[203] And I marvel still more, when listening to the sacred oracles I learn from them in what manner "a cloud came in the midst" [136] between the army of the Egyptians and the company of the children of Israel; for the cloud no longer permitted the race, which is temperate and beloved by God, to be persecuted by that which was devoted to the passions and a foe to God; being a covering and a protection to its friends, but a weapon of vengeance and chastisement against its enemies;