By Water & Blood

Questions on Exodus 21: Why he warned them to gather the cattle indoors

Why then, when about to bring the hail, did he charge them to gather the cattle into the houses?

Being loving toward humankind, the Lord mixes the punishments with mercy. Besides, he also knew some worthy of sparing; for the divine Scripture also teaches this: “He who feared,” it says, “the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh gathered his cattle into the houses; but he who did not set his mind to the word of the Lord left the cattle in the fields.” And he brought the hail and the thunderbolts upon them, showing that he himself is Lord of all the elements. For since both Egyptians and Greeks thought some gods heavenly, some earthly, and some subterranean; and that some ruled the earth and some the sea; and that some had authority over the mountains and some over the plains—hence the Syrians also said, “The God of Israel is a God of mountains and not a God of valleys”—the God of all most necessarily disciplined them not only through the river and the earth but also through the air and the sea; and he sent thunderbolts upon them from heaven, teaching that he himself is maker and Lord of all. For this the blessed Moses also said to him: “That you may know that the earth is the Lord’s, both you and your servants.”