1 Kings 8:50,51

That they may have compassion on them Treat them mercifully while they continue their slaves, and give them liberty to return to their own land. God has the hearts of all men in his hands, and, can, when he pleaseth, turn the strongest stream the contrary way, and cause those to pity his people, who have been their most cruel persecutors. For they be thy people How much soever they may sin against thee, or suffer from men, yet still remember they are thy peculiar people, received into covenant with thee, and taken under thy care and protection. And thine inheritance From whom, more than from any other nation, thy rent and tribute of glory arises. Which thou broughtest from the furnace of iron From cruel bondage, and painful labours. For he compares Egypt to a furnace in which iron and other metals are melted, or which, being made of iron, is more hot and terrible than one of brick and stone, to signify the misery and torment which the Israelites endured there.