Chapter Eighteen

18:5–19. Fourth comparison: the death of the firstborn of Egypt and the religious triumph of the Hebrew children. 18:20–25. The “testing of death” in the wilderness.

Wisdom 18:1. And for your holy ones there was the greatest light. And those hearing the sound of their voices but not seeing the forms called them blessed, because they had not suffered. Wisdom 18:2. And in that you did not wage war against them for having previously wronged them, they gave thanks and asked forgiveness for what they had compelled them to endure. Wisdom 18:3. Instead, you gave them a fiery pillar as a guide on an unfamiliar path, and a harmless sun for their prosperous journey. Wisdom 18:4. For those justly deserved to be deprived of light and shut up in darkness, because they held captive your sons, through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world. 18:1–4. The first four verses of chapter 18 contain a contrast between the Egyptians and the Hebrews during the ninth plague. Over the Egyptians “a heavy night was spread out” (Wis 17:20), while “for your holy ones there was the greatest light” (verse 1). The thought is that the ninth plague, the three-day darkness, did not extend to the Hebrews living in Egypt; they, like the rest of the world (Wis 17:19), enjoyed light. The Egyptians knew of this and considered them fortunate (verse 1), and at the same time were grateful to the Hebrews that they did not use their confusion and helplessness during the ninth plague to take vengeance for the torments of long slavery (verse 2). God’s protection of the Hebrew people extended further still. During their wandering through the unfamiliar wilderness, the “fiery pillar” showed them the path and protected them from the sun’s heat: “you gave them... a harmless sun” (verse 3). The punishment of the Egyptians by deprivation of light was fully deserved and corresponded to their crime, the enslavement of those “through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world” (verse 4). The comparison of Moses’ law with light is very frequent in Holy Scripture (Isa 2:5; Ps 118:105; Prov 6:23). The designation of light as “imperishable” expresses the idea of the eternity of Moses’ law. This idea is expressed in other places in Holy Scripture (Tob 1:6; Bar 4:1), especially often in connection with the messianic expectation of the universal spread of Moses’ law (Isa 2:2; Mic 4:1), when idolatry will be destroyed (Wis 14:13).

Wisdom 18:5. When they determined to kill the children of the holy ones, though one forsaken son you saved, in punishment for this you took away a multitude of their children and destroyed them all together in the mighty waters. 18:5. From the fifth verse a new section begins, in which a new parallel is drawn between the Egyptians and the Hebrews. For their cruel decision to put to death Hebrew children, they themselves were deprived of their firstborn; the Hebrews, together with their children, not only preserved their lives but also were saved from slavery. “…they determined to kill the children of the holy ones…” (cf. Exod 1:15-16). “…though one forsaken son you saved…” The reference is to Moses, whom Pharaoh’s daughter rescued from the water. The writer makes this reservation not to soften the Egyptians’ cruelty toward Hebrew children, but to show that by the determination of Divine Providence, the only child they saved became for them afterward an instrument of Divine punishment. “…destroyed them all together in the mighty waters.” Concerning the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the writer speaks more at length in chapter 19; here he merely notes in passing for the sake of contrast: Moses alone was exposed to danger from water and was saved, while all the Egyptians perished in water.

Wisdom 18:6. That night was foreannounced to our ancestors, so that they, having firm knowledge of the promises in which they believed, might be of good courage. 18:6. “That night was foreannounced to our ancestors…” This is not the night of unusual darkness spoken of by the writer in the preceding chapter, but that night in which the Egyptian firstborn were put to death, and about which Moses had foreannounced to the Hebrews in advance (Exod 11, verse 4). For this foreannouncement, the writer points out not only the immediate purpose, to prepare the Hebrews for the coming event, but also a further purpose: to strengthen their faith in all other promises and thereby to raise the people’s spirit.

Wisdom 18:7. And your people awaited both the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies. 18:7. Verse 7 follows from the preceding verse. Liberation from slavery and the death of the Egyptian firstborn were no surprise to the Hebrews, because through Moses they knew of this beforehand.

Wisdom 18:8. For by what you punished our enemies, by that very thing you exalted us, whom you called. 18:8. Cf. Wis 11:5-6 verse. The death of the Egyptian firstborn was a great punishment for the Egyptians, but for the Hebrews it served as the cause of their liberation (Exod 12 verses 31). “…you exalted us, whom you called.” In connection with the following verse, the reference here is to calling to spiritual inner communion with God.

Wisdom 18:9. The holy children of the good secretly offered sacrifice and unanimously established by divine law that the holy should equally share in the same blessings and dangers, when the fathers already were singing praises. 18:9. Verse 9 speaks of the Passover sacrifice (see Exod 12:3-15): “the holy children of the good secretly offered sacrifice.” In calling the children participants in the sacrifice, the writer does not exclude adults; he singles out the children only for contrast with the Egyptians: at the time when Egyptian children were being put to death, Hebrew children were celebrating a religious meal. The sacrifice was secret. The Egyptians were not initiated into the rites of the Passover night, for they clearly indicated the fate that awaited them. On the other hand, the children, participants in the sacrifice, were condemned by Egyptian authority to death, so their participation could only be secret. The designation of the children as “holy” has the same meaning as the designation of holiness for the entire people (Wis 10:17): it points not to their actual condition but to their calling, their vocation to holiness. They were “children of the good…” The writer calls the Israelites, the fathers of these children, good, just as in other places in the book he called them “righteous” (Wis 10:20) and “holy” (Wis 10:17). “…unanimously established by divine law that the holy should equally share in the same blessings and dangers.” To establish something as a divine law means to pledge oneself to its unwavering fulfillment. At the Passover meal, the Hebrews undertook an obligation that all should equally share, without distinction, both in the dangers of free life in the wilderness and in its blessings. Thus the Passover supper became for them a symbol of brotherly unity. This consciousness of brotherhood was expressed directly in the hymn of praise to God.

Wisdom 18:10. On the opposite side a dissonant cry of the enemy rang out, and a mournful wail was heard over the lamented children. 18:10. A transition to the Egyptians. In contrast to the hymn of praise of the Hebrews, “on the opposite side,” that is, from the Egyptians, “a mournful wail was heard over the lamented children,” over the firstborn put to death on the night of the Hebrews’ departure.

Wisdom 18:11. With the same judgment the slave was punished as the master, and the common man suffered the same as the king. Wisdom 18:12. All in general had countless dead, those who died by the same death; and the living were insufficient for burial, since in one moment their most precious generation had been destroyed. Wisdom 18:13. And those who believed in nothing because of magic, upon the destruction of the firstborn, acknowledged that this nation is a son of God. 18:11–13. The tenth plague equally affected all Egyptians without distinction of their social and material standing (Exod 11:5). All were punished “with the same judgment” (verse 11), “all had… dead, those who died by the same death” (verse 12). There was no distinction even in the manner of death. This circumstance, the uniformity of punishment, which equalized all the Egyptians, according to the writer’s thought, especially strongly convinced them that the event they experienced was God’s work and not a human action; therefore the Hebrew nation, for the liberation of which this plague was brought about, “is a son of God” (verse 13, Exod 12:31). “…their most precious generation” – the firstborn, who were valued by ancient peoples more than other children. “…those who believed in nothing because of magic…” An allusion to the circumstance also noted in the book of Exodus (Exod 7:11), that the stubborn refusal to recognize the Hebrews as a nation of Jehovah and to let them go was greatly promoted by Egyptian sorcerers.

Wisdom 18:14. For when all things were encompassed with quiet silence and night in its course had reached the midpoint, Wisdom 18:15. Your almighty word, descending from the royal thrones into the midst of the land of destruction, came down as a fierce warrior. Wisdom 18:16. It bore a sharp sword – your unchangeable command, and standing, filled all things with death; it touched the heaven and walked upon the earth. 18:15–16. Contain a poetic description of the action of Divine omnipotence in the destruction of the Egyptian firstborn. As in other places of our book (Wis 9:1), the image of Divine will manifesting itself in the external world is the word. “Like a fierce warrior” with a sharp sword, it descends from the heavens from the royal thrones into the midst of the land of destruction to fill all things with death. The power of the Divine word over the universe is boundless: “it touched the heaven and walked upon the earth.”

Wisdom 18:17. Then suddenly terrible dreams greatly disturbed them, and unexpected terrors came upon them. Wisdom 18:18. And, being struck down – one here, another there, the half-dead one declared the reason why he was dying. Wisdom 18:19. For the dreams that disturbed them beforehand showed them this, so that they would not perish without knowing why they suffered evil. 18:17–19. The writer reports on a circumstance passed over in silence by the book of Exodus. On the night of the Egyptian firstborn’s destruction, they were troubled by terrible dreams in which the reason for their sad fate was revealed to them. Therefore they died with full knowledge of why they were perishing and spoke of this to those remaining alive. What reason the writer assigns for the terrible punishment that came upon the Egyptians, he does not state here: it is understood to be the same one he spoke of earlier (Wis 18:4), – the oppression of the Hebrews.

Wisdom 18:20. Although the testing of death touched both the righteous and many of them perished in the wilderness, yet this anger did not last long. 18:20–25. In this section the writer, in parallel with the punishment of the Egyptians by the death of their firstborn, gives a similar event from the life of the Hebrews in the wilderness (Num 17:12), in order to show by this example how merciful God was to them. Just as the Egyptians on the memorable night for them, the Hebrews were exposed to the danger of death, but the destruction lasted for a short time; through Aaron’s prayer it ceased. 18:20. “The testing of death touched both the righteous.” This expression shows that the death being sent was only a chastening trial of the Hebrews, not a means of punishment according to Divine judgment.

Wisdom 18:21. For the blameless man hastened to defend them; bringing the weapon of his service, prayer and incense of supplication, he opposed the wrath and put an end to the calamity, showing thereby that he is your servant. 18:21. “…the blameless man hastened to defend them.” The reference is to Aaron, see Num 16:47 verse. The epithet “blameless” is applied to him in the sense that he was free from the sin for which the Hebrews were being punished, and therefore could serve as an intermediary between those who had sinned and God.

Wisdom 18:22. He overcame the destroyer not by the strength of his body and not by the action of arms, but by word he subdued the one punishing, remembering the oaths and covenants of the fathers. 18:22. “By word,” that is, by prayer and remembrance of the promises given to the patriarchs of the Hebrew people, Aaron “overcame the destroyer.” The destroyer is understood to be the Angel of death who was striking down the Hebrews; in verse 25 this destroyer is called by the same word as in the book of Exodus (Exod 12:23) the Angel of death who struck down the Egyptian firstborn is called – ό όλεθρεύων. “Remembering the oaths and covenants of the fathers…” Interceding for the people, Aaron inclined the mercy of God by remembrance of the good promises given to the fathers of the Hebrew people: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Wisdom 18:23. For when the dead were already lying in heaps one upon another, he, standing in the midst, stopped the wrath and cut off its way to the living. 18:23. Cf. Lev 16:48.

Wisdom 18:24. On his robe was the whole world, and the glorious names of the fathers were engraved on the stones in four rows, and the majesty of God on the diadem of his head. Wisdom 18:25. To this the destroyer yielded, and was afraid of it; for one trial of wrath was enough. 18:24–25. Besides his prayer and the offering of incense, Aaron stopped the destruction also through his high priestly garment, which the writer, as it were, ascribes a magical action: “to this the destroyer yielded and was afraid of it.” “On his robe was the whole world.” In this thought, that the high priestly garment was a symbol of the world, one feels a characteristic feature of Alexandrianism, which found symbols of objects of nature and higher ideas in sacred rites and objects. Specifically, the comparison of the high priestly garment to the world we find in Philo – De profug. I, 562; Vita Mos. II, 154. – “The glorious names of the fathers were engraved on the stones in four rows.” The reference is to the breastpiece, on which the names of the twelve patriarchs of the tribes of Israel were engraved (Num 28:15-30). “…and the majesty of God on the diadem of his head.” On the headband of the high priest was attached a gold plate with the inscription: “holiness to the Lord.” Our Telegram channel