Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Exodus 1

There are 16 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 503, footnote 1 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XXX.—Refutation of another argument adduced by the Marcionites, that God directed the Hebrews to spoil the Egyptians. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4215 (In-Text, Margin)

2. Up to that time the people served the Egyptians in the most abject slavery, as saith the Scripture: “And the Egyptians exercised their power rigorously upon the children of Israel; and they made life bitter to them by severe labours, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field which they did, by all the works in which they oppressed them with rigour.”[Exodus 1:13-14] And with immense labour they built for them fenced cities, increasing the substance of these men throughout a long course of years, and by means of every species of slavery; while these [masters] were not only ungrateful towards them, but had in contemplation their utter annihilation. In what way, then, did ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 313, footnote 14 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book II. Wherein Tertullian shows that the creator, or demiurge, whom Marcion calumniated, is the true and good God. (HTML)
The Marcionites Charged God with Having Instigated the Hebrews to Spoil the Egyptians. Defence of the Divine Dispensation in that Matter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2958 (In-Text, Margin)

... contributions of all the people. If, therefore, the case of the Hebrews be a good one, the Creator’s case must likewise be a good one; that is to say, his command, when He both made the Egyptians unconsciously grateful, and also gave His own people their discharge in full at the time of their migration by the scanty comfort of a tacit requital of their long servitude. It was plainly less than their due which He commanded to be exacted. The Egyptians ought to have given back their men-children[Exodus 1:18] also to the Hebrews.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 313, footnote 14 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book II. Wherein Tertullian shows that the creator, or demiurge, whom Marcion calumniated, is the true and good God. (HTML)
The Marcionites Charged God with Having Instigated the Hebrews to Spoil the Egyptians. Defence of the Divine Dispensation in that Matter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2958 (In-Text, Margin)

... contributions of all the people. If, therefore, the case of the Hebrews be a good one, the Creator’s case must likewise be a good one; that is to say, his command, when He both made the Egyptians unconsciously grateful, and also gave His own people their discharge in full at the time of their migration by the scanty comfort of a tacit requital of their long servitude. It was plainly less than their due which He commanded to be exacted. The Egyptians ought to have given back their men-children[Exodus 1:22] also to the Hebrews.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 72, footnote 6 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Monogamy. (HTML)

Weakness of the Pleas Urged in Defence of Second Marriage. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 689 (In-Text, Margin)

... “on such as are with child, and are giving suck,” will fall far more heavily and bitterly in the “universal shaking” of the entire world than it did in the devastation of one fraction of Judæa. Let them accumulate by their iterated marriages fruits right seasonable for the last times—breasts heaving, and wombs qualmish, and infants whimpering. Let them prepare for Antichrist (children) upon whom he may more passionately (than Pharaoh) spend his savagery. He will lead to them murderous midwives.[Exodus 1:8-16]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 501, footnote 18 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus. (HTML)
That injuries and penalties of persecutions are not to be feared by us, because greater is the Lord to protect than the devil to assault. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3767 (In-Text, Margin)

... the twenty-sixth Psalm, and says: “Though an host should be arrayed against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise up against me, in that will I put my hope. One hope have I sought of the Lord, this will I require; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” Also in Exodus, the Holy Scripture declares that we are rather multiplied and increased by afflictions, saying: “And the more they afflicted them, so much the more they became greater, and waxed stronger.”[Exodus 1:12] And in the Apocalypse, divine protection is promised to our sufferings. “Fear nothing of these things,” it says, “which thou shalt suffer.” Nor does any one else promise to us security and protection, than He who also speaks by Isaiah the prophet, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 323, footnote 6 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Methodius. (HTML)

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity. (HTML)

Theopatra. (HTML)
The Protection of Chastity and Virginity Divinely Given to Men, that They May Emerge from the Mire of Vices. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2614 (In-Text, Margin)

... have a calm, coming to an anchorage without damage, as also the Holy Spirit witnesses. For this is said in the hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, where the souls send joyfully up to God a hymn of thanksgiving, as many as have been taken hold of and raised up to walk with Christ in heaven, that they might not be overwhelmed by the streams of the world and the flesh. Whence, also, they say that Pharaoh was a type of the devil in Egypt, since he mercilessly commanded the males to be cast into the river,[Exodus 1:16] but the females to be preserved alive. For the devil, ruling from Adam to Moses over this great Egypt, the world, took care to have the male and rational offspring of the soul carried away and destroyed by the streams of passions, but he longs for ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 481, footnote 8 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)

Book XIII. (HTML)
Concerning Those Who Demanded the Half-Shekel. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5905 (In-Text, Margin)

... different from their sons, who are strangers to the kings of the earth, from whom the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute. And among the kings of the earth, their sons are free as among fathers; but those who are strangers to them, while they are free in relation to things beyond the earth, are as slaves in respect of those who lord it over them and keep them in bondage; as the Egyptians lorded it over the children of Israel, and greatly afflicted their life and violently held them in bondage.[Exodus 1:13-14] It was for the sake of those who were in a bondage, corresponding to the bondage of the Hebrews, that the Son of God took upon Him only the form of a slave, doing no work that was foul or servile. As then, having the form of that slave, He pays toll ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 460, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On Lying. (HTML)

Section 5 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2305 (In-Text, Margin)

... which all agree, let us inquire, whether it be sometimes useful to utter a falsehood with will to deceive. They who think it is, advance testimonies to their opinion, by alleging the case of Sarah, who, when she had laughed, denied to the Angels that she laughed: of Jacob questioned by his father, and answering that he was the elder son Esau: likewise that of the Egyptian midwives, who to save the Hebrew infants from being slain at their birth, told a lie, and that with God’s approbation and reward:[Exodus 1:19-20] and many such like instances they pick out, of lies told by persons whom you would not dare to blame, and so must own that it may sometimes be not only not blameworthy, but even praiseworthy to tell a lie. They add also a case with which to urge not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 495, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Against Lying. (HTML)

Section 32 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2444 (In-Text, Margin)

32. But, as for that which is written, that God did good to the Hebrew midwives, and to Rahab the harlot of Jericho,[Exodus 1:17-20] this was not because they lied, but because they were merciful to God’s people. That therefore which was rewarded in them was, not their deceit, but their benevolence; benignity of mind, not iniquity of lying. For, as it would not be marvellous and absurd if God on ac count of good works after done by them should be willing to forgive some evil works at another time before committed, so it is not to be marvelled at that God beholding at ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 248, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin. (HTML)

On Original Sin. (HTML)

He Shows by the Example of Abraham that the Ancient Saints Believed in the Incarnation of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1993 (In-Text, Margin)

... then, that Abraham desired to see this equal divinity of the Son’s with the Father, without any precognition of His coming in the flesh—as certain philosophers sought Him, who knew nothing of His flesh—can that other act of Abraham, when he orders his servant to place his hand under his thigh, and to swear by the God of heaven, be rightly understood by any one otherwise than as showing that Abraham well knew that the flesh in which the God of heaven was to come was the offspring of that very thigh?[Exodus 1:5]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 230, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies

Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)

Chapter VIII. 31–36. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 743 (In-Text, Margin)

... seed, and said, “We are Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be free?” O inflated skin! such is not magnanimity, but windy swelling. For even as regards freedom in this life, how was that the truth when you said, “We were never in bondage to any man”? Was not Joseph sold? Were not the holy prophets led into captivity? And again, did not that very nation, when making bricks in Egypt, also serve hard rulers, not only in gold and silver, but also in clay?[Exodus 1:14] If you were never in bondage to any man, ungrateful people, why is it that God is continually reminding you that He delivered you from the house of bondage? Or mean you, perchance, that your fathers were in bondage, but you who speak were never in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 12, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm V (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 127 (In-Text, Margin)

... nature is opposite to truth, let him understand that “a lie” has relation to that which is not, not to that which is. For if that which is be spoken, truth is spoken: but if that which is not be spoken, it is a lie. Therefore saith he, “Thou wilt destroy all that speak a lie;” because drawing back from that which is, they turn aside to that which is not. Many lies indeed seem to be for some one’s safety or advantage, spoken not in malice, but in kindness: such was that of those midwives in Exodus,[Exodus 1:19] who gave a false report to Pharaoh, to the end that the infants of the children of Israel might not be slain. But even these are praised not for the fact, but for the disposition shown; since those who only lie in this way, will attain in time to a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 71, footnote 3 (Image)

Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)

Against Eunomius. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
He falsely imagines that the same energies produce the same works, and that variation in the works indicates variation in the energies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 155 (In-Text, Margin)

... same energies producing sameness of works, and different works indicating difference in the energies as well.” Finely and irresistibly does this noble thinker plead for his doctrine. “The same energies produce sameness of works.” Let us test this by facts. The energy of fire is always one and the same; it consists in heating: but what sort of agreement do its results show? Bronze melts in it; mud hardens; wax vanishes: while all other animals are destroyed by it, the salamander is preserved alive[Exodus 1:17]; tow burns, asbestos is washed by the flames as if by water; so much for his ‘sameness of works from one and the same energy.’ How too about the sun? Is not his power of warming always the same; and yet while he causes one plant to grow, he withers ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 46, footnote 3 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Marcella. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 746 (In-Text, Margin)

... stop me from a chat on paper. Let me tell you, then, that for some time past I have been comparing Aquila’s version of the Old Testament with the scrolls of the Hebrew, to see if from hatred to Christ the synagogue has changed the text; and—to speak frankly to a friend—I have found several variations which confirm our faith. After having exactly revised the prophets, Solomon, the psalter, and the books of Kings, I am now engaged on Exodus (called by the Jews, from its opening words, Eleh shemôth[Exodus 1:1]), and when I have finished this I shall go on to Leviticus. Now you see why I can let no claim for a letter withdraw me from my work. However, as I do not wish my friend Currentius to run altogether in vain, I have tacked on to this little talk two ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 279, footnote 4 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3369 (In-Text, Margin)

33. Brief was the interval before Justice pronounced sentence, and handed over the offender to the Persians: sending him forth an ambitious monarch—and bringing him back a corpse for which no one even felt pity; which, as I have heard, was not allowed to rest in the grave, but was shaken out and thrown up by the earth which he had shaken: a prelude—I take it—to his future chastisement. Then another king arose,[Exodus 1:8] not shameless in countenance like the former, nor an oppressor of Israel with cruel tasks and taskmasters, but most pious and gentle. In order to lay the best of foundations for his empire, and begin, as is right, by an act of justice, he recalled from exile all the Bishops, but in the first ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 246, footnote 3 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)

Ephraim Syrus:  Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh. (HTML)

Hymn XII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 481 (In-Text, Margin)

Satan also who strangled the little ones that Moses might perish,[Exodus 1:16] murdered the little ones that the Living One might die. To Egypt He fled, Who came to Judea that He might labour and wander there: he sought to catch the man that would catch himself.

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