requent before the law were the appearances of the Almighty after
this manner, Exod. c. xix. Ezek. c. i. &c. Hence is he said to
"dwell in thick darkness: and have his way in the whirlwind."

28 There is a very great air in all that precedes, but this is signally
sublime. We are struck with admiration to see the vast and
ungovernable ocean receiving commands, and punctually obeying them;
to find it like a managed horse, raging, tossing, and foaming, but
by the rule and direction of its master. This passage yields in
sublimity to that of "Let there be light," &c., so much only as the
absolute government of nature yields to the creation of it.

29 Another argument that Moses was the author, is, that most of the
creatures here mentioned are Egyptian. The reason given why the
raven is particularly mentioned as an object of the care of
Providence, is, because by her clamorous and importunate voice, she
particularly seems always calling upon it; thence [Greek: korasso, a
korax], AElian. l. ii. c. 48, is "to ask earnestly." And since there
were ravens on the bank of the Nile more clamorous than the rest of
that species, those probably are meant in that place.

30 There are many instances of this bird's stupidity: let two suffice.
First, it covers its head in the reeds, and thinks itself all out of
sight,

Stat lumine clauso
Ridendum revoluta caput, creditque latere
Quae non ipsa videt.

Claud.

Secondly, they that go in pursuit of them, draw the skin of an
ostrich's neck on one hand, which proves a sufficient lure to take
them with the other.

They have so little brain, that Heliogabalus had six hundred heads
for his supper.

Here we may observe, that our judicious as well as sublime author,
just touches the great points of distinction in each creature, and
then hastens to another. A description is exact when you cannot add,
but what is common to another thing; nor withdraw, but something
peculiarly belonging to the thing described. A likeness is lost in
too much description, as a meaning often in too much illustration.

31 Here is marked another peculiar quality of this creature, which
neither flies nor runs directly, but