Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 131

I will now speak the very words by which it is shown that God divided all the nations. Those words are: "Ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel; and the Lord's portion became his people Jacob, the measuring line of his inheritance, Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:8-9).

Having said this, I added that the Seventy interpreted the text as saying he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. Yet even from this reading the argument is not weakened for me, so I put forward your interpretation as well.

And you, if you wish to confess the truth, that we are more faithful to God — we who have been called by God through the mystery of the cross, despised and full of reproach — we who are punished even to death by the demons and the army of the devil because of the service you rendered to them, we endure all things so that we may not deny Christ even with a word. It is through him that we were called to the salvation prepared by the Father.

Consider your own history: you were redeemed from Egypt, the sea divided for you and made a dry road. On that road your pursuers, with their great power and glorious chariots, were drowned when the sea God made a path through for you closed over them. To you a pillar of light also shone, so that you might possess, unlike every other people in the world, your own complete and unfailing light. To you bread, the manna, was rained down through heavenly angels for food, so that you would not need to seek bread. The water at Marah was sweetened. And a sign of the coming cross was given to you when the serpents that bit you were destroyed, as I said before — all these things granted beforehand by God, who always convicts you of being ungrateful.

Then there is the type of the outstretched hands of Moses and of the one named Jesus who fought against Amalek. God commanded that this event be recorded, saying also to your hearing that the name Jesus was given, declaring, "This is the one who will blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." The memory of Amalek remained even after the son of Nun, but through Jesus who was crucified — of whom those symbols were a proclamation of all things concerning him — it is made clear that the demons will be destroyed and will fear his name, that all powers and kingdoms will likewise be subject to him, and that from every nation those who believe in him will be shown to be devout and peaceful. This confirms the things I previously narrated to you, Trypho.

Moreover, a multitude of quails beyond counting was given to you when you craved meat. To you water also gushed from a rock, and a cloud followed you for shade from the heat and shelter from the cold, announcing another new heaven and a proclamation. For you the thongs of your sandals did not break, nor did your sandals wear out, nor did your clothing wear away; indeed, even the garments of the younger ones grew with them.