And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
Ver. 23. And the fire ran along upon the ground.] Such "hailstones and coals of fire" we also read of in Psa 18:13-15 Isaiah 30:30,31; and in the Roman history, when Marcus Antonius the philosopher fought with the Quades, and by the prayers of the thundering legion - κεραυνοβολος, as they were afterwards called - of the Christians, rain was obtained to the refreshing of the Roman army, ingens grando compluraque fulmina in hostes ceciderunt: Itaque licebat videre in eodem loco aquam ignemque simul de coelo cadere, atque ob eam causam, Romanos valere ac bibere. Quados exuri et penitus interire. i.e., A huge hail and many lightening bolts fell upon the enemy; fire and water fell at once from heaven; the Romans drank of the water and were relieved; the Quades were burnt by the fire, and perished. a
a Dio, in Vita M. Ant. Phil.