A Man Sent to Save Egypt

… since they had not come to know the Master of all, would they have cried out to him at all? But just as the blood of Abel is said to have cried out to God (Genesis 4:10), not, surely, as though it had a voice of its own, but because God abhorred the very outrage of the deed, in the same way, I think, one might understand it also of those who used to worship the unclean demons. For even if they do not know the God of all, yet because they have been wronged by Satan, through the deed itself, in a manner, they have cried aloud, surely asking for help for themselves.

In this sense we say that the Egyptians too cried out to God because of those who oppressed them, that is, those who had brought them under their own hand and crushed them as with a most bitter slavery: plainly, the unclean demons. “But the Lord will send them a man who will save them” (Isaiah 19:20). And who is the man, if not, plainly, Christ, that is, the only-begotten Word of God who appeared in human form? He saved not only the Egyptians but the whole earth.

And he saved by judging. What does “by judging” mean? It means that he brought a just judgment in their case. For Satan, who had wronged them, and with him the unclean demons, he subjected to holy verdicts, cast them into Tartarus with chains of gloom, and handed them over to be kept for punishment at the judgment of the great day (compare 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). But those who had endured so unbearable a wrong he saved and rescued, and made them his own worshipers, flashing on them the light of truth and clothing them with the glories of freedom.

So the Savior himself says somewhere: “Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up, will draw all to myself” (John 12:31–32). You see that he has given judgment for the world, cast out Satan, who long ago tyrannized over it, and drawn all to himself. For the Egyptians too have come to know him. And indeed, having come to know him, they offer sacrifices, they make vows, and they carry out what they promised (compare Isaiah 19:21). This is what is sung through the voice of David: “Make vows and pay them to the Lord our God” (Psalm 76:11).

See, then, the newness of things. Those who formerly used to sacrifice to demons, who brought their worship to Satan and dedicated thank offerings to him, and who eagerly fulfilled vows, that is, promises, will be enlightened in mind through Christ and made bright by the doctrines of truth. They will run from their ancient error, and having once come to know the Maker and Lord of all, they bring him worship in spirit, fulfilling most pure vows and offering sacrifices no longer through blood and the slaughter of irrational animals …