It pleased you, Lord, to 'remove from Jacob the opprobrium of being junior' (Ps. 118:22), and that the 'elder should serve the younger' (Rom 9:13); and you called the Gentiles into your inheritance. And I had come to you from the Gentiles and fixed my attention of the gold which you willed your people to take from Egypt, since the gold was yours, wherever it was.

augustine, confessions, vii.15