And Moses said, It is not proper so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?
All Commentaries on Exodus 8:26 Go To Exodus 8
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
You wrote to me that you were disturbed by what you read: “Let us sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to God.” But you had the means to explain it: that in Genesis it is written, “The Egyptians abominated the shepherd of flocks.” This was certainly not because of the man, but because of the sheep. For the Egyptians cultivated the earth with the plow; Abraham and Jacob, however, and later Moses and David, were shepherds and bestowed a certain royal discipline upon this occupation. Thus the Egyptians hated pure sacrifices, that is, zeal complete and perfect for virtue and discipline. For what wicked men hate is pure and pious among good men. The indulgent man hates the labor of virtue; the glutton shrinks back from it. And so the Egyptian body, because it loves allurements, turns away from the virtues of the soul. It hates authority, and shrinks from the discipline of the virtues and all labors of this sort. The Egyptian, then flees these things; he is an Egyptian and not a man. You have knowledge of human nature; you will understand this. But reject what they follow and choose, since these two—prudence and folly—cannot be in accord with one another. And so, just as the virtues of prudence and continence exclude whatever belongs in any way to imprudence and intemperance, so every foolish man and every incontinent man has no part in what good men have or in the inheritance of the wise and continent man. New Testament, Exodus
