43. " Who looketh on the earth, and maketh it tremble; who touchefh the hills, and they shall smoke " (ver. 32). O earth, thou wast exulting in thy good, to thyself thou didst ascribe thy fulness and opulence; behold, the Lord looketh on thee, and causeth thee to tremble. May He look on thee, and make thee tremble: for the trembling of humility is better than the confidence of pride...For it is God, he saith, which worketh in you. For this reason then with trembling, because God worketh in you. Because He gave, because what thou hast cometh not from thee, thou shalt work with fear and trembling, for if thou fearest not Him, He will take away what He gave. Work, therefore, with trem- 1 Or, " breath." 4 Eph. ii. 10.
2 Matt. v. 3.
3 Rom. iv. 5.
3 Matt. x. 20.
bling. Hear another Psalm: " Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling." 6 If we must rejoice with trembling, God beholdeth us, there cometh an earthquake; when God looketh upon us, let our hearts tremble; then will God rest there. Hear Him in another passage: " Upon whom shall My Spirit rest? Even on him that is lowly and quiet, and who trembleth at My Word." ' " Who looketh on the earth, and maketh it tremble; who toucheth the hills, and they shall smoke" (ver. 32). The hills were proud, and boastful of themselves, God had not touched them: He toucheth them, and they shall smoke. What meaneth the smoking of the hills? That they pray unto the Lord. Behold great hills, proud hills, vast hills, prayed not to God: they wished themselves to be entreated, and entreated not Him who was above them. For what powerful, arrogant, proud man is there upon the earth, who deigneth humbly to entreat God? I speak of the ungodly, not of the " cedars of Libanus, which the Lord hath planted." Every ungodly man, unhappy soul, knoweth not how to entreat God, while he wisheth himself to be entreated by men. He is a hill; it is needful that God touch him, that he may smoke: when he hath begun to smoke, he will offer prayers unto God, as it were the sacrifice of his heart. He smoketh unto God, he then beateth his breast: he beginneth to weep, for smoke doth elicit tears.
44. " I will sing unto the Lord in my life " (ver. 33). What will sing? Everything that is willing. Let us sing unto the Lord in our life. Our life at present is only hope; our life will be eternity hereafter: the life of mortal life, is the hope of an everlasting life. " I will praise my God while I have my being." Since I am in Him for ever and ever, while I have my being, I will praise my God. Let us not imagine that, when we have commenced praising God in that state, we shall have any other work: our whole life will be for the praises of God. If we become weary of Him whom we praise, we may also become weary of praising. If He is ever loved, He is ever praised by us.
45. " Let my discourse be pleasing to Him: my joy shall be in the Lord" (ver. 34). What is the discourse of man unto God, save the confession of sins? Confess unto God what thou art, and thou hast discoursed with Him. Discourse unto Him, do good works, and discourse. "Wash you, make you clean," saith Isaiah.8 What is it to discourse unto God? Unfold thyself to him who knoweth thee, that He may unfold Himself to thee who knowest not Him. Behold, it is thy discourse that pleaseth the Lord; the offering of thy humility, the tribulation of « Ps. i 7 Isa. lxvi. 2.
8 Isa. i. 16.
52° [fSALM cv.
thy heart, the holocaust of thy life, this pleaseth God. But what is pleasing to thyself? " My joy shall be in the Lord." This is that discoursing which I meant between God and thyself: show thyself to Him who knoweth thee, and He showeth Himself unto thee who knowest not him. Pleasing unto Him is thy confession: sweet unto thee is His grace. He hath spoken Himself unto thee. How? By the Word. What Word? Christ...
46. " Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth " (ver. 35). He seemeth angry! O holy soul, which here doth sing and groan! Would that our soul were with that very soul! Would that it were coupled with it, associated, conjoined with it! It shall behold also His loving-kindness when he is angry. For who but he who is filled with charity, understandeth this? Thou tremblest, because he curseth. And who doth curse? A saint. Without doubt he is listened to. But it is said unto the saints, " Bless, and curse not." ' What is then the sense of the words, " Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth "? Let them utterly be consumed; let their spirit be taken away, that He may send forth His own Spirit, and they may be restored. " And the ungodly, so that they be no more." In what that they be no more, save as wicked men? Let them therefore be justified, that they may no longer be ungodly. The Psalmist saw this, and was filled with joy, and repeateth the first verse of the Psalm: " Bless thou the Lord, O my soul." Let our soul bless the Lord, brethren, since He hath deigned to give unto us both understanding and the power of language, and unto you attention and earnestness in hearing. Let each, as he can recall to mind what he hath heard, by mutual conversation stir up the food ye have received, ruminate on what ye have heard, let it not descend in you into the bowels of forgetfulness. Let the treasure to be desired 2 rest upon your lips. These matters have been sought out and discovered with great labour, with great labour have they been announced and discoursed of; may our toil be fruitful unto you, and may our soul bless the Lord.
PSALM CV.3 1. This Psalm is the first of those to which is prefixed the word Allelujah; the meaning of which word, or rather two words, is, Praise the Lord. For this reason he beginneth with praises: " O confess unto the Lord, and call upon His Name" (ver. 1); for this confession is to be understood as praise, just as these words of our Lord, " I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." * For after commencing 1 Rom. xii. 14. » Lat. CIV.
2 Prov. xxi. 20. * Malt. xi. 25.
with praise, calling upon God is wont to follow, whereunto he that prayeth doth next add 5 his longings: whence the Lord's Prayer itself hath at the commencement a very brief praise, in these words, " Our Father which art in Heaven." 5 The things prayed for, then follow...This also followeth, " Tell the people what things He hath done; " ' or rather, to translate literally from the Greek, as other Latin copies too have it, " Preach the Gospel of His works among the Gentiles." Unto whom is this addressed, save unto the Evangelists in prophecy?
2. " O sing unto Him, and play on instruments unto Him" (ver. 2). Praise Him both by word and deed; for we sing with the voice, while we play with an instrument, that is, with our hands. " Let your talking be of all His wondrous works. Be ye praised in His holy Name" (ver. 3). These two verses may without any absurdity seem paraphrases of the two words above; so that, " Let your talking be of all His wondrous works," may express the words, " O sing unto Him; " and what followeth, " be ye praised in His holy Name," may be referred to the words, " and play on instruments unto Him; " the former relating to the " good word " wherewith we sing unto Him, in which His wondrous works are told; the latter to the good work, in which sweet music is played unto Him, so that no man may wish to be praised for a good work on the score of his own power to do it. For this reason, after saying, " be ye praised," which assuredly they who work well deservedly may, he added, " in His holy Name," since " he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 8...This is to be praised in His holy Name. Whence we read also in another Psalm: " My soul shall be praised in the Lord: let the meek hear thereof, and be glad; " 9 which here in a sense followeth, " Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord: " for thus the meek are glad, who do not rival with a bitter jealousy those whom they imitate as already workers of good.
3. " Seek the Lord, and be strengthened " IO (ver. 4). This is very literally construed from the Greek, though it may seem not a Latin word: whence other copies have, " be ye confirmed; " others, " be ye corroborated."...While these words, then, " Come unto Him, and be enlightened," " apply to seeing; those in the text relate to doing: " Seek the Lord, and be strengthened."...But what meaneth, " Seek His face evermore"? I know indeed that to cling unto God is good for me; " but if He is always being sought, when is He found? Did he mean by " evermore," the whole of the life we live > Oxl. mss. " the sinner doth allege." 6 Matt. vi. 9.
10 CoiifortamM. " Ps. xxxiv. 4. u Ps. lxxiii. 17.
Psalm CV.]
here, whence we become conscious that we ought thus to seek, since even when found He is still to be sought? To wit, faith hath already found Him, but hope still seeketh Him. But love hath both found Him through faith, and seeketh to have Him by sight, where He will then be found so as to satisfy us, and no longer to need our search. For unless faith discovered Him in this life, it would not be said, " Seek the Lord." Also, if when discovered by faith, He were not still to be diligently sought, it would not be said, " For if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." "...And truly this is the sense of the words, " Seek His face evermore; " meaning that discovery should not terminate that seeking, by which love is testified, but with the increase of love the seeking of the discovered One should increase.
4. " Remember," he saith, " His marvellous works that He hath done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth " (ver. 5). This passage seemeth like that, " Thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you: " an expression which, in ever so small part, scarce a mind 2 taketh in. Then mentioning His own Name, He mercifully mingled in His grace towards men, saying, " I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; this is My Name for ever." > By which He would have it to be understood, that they whose God He declared Himself lived with Him for ever, and He said this, which might be understood even by children, that they who by the great powers of love knew how to seek His face for evermore, might according to their capacity comprehend, I am that I am.
5. Unto whom is it said, " O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob, His chosen "? (ver. 6)...He next addeth, " He is the Lord our God: His judgments are in all the world" (ver. 7). Is He the God of the Jews only?4 God forbid! " He is the Lord our God: " because the Church, where His judgments are preached, is in all the world...
6. " He hath been ahvay mindful of His covenant " (ver. 8). Other copies read, " for evermore; " and this arises from the ambiguity of the Greek. But if we are to understand " alway " of this world and not of eternity, why, when he explaineth what covenant He was mindful of, doth he add, "The word that He made to a thousand generations "? Now this may be understood with a certain limitation; but he afterwards saith, " Even the covenant that He made with Abraham " (ver. 9): " and the oath that He sware unto Isaac; and appointed the same unto 1 Rom. viii. 25.
2 Rara mens. Oxf. MSS. read " a pure mind."
Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting 5 testament" (ver. 10). But if in this passage the Old Testament is to be understood, on account of the land of Canaan; for thus the language of the Psalm runneth, " saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan: the lot of your inheritance" (ver. n): how is it to be understood as everlasting, since that earthly inheritance could not be everlasting? And for this reason it is called the Old Testament, because it is abolished by the New. But a thousand generations do not seem to signify anything eternal, since they involve an end; and yet are also too numerous for this very temporal state. For by howsoever few years a generation is limited, such as in Greek is called ytvea, whereof the shortest period some have fixed is at fifteen years, after which period man hath the power of generation; what then are those " thousand generations," not only from the time of Abraham, when that promise was made him, unto the New Testament, but from Adam himself down to the end of the world? For who would dare to say that this world should last for 15000 years? Hence it seemeth to me that we ought not to understand here the Old Testament, which it said through the prophet was to be cancelled by the New: " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant." 6...
After saying, " He hath been mindful of His covenant unto an age; " which we ought to understand as lasting for evermore, the covenant, namely, of justification and an eternal inheritance, which God hath promised to faith; he addeth, " and the Word that He commanded 7 unto a thousand generations." What meaneth " commanded "?...The command then was faith, that the righteous should live by faith; s and an eternal inheritance is set before this faith. " A thousand generations," then, are, on account of the perfect number, to be understood for all; that is, as long as generation succeedeth generation, so long is it commanded to us to live by faith. This the people of God doth observe, the sons of promise who succeed by birth, and depart by death, until every generation be finished; and this is signified by the number thousand; because the solid square of the number ten, ten times ten, and this taken ten times amounts to a thousand. " Even the covenant," he saith, " which He made with Abraham: and the oath that He sware unto Isaac; arid appointed the same unto Jacob," that is, Jacob himself, " for a law." These are the very three 5 [He adds: " Where there is no room for doubt: for the Greek has atwvioi', which our interpreters have never rendered by any other word than eternal; though scarce any authors in any passage have used aiuirto? in the sense of everlasting. Unless perhaps, because they render alutv as meaning time, in a more familiar way, they may choose to interpret aiuivtoi^ not eternal, but ' for an age; which I do not remember any one having ventured to do." Conf Matt, xxv 46. — C.J 6 Jer. xxxi. 31, 32. 7 Maiidaz'U. 8 Rom. i. 17.
[Psalm CV.
patriarchs, whose God He calleth Himself in a special sense, whom the Lord also doth name in the New Testament, where He saith, " Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven." • This is everlasting inheritance...7. He next followeth out the history well known in the truth of the holy Scriptures. " When they were in small numbers, very few, and they strangers in the land " (ver. 12); that is, in the land of Canaan...But some copies have the words "very few, and they strangers," in the accusative case,2 the translator having turned the Greek phrase too literally into Latin. If we were to render the whole clause in this way, we must say, " that they were very few, and they strangers; " but the phrase, " while they were," is the meaning of the Greek; and the verb, " to be," takes not an accusative, but a nominative after it.'
8. " What time as they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people " (ver. 13). This is a repetition of what he had said, " from one nation to another." " He suffered no man to do them harm: but reproved even kings for their sakes " (ver. 14). "Touch not," He said, " Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm" (ver. 15). He declareth the words of God chiding or reproving kings, that they might not harm the holy fathers, while they were small in number, very few, and they strangers in the land of Canaan. Although these words be not read in the books of that history, yet they are to be understood as either secretly spoken, as God speaketh in the hearts of men by unseen and true visions, or even as announced through an Angel. For both the king of Gerar and the king of the Egyptians were warned from Heaven not to harm Abraham,4 and another king not to harm Isaac,* and others not to harm Jacob; 6 while they were very few, and strangers, before he went over into Egypt to sojourn with his sons: which is understood to be herein mentioned. But since it occurred to ask, before they passed over and multiplied in Egypt, how so few in number, and those strangers in a foreign land, could maintain themselves: he next addeth, " He suffered no man to do them wrong," etc.
9. But it may well excite a question, in what sense they were styled (Christs, or) anointed, before there was any unction, from which this title was given to the kings.7...Whence then were those patriarchs at that time called "anointed"? For that they were prophets, we read concerning Abraham; and certainly, what is manifestly said of him, should be understood 1 Matt. viii. 11. 2 Paucissimos et incoltis.
* I. XX. iv T<i t'vat avrovc. " Fot we cannot say, cum esstnt paucissimos.but cum ttsent pauciuimi."
* Gen. xit. 17-20, xx. 3. 5 Gen. xxvi. 8-n. 6 Gen. xxxii., xxxiii. * Ps. xtv. 8.
of them also. Are they styled "christs," because, even though secretly, yet they were already Christians? For although the flesh of Christ came from them, nevertheless Christ came before them; for He thus answered the Jews, " Before Abraham was, I am." 8 But how could they not know Him, or not believe in Him; since they are called prophets for this very reason, because, though somewhat darkly, they announced the Lord beforehand? Whence He saith Himself openly, " Your father Abraham desired to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad." 9 For no man was ever reconciled unto God outside of that faith which is in Christ Jesus, either before His Incarnation, or after: as it -is most truly defined by the Apostle: " For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." IO 10. He then beginneth to relate how it happened that they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. " He calleth," he saith, " for a famine upon the land: and brake all the staff of bread" (ver. 16). Thus it happened that they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. But the expressions of the holy Scriptures are not to be negligently passed by. " He called," he saith, " for a famine upon the land; " as if famine were some person, or some animated body, or some spirit that would obey Him who called...Under this impression the old Romans consecrated some such deities, as the goddess Fever, and the god Paleness. Or meaneth it, as is more credible, He said there should be famine; so that calling be the same thing as mentioning by name; mentioning by name, as speaking; speaking, as commanding? Nor doth the Apostle say," " He calleth those things which be not, that they may be; " but, " as though they were." For with God that hath already happened which, according to His disposition, is fixed for the future: for of Him it is elsewhere said, " He who made things to come." '* And here when famine happened, then it is said to have been called, that is, that that which had been determined in His secret government, might be realized. Lastly, he at once expounds, how He called for the famine, saying, " He brake all the staff of bread."
n. "But He had sent a man before them" (ver. 17). Whatman? " Even Joseph." How did He send him? " Joseph was sold to be a bond-servant." When this happened, it was the sin of his brethren, and, nevertheless, God sent Joseph into Egypt. We should therefore meditate on this important and necessary subject, how God useth well the evil works of men, as 8 John viii. 58. 10 1 Tim. ii. 5. 12 Isa. xlv. II.
9 John viii. 56. 11 Rom. iv. 17.
Psalm CV.]
they on the other hand use ill the good works of God.
12. Next he doth relate the story, mentioning what Joseph suffered in his low estate, and how he was raised on high. " His feet they hurt in the stocks: the iron entered into his soul, until his word came" (ver. 18). That Joseph was put in irons, we do hot indeed read; but we ought no ways to doubt that it was so. For some things might be passed over in that history, which nevertheless would not escape the Holy Spirit, who speaketh in these Psalms. We understand by the iron which entered into his soul, the tribulation of stern necessity; for he did not say body, but "soul." There is a somewhat similar expression in the Gospel, where Simeon saith unto Mary, " A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." ' That is, the Passion of the Lord, which was a fall unto many, and in which the secrets of many hearts were revealed, since their sentiments respecting the Lord were extorted from them, without doubt made His own Mother exceeding sorrowful, heavily struck with human bereavement. Now Joseph was in this tribulation, " until his word came," with which h£ truly interpreted dreams: whence he was introduced to the king, that unto him also he might foretell what would happen in respect to his dreams.2 But since he said, " Until his words were heard," that we might not altogether so understand " his," that any one might think so great an event was to be ascribed unto man; he at once added, "The word of the Lord inflamed him" (ver. 19); or, as other copies have it more closely from the Greek, " The word of the Lord fired him," that he also might be reputed amongst those to whom it is said, " Receive ye praise in His holy Name." ' 13. " The king sent and loosed him, the prince ofthe peoples, and let him go free" (ver. 20). The " king " is the same as " the prince of the peoples:" he "loosed" him from his bonds, " and let him go free " from his prison. " He made him lord also of his house: and ruler of all his substance" (ver. 21). "That he might inform his princes like unto himself, and teach his old men wisdom" (ver. 22). The Greek hath, " and teach his elders wisdom." Which might altogether be rendered to the letter thus; " Might inform his princes like unto himself, and make his elders wise." The word translated old men being presbyters or elders, not gerontas, old men: and to teach wisdom being from the Greek to sophize, which cannot be rendered by a single word in Latin, and is from the word sophia, wisdom, different from prudence, which is in Greek phronesis. Yet we do not read this in the high elevation of Joseph, as we 1 Luke ii. 35.
2 Gen. xli.
3 Ps. cv. 3.
read not of fetters in his low estate. Eut how could it happen that so great a man, the worshipper of the One True God, whilst in Egypt, should have been intent upon the nourishing of bodies, and the government of carnal matters only, and have felt no anxiety for souls, and how he could render them better? But those things are written in that history, which, according to the intention of the writer, in whom was the Holy Spirit, were judged sufficient for signifying future events in that narration.
14. "Joseph also came into Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham" (ver. 23). Israel is the same with Jacob, as is Egypt with the land of Ham. Here it is very plainly shown, that the Egyptian race sprang from the seed of Cham, the son of Noah, whose first-born was Canaan. So that in those copies wherein in this passage Canaan is read, we must alter the reading. It is better construed, "was a stranger," than "dwelt," as other copies have it: which would be the same as " was an inhabitant," for it meaneth nothing different; the very same word is used in the Greek passage above, where it is said, "Very few, and they strangers in the land." Moreover, the state of an incola or accola doth not signify a native, but a stranger. Behold how " they went from one nation to another." What had been briefly proposed, hath been briefly explained in the narration. But from what kingdom they passed over to another people may well be asked. For they were not yet reigning in the land of Canaan, because the kingdom of the people of Israel had not yet been established there. How then can it be understood, except by anticipation, because the kingdom of their seed was destined there to exist?
15. Next is related what happened in Egypt. " And He increased," he saith, " His people exceedingly, and made them stronger than their enemies " (ver. 24). Even the whole of this is briefly set forth, in order that the manner in which it took place may be afterwards related. For the people of God was not made stronger than their enemies the Egyptians, at the time when their male offspring were slain, or when they were worn out with making bricks; but when by His powerful hand, by the signs and portents of the Lord their God, they became objects of fear and of honour, until the opposition of the hardened king was overcome, and the Red Sea overwhelmed the persecutor with his army.
16. "And He turned their heart so, that they hated His people, and dealt untruly with His servants " (ver. 25 ). Is it to be in any wise understood or believed, that God turneth man's heart to do sin?...For they were not good before they hated His people; but being malignant and [Psalm CV.
ungodly, they were such as would readily envy their prosperous sojourners. And so, in that He multiplied His own people, this bountiful act turned the wicked to envy. For envy is the hatred of another's prosperity. In this sense, therefore, He turned their heart, so that through envy they hated His people, and dealt untruly with His servants. It was not then by making their hearts evil, but by doing good to His people, that He turned their hearts, that were evil of their own accord, to hatred. For He did not pervert a righteous heart, but turned one perverted of its own accord to the hatred of His people, while He was to make a good use of that evil; ' not by making them evil, but by lavishing blessings upon those, which the wicked might most readily envy.
17. The following verses, which are sung in praise of Him when Allelujah is chanted, show how He used this hatred of theirs, both for the trial of His own people, and for the glory of His Name, which is profitable for us. " He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen him" (ver. 26). "Whom He had chosen," would be sufficient; but there is no difficulty in the addition of "him." It is a phrase of Scripture, as, " The land in which they shall dwell in it: " 2 a phrase which the divine pages are full of.
18. " He set forth in them the words of His tokens, and of His wonders in the land of Ham " (ver. 27). We ought not to understand by " the words of His tokens," words literally, words with which the tokens and wonders were worked, that is, which they uttered, that these tokens and wonders might take place. For many were performed without words, either with a rod, or with outstretched hand, or by ashes sent towards heaven...
19. "He sent darkness, and made it dark" (ver. 28). This is also written among the plagues with which the Egyptians were smitten. But what followeth, is variously read in different copies. For some have, " and they provoked His words; " while others read, " and they provoked not His words; " but the reading first mentioned we have found in most; while, where the negative particle is added, we could hardly discover two copies. But perhaps the false reading has abounded owing to the easy sense; for what is easier understood than this, " They provoked His words," that is, by their contumacious rebellions? We have endeavoured to explain the other reading also according to some true sense: and this for the present occurs: "They provoked not His words," that is, in Moses and Aaron; because they most patiently 1 f A felicitous exposition of the tense in which " good is brought out of evil." Compare A. N. F. vol. viii. pp. 140 and 223. — C.J 3 Numb. xiii. 20; Lev. xviii. 3.
bore with a very stiffnecked people, until all things which God had determined to work by them, were fulfilled in order.
20. " He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish" (ver. 29). "He made their land frogs, yea, even in the king's chambers " (ver. 30): as if he were to say, He turned their land into frogs. For there was so great a multitude of frogs, that this might well be said by hyperbole.
21." He spake the word, and there came all manner of flies, and lice in all their quarters " (ver. 31). If it be asked when He spake, it was in His Word before it took place; and there it was, without time, at what time it should take place: although even then He commanded it to be done, when it was to be done, through Angels, and through his servants Moses and Aaron.
22. "He made their rains hail" (ver. 32). It is a similar expression to the former, " He made their land frogs; " except that the whole land was not actually turned into frogs, though the whole of the rain may have been turned into hail. " A burning fire in their land: " understand, " He sent."
23. " He smote their vines also and fig-trees.; and brake every tree of their coasts" (ver. 33). This was done by the violence of the hail, and by lightnings; whence he spoke of the fire as " burning."
24. " He spake the word, and the locust came, and the caterpillar, of which there was no number " (ver. 34). The locusts and the caterpillars are one plague: of which the one is the parent, the other the offspring.
25. "And did eat up all the grass in their land, and devoured the fruit of the ground " (ver. 35). Even grass is fruit, as Scripture is wont to speak, which calleth even the ripe corn grass; but it wished these two things to harmonize in number with the two which it had spoken of before, that is, the locust and the caterpillar. But the whole of this doth belong to the variety of speech, which is a remedy for weariness, not to any difference of senses.
26. " He smote every first-born in their land: even the first-fruits of all their strength " (ver. 36). This is the last plague, excepting the death in the Red Sea. "The first-fruits of all their strength," I imagine to be an expression derived from the first-born of cattle. These plagues are ten in number, but they are not all mentioned, nor in the same order in which they are there read to have happened. For praisegiving is free from the law which bindeth one who is relating or composing a history. And since the Holy Spirit is the Author and Dictator, through the Prophet, of this praise; by the very same authority with which He guided him who wrote that history, he doth both mention some- Psalm CVI.]
thing to have taken place which is not there read, and passeth over what is there read.