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creation withdrew, and yielded, and changed to the contrary, seeing the general, and yielding to the leader of the people? For all things then withdrew and yielded to the people of the Hebrews, so that they might learn that what was happening was not of human sequence, but all the wonders were of a divine and secret power. And see the emphasis of the word, how excellently he has placed it. For he did not say: It departed, nor, It withdrew; but what? The sea saw, and fled; wishing to show by the flight the speed of the departure, the magnitude of the astonishment, the ease of God's action. And lest anyone should think that this happened from some cycle or coincidence, it has not happened since then, but only once, when God commanded, and for different people. For the disordered flow of the waters, as if it were rational and ensouled, at God's command, thus saved some, but destroyed others, becoming a tomb for some, a vehicle for others. This one might see also in the case of the Babylonian furnace. For the fire, which moves simply and at random, showed great order when God commanded, preserving those it had within, but seizing and consuming those sitting around it outside 55.307. The Jordan was turned back. Did you see the wonders happening at different times, and in different places? For that they might learn that the power of God extends everywhere, and is not confined by place, both in the desert and in the land of the barbarians, and everywhere He was present working wonders, now in the sea, now in rivers, and then in the time of Moses, and later in the time of Joshua; and everywhere they were escorted by signs, that their insensible mind and hard understanding, being softened by the wonders, they might make more tractable and more fit for the reception of the knowledge of God. The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs of the flock. Here a not insignificant question arises for us. For some in their perplexity say: We know that the former things happened; for history has handed down that the Red Sea was parted in the exodus, and that the Jordan was turned back, when the ark passed by; but that mountains and hills skipped, we nowhere see this written. What then is to be said? That the Prophet, wishing to represent the pleasure hyperbolically and the greatness of the wonders, introduces even the inanimate things themselves as if dancing and leaping, which happens with those who are rejoicing. For this reason also is the addition of the image, As rams, and as lambs of the flock. For when those irrational animals rejoice, they show their pleasure by leaping. Just as, therefore, in calamities another says that both the vine mourned, and the wine; not that the vine mourned (for how could a vine mourn?), but wishing to show the hyperbole of the dejection, he speaks hyperbolically, as if it almost touched the inanimate things themselves; so also here he introduces creation as sharing in the pleasure, in order to show the greatness of the joy. This we are also accustomed to say, when things here have become bright, whenever we see some honored person arrive: You have filled the house with joy; not speaking about the walls, but representing the hyperbole of the joy. What ailed you, O sea, that you fled, and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back? You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of the flock? He advances the argument by way of a question, and speaks to the elements, from the same mind from which he said they skipped. For just as he said these things not ascribing sensation to them, but as I said before, showing the hyperbole of the pleasure and the greatness of the achievements; so also he puts the question to them; not as to beings able to answer, and having sensation, but in order to make the argument clearer and to show the paradox.

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ἡ κτίσις ὑπεξίστατο, καὶ παρεχώρει, καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἐναντία μεθίστατο, τὸν στρατηγοῦντα ὁρῶσα, καὶ τῷ δημαγωγῷ παραχωροῦσα; Πάντα γὰρ τότε τῷ δήμῳ τῷ τῶν Ἑβραίων ὑπεξίστατο καὶ παρεχώρει, ἵνα μάθωσιν, ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνης ἀκολουθίας ἦν τὰ γινόμενα, ἀλλὰ θείας καὶ ἀποῤῥήτου δυνάμεως τὰ θαυματουργούμενα ἅπαντα. Καὶ ὅρα τὴν ἔμφασιν τῆς λέξεως, πῶς ἀρίστως αὐτὴν τέθεικεν. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν· Ἀνεχώρησεν, οὐδὲ, Ὑπεξέστη· ἀλλὰ τί· Ἡ θάλασσαεἶδε, καὶ ἔφυγε· τὸ τάχος τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως τῇ φυγῇ παραστῆσαι βουλόμενος, τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἐκπλήξεως, τὸ εὔκολον τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ ἵνα μή τις νομίσῃ ἐκ περιόδου τινὸς καὶ συντυχίας τοῦτο γίνεσθαι, ἐξ ἐκείνου οὐκ ἔτι γέγονεν, ἀλλ' ἅπαξ, ὅτε ὁ Θεὸς ἐκέλευσε, καὶ ἐπὶ διαφόρων προσώπων. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ ἄτακτος τῶν ὑδάτων ῥύμη καθάπερ λογική τις καὶ ἔμψυχος, τοῦ Θεοῦ κελεύοντος, οὕτω τοὺς μὲν ἔσωσε, τοὺς δὲ ἀπώλλυε, τοῖς μὲν τάφος, τοῖς δὲ ὄχημα γινομένη. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς Βαβυλωνίας καμίνου ἴδοι τις ἄν. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ, τὸ ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε φερόμενον, πολλὴν εὐταξίαν ἐπεδείκνυτο, ὅτε ὁ Θεὸς ἐπέταξε, οὓς μὲν ἔνδον εἶχε διασῶζον, τοὺς δὲ ἔξωθεν περικαθημένους 55.307 ἁρπάζον καὶ ἀναλίσκον. Ὁ Ἰορδάνης ἐστράφη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. Εἶδες καὶ ἐν διαφόροις καιροῖς, καὶ ἐν διαφόροις χωρίοις τὰ θαύματα γινόμενα; Ἵνα γὰρ μάθωσιν, ὅτι πανταχοῦ ἡ δύναμις ἐκτέταται τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ οὐ περικλείεται τόπῳ, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν βαρβάρων χώρᾳ, καὶ πανταχοῦ παρεγίνετο θαυματουργῶν, καὶ νῦν μὲν ἐν θαλάττῃ, νῦν δὲ ἐν ποταμοῖς, καὶ τότε μὲν ἐπὶ Μωϋσέως ὕστερον δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ· καὶ πανταχοῦ διὰ σημείων παρεπέμποντο, ἵνα τὴν ἀναίσθητον αὐτῶν γνώμην, καὶ τὴν σκληρὰν διάνοιαν τοῖς θαύμασι μαλασσομένην, εὐήνιον καὶ ἐπιτηδειοτέραν καταστήσωσι πρὸς τὴν τῆς θεογνωσίας ὑποδοχήν. Τὰ ὄρη ἐσκίρτησαν ὡσεὶ κριοὶ, καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ ὡς ἀρνία προβάτων. Ἐνταῦθα ζήτημα οὐ μικρὸν ἡμῖν ἀνακύπτει. Καὶ γάρ τινες διαποροῦντές φασιν· Ὅτι μὲν τὰ πρότερα γέγονεν ἴσμεν· καὶ γὰρ ἱστορία παρέδωκεν, ὅτι καὶ ἡ Ἐρυθρὰ θάλασσα ἐσχίσθη ἐν τῇ ἐξόδῳ, καὶ ὅτι ὁ Ἰορδάνης ἐστράφη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, ἡνίκα ἡ κιβωτὸς παρῄει· ὅτι δὲ ὄρη ἐσκίρτησαν καὶ βουνοὶ, οὐδαμοῦ τοῦτο ὁρῶμεν γεγραμμένον. Τί οὖν ἔστιν εἰπεῖν; Ὅτι τὴν ἡδονὴν ὑπερβολικῶς παραστῆσαι βουλόμενος καὶ τῶν θαυμάτων τὸ μέγεθος ὁ Προφήτης, εἰσάγει καὶ τὰ ἄψυχα αὐτὰ μονονουχὶ χορεύοντα καὶ πηδῶντα, ἅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν εὐφραινομένων γίνεται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡ προσθήκη τῆς εἰκόνος τὸ, Ὡς κριοὶ, καὶ ὡς ἀρνία προβάτων. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἄλογα ἡνίκα εὐφραίνηται, τοῖς πηδήμασι τὴν ἡδονὴν δηλοῖ. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν ταῖς συμφοραῖς ἄλλος φησὶν, ὅτι καὶ ἄμπελος ἐπένθησε, καὶ οἶνος· οὐχ ὡς τῆς ἀμπέλου πενθούσης πῶς γὰρ ἂν πενθήσει ἄμπελος;, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς κατηφείας ἐνδείξασθαι βουλόμενος, καὶ τῶν ἀψύχων αὐτῶν σχεδὸν ἁπτομένων ὑπερβολικῶς λέγει· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὴν κτίσιν εἰσάγει κοινωνοῦσαν τῆς ἡδονῆς, ἵνα τὸ μέγεθος δείξῃ τῆς εὐφροσύνης. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡμῖν ἔθος λέγειν, ὅτε τὸ ἐνταῦθα φαιδρὰ γέγονεν, ἐπειδάν τινα ἴδωμεν ἔντιμον παραγενόμενον· Ἐνέπλησας τὴν οἰκίαν χαρᾶς· οὐ περὶ τῶν τοίχων διαλεγόμενοι, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς εὐφροσύνης παριστῶντες. Τί σοι ἐστὶ, θάλασσα, ὅτι ἔφυγες, καὶ σὺ, Ἰορδάνη, ὅτι ἐστράφης εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω; Τὰ ὄρη, ὅτι ἐσκιρτήσατε ὡσεὶ κριοὶ, καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ, ὡς ἀρνία προβάτων; Κατὰ ἐρώτησιν τὸν λόγον προάγει, καὶ τοῖς στοιχείοις διαλέγεται, ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς γνώμης ἀφ' ἧς ἔφησεν αὐτὰ σκιρτᾷν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ αἴσθησιν αὐτοῖς διδοὺς ταῦτα ἔλεγεν, ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἡδονῆς ἐνδεικνύμενος καὶ τῶν κατορθωμάτων τὸ μέγεθος· οὕτω καὶ τὴν ἐρώτησιν αὐτοῖς προσάγει· οὐχ ὡς ἀποκρίνασθαι δυναμένοις, καὶ αἴσθησιν ἔχουσιν, ἀλλ' ὥστε σαφέστερον ποιῆσαι τὸν λόγον καὶ δεῖξαι τὸ παράδοξον.