He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
16. "And He turned their heart so, that they hated His people, and dealt untruly with His servants" (ver. 25). Is it to be in any wise understood or believed, that God turneth man's heart to do sin? ...For they were not good before they hated His people; but being malignant and ungodly, they were such as would readily envy their prosperous sojourners. And so, in that He multiplied His own people, this bountiful act turned the wicked to envy. For envy is the hatred of another's prosperity. In this sense, therefore, He turned their heart, so that through envy they hated His people, and dealt untruly with His servants. It was not then by making their hearts evil, but by doing good to His people, that He turned their hearts, that were evil of their own accord, to hatred. For He did not pervert a righteous heart, but turned one perverted of its own accord to the hatred of His people, while He was to make a good use of that evil; not by making them evil, but by lavishing blessings upon those...
He turned their heart Not that God (who is never the author of sin) moved the Egyptians to hate and persecute his people; but that the Egyptians took occasion of hating and envying them, from the sight of the benefits which God bestowed upon them. (Challoner) (St. Augustine)
He permitted the malice of the Egyptians, (Theodoret) and employed them to chastise his people, who had adored idols. (Eusebius) (Acts vii. 43.) Felix, Protestants, translate the Hebrew, "their heart was turned. "(Berthier)
The perversity of the Egyptians came from themselves, though it was turned to a good account. (Worthington)
