Commentaria in Exodum
It may be rendered secondly, With the spirit of thy nostril the waters were gathered together. For the nose among the Hebrews is the symbol of anger, because it is the index of it: whence the saying: They breathe wrath through their nostrils.
Note: “The waters were gathered together,” namely those which had before been divided by Moses: whence the Septuagint substitute this here and render it, the water was divided: then the waters, already divided, were gathered into heaps, and as it were two walls on either side.
“THE FLOWING WATER STOOD.” In the Hebrew is added: “As a heap”; whence Psalm lxxvii, verse 13, it is said: “He fixed the waters as in a vessel.”
Note “flowing,” which by its nature would have flowed away into a lower channel, had it not been held by God.
“THE DEPTHS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER” (Hebrew kaphe’u, that is, congealed), that is, that vast and deep mass of waters, raised up like a wall, seemed to stand like congealed ice. The Septuagint render, the waves were compacted, or glued together.
9. “MY SOUL SHALL HAVE ITS FILL,” my desire shall be satisfied. For the soul is often taken for desire, hope, wish. Whence to lift up the soul is to desire, or to hope, as Jeremias chap. xxii, verse 27: “But to the land whereunto they lift up their soul” (which they hope for, for which they pant), “they shall not return”; Psalm cxlii, verse 8: “To thee have I lifted up my soul.”
“MY HAND SHALL SLAY THEM.” The Hebrew is torishmo, shall destroy, and, as the Chaldee has it, shall consume them: for this is the act of the sword; wherefore Cajetan coldly renders, shall impoverish. Nor is there doubt that Pharao the tyrant, although he was trying to bring the Hebrews back into servitude, would nevertheless in the first impetus and onset of his fury have put very many of them to death.
10. “THY WIND BLEW, AND THE SEA COVERED THEM.” Cajetan always takes “spirit” here for wind, by which he thinks the waters were divided and again recalled. But I have already said, chap. xiv, verse 21, that by no wind, but by the rod of Moses stretched out, the sea was straightway cleft by the Angel. Moses therefore repeats and inculcates here, by a poetic anaphora, what he had said before in verse 8, namely that God sent his vengeance, by which he drowned the Egyptians: for he names his power of vengeance his spirit, says St. Jerome on Proverbs chap. ii, of which it is said in Job chap. iv, verse 9, that the wicked “perished by the blast of God, and were consumed by the spirit of his wrath.” Yet it is likely that God with lightnings, thunders and storms also raised a strong wind, by which the waters were driven with a more horrible and stronger impetus, to overwhelm the Egyptians; for this the word “blew” signifies.
Mystically, St. Augustine, Question lv, and Ambrose, book iii On the Holy Spirit, chap. iv, understand by “spirit” the Holy Spirit, that the mystery of the Trinity may here be intimated: namely the Son in the right hand of God, that is, of the Father, the Holy Spirit in his spirit.
11. WHO IS LIKE UNTO THEE AMONG THE STRONG, O LORD?—that is, as the Septuagint has it: Who is like to thee among the gods, O Lord? For the name of God is El, that is, strong; whence elim, that is, the strong, are called gods, that is, those who are held to be gods, though in truth they are not gods, as is said in 1 Cor. 8:5. As if to say: Who among the idols and gods of the Gentiles can be compared with thee, O Lord, in strength? Surely none; and the reason is that thou art magnificent in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, that is, as Symmachus renders it: “Neither in holiness nor in powers is any one to be made equal to thee”; for thou art so adorned in holiness and power, and so excellest, that all men and angels are struck with amazement.
The Hebrews relate that the Maccabees used this verse as a kind of badge of war and victory, and carried it before them on the standards in camp and in battle, and with it overthrew by a small band the strongest and most numerous enemies; and that hence they were called in Hebrew Machabi, that is, Maccabees: namely from the Hebrew letters which are the initials of the several words of this verse, which in the Hebrew reads thus: mi camocha baelim Jehovah.
For if you take from the first word mi the first letter m, from the second the first letter ch, from the third the first b, from the fourth i, and join them together, you will make machabi, that is, Maccabee. So R. Isaac ben Hole relates, Reuchlin in book 3 of his Cabala, Mercer in his Hebrew Abbreviations, Sixtus of Siena in book 1 of his Bibliotheca, and Genebrard in his Chronology. By a like contraction the Hebrews call R. Moses ben (that is, son of) Maimon, by fusing the four initial letters into one word, Rambam.
TERRIBLE AND PRAISEWORTHY.—In Hebrew nora tehilot, that is, terrible in praises, because his praises are a cause of dread not only to men but also to angels: for he surpasses the powers, tongues and minds of all who praise him, and therefore all the Angels and Saints praise him with great fear and trembling; whence, as if explaining what he had said, and assigning the reason of the title, he adds, “doing wonders.” So Cajetan, Vatablus and others. Hence a name of God is pele, that is, wonderful, Judges 13:18. Let those therefore invoke God as pele who think and undertake great things, that through them God may do great and wonderful things.
THE EARTH SWALLOWED THEM.—“The earth,” that is, the sea mingled with the earth, namely the bed of the sea: for earth and water make one globe, and Scripture is wont to express the world with all its elements by the name of heaven and earth. So Augustine, Questions 54.
Secondly, Vatablus takes it in the proper sense, and explains it thus: “Not only were the Egyptians swallowed up by the waters, but the earth also opened itself and swallowed them; which, if true, was a new prodigy, whereby not only the sea but the earth also consumed the Egyptians.”
Tropologically, Origen says: “The earth devours the wicked even today: those who always think of the earth, do earthly things, speak of the earth, quarrel, desire the earth, and place their hope in it; who look not up to heaven, think not of things to come, fear not the judgment of God, nor desire his promises; when thou seest such a man, say: The earth hath swallowed him up; and if thou seest one given to luxury and the pleasures of the body, in whom the soul has no strength, but lust possesses the whole, say: The earth hath swallowed him up,” and soon hell will swallow him up.
THE PEOPLE WHOM THOU HAST REDEEMED,—whom thou hast delivered from the Egyptian bondage.
13. AND IN THY STRENGTH HAST CARRIED THEM TO THY HOLY HABITATION.—Here begins the second part of the song, namely the prophetic part, which extends to verse 16, in which he foretells and recounts the victories that were to befall the Hebrews against the Idumeans, Moabites and Chanaanites, and their happy entrance into Chanaan. Hence he uses the past for the future, after the manner of prophecy, on account of the certainty of things to come. So Euthymius on this canticle.
Note: “Holy habitation” he calls the land of Chanaan, because it was once inhabited by the holy patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Secondly, because it was promised to their faithful and holy seed. Thirdly, because in it the temple was to be, and the holy worship of God. Fourthly, because in it Christ, who is the Holy of holies, was to be born and to die. Fifthly, because in it the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles, and all the first Christians were to live, and the whole primitive Church, which was most holy; whence even now we call Judea the Holy Land.
14. THE PEOPLES ROSE UP, AND WERE ANGRY.—The Hebrew has: The peoples heard, and were troubled; that is, they will hear of this passage of the Hebrews through the sea, and the drowning of the Egyptians, and therefore will rage against the Hebrews; for as yet distant nations could not have heard of a deed so present and recent. Our version for “heard” renders “rose up,” that it may sum up everything in a single word; for these peoples heard, took counsel, and at length rose up, or went forth to battle against the Hebrews: all this is said prophetically, and therefore the past is to be taken for the future.
15. THEY BECAME STIFF,—their vital spirit and strength vanishing from fear, they were made like men stupefied and rigid with apoplexy: for this the Hebrew nameggu signifies, that is, they were dissolved, they melted away like wax brought near the fire.
16. LET THEM BECOME IMMOVABLE.—The Hebrew, let them be silent as a stone. The Septuagint has lithōthētōsan, that is, let them be turned to stone, let them become, through fear and stupor, immovable as stones, so that they may not be able to keep us from entering the promised land, nor to assail us in battle, nor to defend themselves: so Lyranus. Moses prays that the enemies may be moved to terror; God did more, when the Hebrews, by the help of God, conquered them, and they fell almost to utter destruction.
‸TILL THY PEOPLE PASS THROUGH,—into the promised land of Chanaan.
17. THOU SHALT BRING THEM IN, AND PLANT THEM (as firm, stable and natural, like plants and trees fixing their roots there, that they may fix their seat) IN THE MOUNTAIN OF THY INHERITANCE,—namely in mount Sion or Moria, on which Moses by the spirit of prophecy foresaw that a temple was to be built to God, and therefore calls it the inheritance of God. Whence the Chaldee renders it, the place of the house of the majesty of God; whence also follows: “Thy sanctuary, O Lord,” namely, is, or will be, this habitation of which I speak.