And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish [was] my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:
Ver. 5. A Syrian ready to perish.] Jacob, whose original was from Haran in Syria, Gen 11:31 and whose abode had been with Laban the Syrian, in much poverty, affliction, and misery. Hos 12:12 How low and mean were we of this nation at first! Brith signifies blue-coloured, sc., with woad: hence we were called Britons. Instead of fine clothes our ancestors dyed their skins, and painted upon them sundry sorts of birds and beasts: for food they had barks of trees, &c. This should never be forgotten.
And became there a nation.] Consider we likewise what we were by nature, and should have been; what we are by grace, and shall be; and then take we up that most modest speech of that noble Athenian captain, Iphicrates, in the midst of all his glory, εξ οιων εις οια; a from how great baseness and misery, to what great blessedness and glory are we advanced; being "raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Ephesians 2:9 ; Eph 2:11-13 See Trapp on " Eph 2:11 " See Trapp on " Eph 2:12 " See Trapp on " Eph 2:13 " What was there in us, said Tamerlane to Bajazet the great Turk, now his prisoner, that God should set us over two great empires of Turks and Tartars, to command many more worthy than ourselves, you being blind of one eye, and I lame of a leg, &c.? b Peter Martyr told Queen Elizabeth in an epistle, that princes must be doubly thankful to God: (1.) As men; (2.) As eminent men, exalted above others. So must all God's servants, who being his firstborn, are in that respect "higher than the kings of the earth," Psa 89:27 and being "the firstfruits of his revenue," are therefore "holiness to the Lord." Jer 2:3
a Arist., Rhetor., lib, v. cap. 9.
b Leonclav., Annal. Turc.