and the waters gushed out; rivers ran in the dry places." He also cured 80.1721 their thirst with the miraculous birth pangs of the rock. For in a waterless land, deprived of moisture, He commanded rivers to gush forth; and he calls the channels of the waters given forth from the rock "rivers". 42, 43. "For He remembered His holy word to Abraham His servant. And He brought out His people with exultation, and His chosen ones with gladness." And He imparted all these things to them, fulfilling the promises He had made to Abraham. 44. "And He gave them the lands of the nations, and they inherited the labors of the peoples." For not only did He free them from the bondage of the Egyptians, but He also gave them the land of the Canaanites, and made them masters of the labors of others; both punishing those justly, and confirming His own promises. And that He did not unjustly cast out those who formerly inhabited Palestine, He teaches both through the laws He gave to the Jews, commanding them to flee the imitation of their way of life. And He teaches also when making the promises to Abraham, why He does not immediately give him dominion over that land, but allows him to sojourn for a very long time. "For," He says, "the sins of the Amorites are not yet full even to this day;" that is, They have not yet dared things worthy of utter destruction; and it is not just to bring punishment upon them, nor by foreknowledge of their greater sin to pass the sentence of punishment, but to await the outcome of their deeds. For I use a measure, and I govern by a standard, and nothing with me is unweighed. For this reason I await a period of four hundred years. Thus He both cast those out, and gave the promises to these. 45. "That they might keep His statutes, and seek His law." And He gave them, he says, the land which He promised, having given them a law, and commanded them to live according to it.

COMMENTARY ON THE 105TH PSALM. Alleluia. In the 100th and 4th psalm the prophetic word

recounted the benefactions; but in this one he both remembers the benefactions, and the

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καὶ τὸν χόρτον αὐτῶν κατ ηνάλωσεν. λʹ. "Καὶ ἐπάταξε πᾶν πρωτότοκον ἐν τῇ γῇ αὐτῶν, ἀπαρχὴν παντὸς πόνου αὐτῶν." Ταύ την Αἰγυπτίοις ἐπήγαγε τελευταίαν πληγήν· μεθ' ἢν ἐξελθεῖν τοὺς Ἰουδαίους κατέπειξεν· ἅπασα ἡ οἰκία θρήνων καὶ ὀλοφύρσεων ἐπέπληστο, τῶν πρωτοτόκων ἁπάντων ἀθρόαν τελευτὴν δεξαμένων. Κατὰ γὰρ τῶν ποθεινοτέρων ἐπήγαγε τὴν πληγὴν, πικροτέραις βάλλων ἀκῖσι τοὺς ἀναλγήτως περὶ τὰς προτέρας διατεθέντας πληγάς. λζʹ. "Καὶ ἐξήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἐν ἀργυρίῳ καὶ χρυ σίῳ." Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐδὲ τὰ οἰκεῖα λαβεῖν οἱ Αἰ γύπτιοι τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ἐπέτρεπον, πρὸς τοῖς οἰκείοις ἔλαβον καὶ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων τὸν πλοῦτον, οἷόν τινα μισθὸν τῆς χαλεπῆς δουλείας κομισάμενοι τὸν χρυσὸν καὶ τὸν ἄργυρον· οὐ γὰρ ἀδίκως τοῦτο γε νέσθαι προσέταξεν ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἀδικοῦν τας παιδεύων, καὶ τοὺς ἀδικηθέντας ψυχαγωγῶν. "Καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἐν ταῖς φυλαῖς αὐτῶν ὁ ἀσθενῶν." Τῶν γὰρ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἐπαγομένων πληγῶν οὐκ ἐλάμβανον πεῖραν. ληʹ. "Εὐφράνθη Αἴγυπτος ἐν τῇ ἐξόδῳ αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἔπεσεν ὁ φόβος αὐτῶν ἐπ' αὐτούς." Οὕτω δὲ ταῖς παντοδαπαῖς ἐξεδειματώθησαν τι μωρίαις, ὡς καὶ εὐεργεσίαν οἰκείαν νομίσαι τὴν τῶν Ἑβραίων ἐλευθερίαν. λθʹ. "∆ιεπέτασε νεφέλην εἰς σκέπην αὐτῶν, καὶ πῦρ τοῦ φωτίσαι αὐτοὺς τὴν νύκτα." Ἡ γὰρ αὐ τὴ νεφέλη σκηνὴ μὲν αὐτοῖς μεθ' ἡμέραν ἐγένετο, καὶ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἐκώλυε τὸ λυποῦν· νύκτωρ δὲ πυ ροειδὴς αὐτοῖς γινομένη, τοῦ φωτὸς αὐτοῖς ἐχο ρήγει τὴν χρείαν. μʹ. "Ἤτησαν, καὶ ἦλθεν ὀρτυγομήτρα, καὶ ἄρ τον οὐρανοῦ ἐνέπλησεν αὐτούς." Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ καὶ κρεῶν ὠρέχθησαν, παρέσχεν αὐτοῖς καὶ θήραν ὀρνίθων αὐτόματον, καὶ δεηθεῖσιν ἄρτων ἄνωθεν ἐχορήγησε τούτους, διὰ τῶν νεφελῶν οὐχ ὑετὸν, ἀλλ' αὐτὴν δωρησάμενος τὴν τροφήν. μαʹ. "∆ιέῤῥηξε πέτραν, καὶ ἐῤῥύησαν ὕδατα, καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν ἐν ἀνύδροις ποταμοί." Ἐθερά 80.1721 πευσε δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ δίψος ταῖς παραδόξοις ὠδῖσι τῆς πέτρας. Ἐν ἀνύδρῳ γὰρ γῇ, καὶ νοτίδος ἐστε ρημένῃ, ποταμοὺς ἀναβλῦσαι προσέταξε· ποταμοὺς δὲ καλεῖ τῶν ἀναδοθέντων ἐκ τῆς πέτρας ὑδάτων τοὺς ὀχετούς. μβʹ, μγʹ. "Ὅτι ἐμνήσθη τοῦ λόγου τοῦ ἁγίου αὑ τοῦ, τοῦ πρὸς Ἀβραὰμ τὸν δοῦλον αὑτοῦ. Καὶ ἐξ ήγαγε τὸν λαὸν αὑτοῦ ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει, καὶ τοὺς ἐκλε κτοὺς αὑτοῦ ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ." Τούτων δὲ πάντων αὐ τοῖς μετέδωκε, τὰς πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραὰμ γεγενημένας ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐπαγγελίας πληρῶν. μδʹ. "Καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς χώρας ἐθνῶν, καὶ πό νους λαῶν κατεκληρονόμησαν." Οὐ γὰρ μόνον τῆς Αἰγυπτίων ἠλευθέρωσε δουλείας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν Χανα ναίων αὐτοῖς ἐδωρήσατο γῆν, καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων πόνων δεσπότας ἀπέφηνε· καὶ ἐκείνους κολάσας ἐν δίκως, καὶ τὰς οἰκείας ἐμπεδώσας ἐπαγγελίας. Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἀδίκως ἐξέβαλε τοὺς πρώην τὴν Παλαιστίνην οἰκοῦντας, διδάσκει μὲν καὶ δι' ὧν Ἰουδαίοις ἐνομο θέτησε, φεύγειν κελεύσας τῆς ἐκείνων πολιτείας τὴν μίμησιν. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ καὶ τὰς πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἐπαγγελίας ποιούμενος, τί δήποτε μὴ εὐθὺς αὐτῷ δίδωσι τῆς γῆς ἐκείνης τὴν δεσποτείαν, ἀλλὰ παροι κεῖν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐᾷ. "Οὔπω γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀναπε πλήρωνται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τῶν Ἀμοῤῥαίων ἕως τοῦ νῦν·" ἀντὶ τοῦ, Οὐδέπω πανωλεθρίας τετολμήκασιν ἄξια· καὶ οὐ δίκαιον αὐτοῖς τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐπαγα γεῖν, οὐδὲ τῇ προγνώσει τῆς μείζονος ἁμαρτίας τῆς τιμωρίας τὴν ψῆφον ἐξενεγκεῖν, ἀλλὰ ἀναμεῖναι τῶν πραγμάτων τὸ τέλος. Μέτρῳ γὰρ χρῶμαι, καὶ σταθ μῷ πρυτανεύω, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀστάθμητον παρ' ἐμοί. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τετρακοσίων ἐτῶν ἀναμένω περίοδον. Οὕτω κἀκείνους ἐξέβαλε, καὶ τούτοις ἐπαγγελίας ἀπ έδωκεν. μεʹ. "Ὅπως ἂν φυλάξωσι τὰ δικαιώματα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν νόμον αὐτοῦ ἐκζητήσωσιν." ∆έδωκε δὲ αὐτοῖς, φησὶν, ἣν ἐπηγγείλατο γῆν, νόμον αὐτοῖς δεδωκὼς, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτον βιοτεύειν κελεύσας.

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΡΕʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. Ἀλληλούϊα. Ἐν μὲν τῷ ρʹ καὶ δʹ ψαλμῷ τὰς θείας ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος

διεξῆλθεν εὐεργεσίας· ἐν τούτῳ δὲ καὶ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν μέμνηται, καὶ τὰς τῶν