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Third comparison: 1–20. heavy terrible night over Egypt - XVIII: 1-4, and light over Israel. Chapter XVII and the first four verses of XVIII contain the third parallel between the Egyptians and the Israelites. The Egyptians were punished with three days of darkness (Ex. 10 from the 21st Art.), this time was sheer horror for them; on the contrary, at that time the greatest light shone for the Jews and subsequently they never suffered from darkness: a luminous pillar illuminated and showed them the way. Prem.17:1. Great and incomprehensible are Your judgments, therefore unlearned souls have fallen into error. 1. “...Thy judgments...” Divine definitions, method and manner of action in the human world. (Compare Ps. 119:75 v.; Rom. 11:33). “...unlearned souls...” Those who do not have correct knowledge of God and His relationship to the world; the closest reference here is to the Egyptians. The idea of ​​the verse is that it is necessary to have true, frank knowledge of God in order not to be mistaken regarding the methods of action of Divine Providence in the human world. Prem.17:2. For the lawless, who planned to oppress the holy people, prisoners of darkness and captives of the long night, shutting themselves up in their houses, hid from eternal Providence. 2. It is determined what the error of the Egyptians was. First of all, that they “planned to oppress the holy people,” and then, when a terrible “execution” befell them, a three-day darkness (Ex. 10:21–23), and they were, as it were, “captives of a long night,” they did not want to recognize the action of God in this event and submit to His will, but tried to escape from the almighty right hand of God in their homes: “having shut themselves up in their houses, they hid from eternal Providence." Prem.17:3. Thinking to take refuge in secret sins, they, under the dark cover of oblivion, scattered, greatly frightened and confused by ghosts, 3. This verse contains irony for the Egyptians. The latter even wanted to use God’s punishment sent to them by darkness to cover up their secret sins. (See Job 24:15–16; Isa. 29:15). But these calculations did not come true. The hopeless night interfered with even dark affairs: they “scattered, greatly frightened ... by ghosts.” Prem.17:4. for even the most secret place that contained them did not save them from fear, but the terrible sounds around them confused them, and ferocious monsters with terrible faces appeared. 4. The fear experienced by the Egyptians during the three-day darkness sent to them is described. “Even the most secret place” did not save me from this fear. This hidden place sometimes refers to deep underground corridors in Egypt, or deeply dug rooms inside the pyramids. But in verse 2 it was said that the Egyptians “shut themselves up in their houses,” according to which here, too, by “hidden place” it is better to mean the inner rooms of the houses. “... the terrible sounds around them confused them, and ferocious monsters with terrible faces appeared.” Is the writer talking here about objective objects that terrified the Egyptians, or does he mean here fantasy images created under the influence of fear? Further in 6 tbsp. He calls one of the objects that frightens the Egyptians an “invisible ghost,” and then he expresses more generally that the Egyptians “were disturbed by terrible ghosts” (Art. 14). Nowhere is it seen that the writer considers these ghosts to be any objective objects, for example, demons, or the shadows of dead people emerging from hell, who, taking the images of “fierce monsters with terrible faces” (4th Art.), “burning fires of their own accord, full of horror” (6th Art.), would appear to intimidate people. On the contrary, he says that the Egyptians were in extreme fear, “although no fears disturbed them” (verse 9). The reason for fear, according to the writer, is not outside, but inside, in the mental state of the Egyptians; these are the horrors of a “suffering soul” (8), they are “invented by wickedness persecuted by conscience” (v. 10). Thus, horrors are “made up”, they are the result of imagination, acting under the influence of remorse. Reality, of course, provided rich material for this imagination, and the writer speaks about this in detail in the 17th and 18th centuries. Prem.17:5. And no power of fire could illuminate, no bright brilliance of the stars could illuminate this gloomy night. 5. A similar remark about this darkness, that they tried in vain to illuminate it with fire, is found in Philo, Vita Mos. II v. 100. Pres.17:6. The only thing that appeared to them was the burning fires themselves, full of horror, and they, fearing the invisible - the ghost, imagined the visible to be even worse. 6. One of the ghosts that frightened the Egyptians, created by their imagination, is indicated: these are “bonfires burning by themselves, full of horror”; fires not lit by anyone and burning without any material to support the fire. What was actually terrible about these fires is not clear from the brevity of the story; Perhaps these bonfires were images of punishment, which were invented by “wickedness condemned by its own testimony.” Pres.17:7. The seductions of magical art have fallen, and the boasting of wisdom has been ridiculed, Pres.17:8. for those who promised to drive away horrors and fears from the suffering soul themselves suffered from shameful timidity. 7–8. Egyptian sorcerers, as is known from the book of Exodus, tried to fight Moses with his own weapon, tried to perform the same signs and wonders that he performed. Having imitated him somewhat in the first two “plagues,” they were then forced to admit their powerlessness (Ex. 9:11). According to the book of the Wisdom of Solomon, representatives of the “magical art and wisdom” of Egypt fought against Moses for much longer. They “promised to ward off the horrors” of even the 9th plague, and only the shameful timidity that gripped them themselves subjected them to ridicule. Pres.17:9. And although no fears disturbed them, but, pursued by the fermentation of poisonous animals and the whistles of reptiles, they disappeared from fear, afraid to even look at the air, from which they could not escape anywhere, 9 . The extreme degree of timidity that gripped the Egyptians is depicted: “they disappeared from fear, afraid to even look at the air.” Meanwhile, there was no objective reason for fear: “no intimidation”, in fact, “did not disturb them.” Indescribable fear was caused by the most insignificant objects: the scream or whistle of animals, the noise of their movement. Prem.17:10 . for wickedness, condemned by its own testimony, is fearful and, persecuted by conscience, always invents horrors. 10. In the previous verse, the writer expressed the idea of ​​the apparent causelessness of the fear of the Egyptians, that there were no truly terrible objects outside. This prompts him to now indicate the real cause of fear (Art. 10), and at the same time determine what fear essentially is (Art. 11 and 12). The reason for fear, according to the writer, lies in the conscience that persecuted the Egyptians for their wickedness. Condemned by the testimony of conscience, “wickedness is fearful and ... invents horrors.” Psychologically, this explanation of the origin of fear is very correct. The 10th verse is important in that it uses the word “conscience”, συνείδησις, in its absolutely precise meaning, indicating the real functions of this side of the human spirit (cf. Rom. 2:15). Prem.17:11. Fear is nothing more than the deprivation of help from reason. 11. The definition of fear given here is, of course, incomplete. It marks only one side. Its meaning is this: fear takes away a person’s composure, so that he can no longer direct his attention to the subject of fear in order to either be convinced of its insignificance, or find a means to eliminate it. Prem.17:12. The less hope there is within, the greater the unknown of the cause producing the torment appears. 12. This verse explains verse 11. The idea is this: in despair, people usually exaggerate their helplessness; fearful objects seem to them more dangerous than they really are. They get lost, cannot concentrate their thoughts, and the unknown of the cause that frightens them increases for them. Prem.17:13 . And they, on this truly unbearable night that came from the depths of unbearable hell, getting ready to fall asleep in an ordinary sleep, Prem.17:14. sometimes they were disturbed by terrible ghosts, sometimes they were weakened by spiritual despondency, for sudden and unexpected fear came over them. 13–18. These verses make an application of what was said in vv. 10–12. thoughts to the Egyptians. The fear that gripped them in itself was powerless to harm them, but fear deprived the Egyptians of reasoning, so that the most insignificant objects, the most insignificant phenomena terrified them. “...from the depths of unbearable hell came the night...” Hell in Holy Scripture seems to be a dark and gloomy place (Job 10:21–22, 38:17; Ps. 48:20), therefore the writer considers the unusually dark and long night that covered Egypt to have emerged from hell. In this explanation of the origin of the night, the writer disagrees with Philo, who explained the origin of the unusually long night either by a solar eclipse or by the thickening of clouds (Vita Mos. vol. II, 100). The predicate αδύνατος, “powerless” (in the Russian text “intolerable”) is attached to hell, probably because the inhabitants of hell are the disembodied and powerless shadows of the dead. The origin of the night from the powerless hell gives the idea that the fear of the Egyptians was aroused by an object that was insignificant in origin. The reason for the fear lay within, in the “despondency” that gripped their soul, under the influence of which the disordered imagination created “terrible signs.” Prem.17:15 . So, where anyone was then caught, he was made a prisoner and was imprisoned in this prison without shackles. 15. The comparison of the Egyptians shrouded in darkness with prisoners in a dungeon is quite natural. Like prisoners, the Egyptians in darkness were deprived of freedom of movement, freedom of activity. The writer used this comparison before (Article 2). Prem.17:16. Whether he was a farmer or a shepherd, or engaged in work in the desert, everyone, being caught, was subject to this inevitable fate, 16. The meaning of the verse is this: even those who, by the nature of their occupation, usually returned from daytime work in large groups could not escape the horrors of the night: shepherds, field workers. Prem.17:17. for all were bound by the same insoluble bonds of darkness. Whether it is the whistling wind, or the sweet-sounding voice of birds among the thick branches, or the strength of fast-flowing water, or the strong crackling of falling stones, Prem.17:18. or the invisible running of galloping animals, or the voice of the roaring ferocious animals, or the echo echoing from the mountain recesses, all this, terrifying them, plunged them into relaxation. Verses 17–18 contain a poetic description of how every insignificant sound filled the Egyptians with fear and despair. The whistle of the wind, the voices of birds, the sound of water, the crack of a mountain collapse, a loud echo in the mountains, in a word - all of nature was a source of indescribable fear for them. Prem.17:19 . For the whole world was illuminated by a clear light and was engaged in business without hindrance; Prem.17:20 . and above them alone lay heavy night, the image of the darkness that once had time to embrace them; but for themselves they were more burdensome than darkness. 19–20. According to the final verses of Chapter XVII. it is clear that the terrible Egyptian night described above was not an ordinary dark night: it spread only over Egypt, and the rest “the whole world was illuminated by a clear light and went about its business without hindrance.” Undoubtedly, the writer spoke of punishing the Egyptians with three days of darkness (Ex. 10:21–23). This difficult night was an image of “the darkness that had no time to embrace them.” The mention of future darkness cannot be understood as an image of the severe, painful state of the Egyptians after death, in this sense this word is often used in the New Testament (Matthew 8:12, 22:13, 25:30). The writer allowed, so to speak, the physical existence of hell (Art. 14), which he imagined as shrouded in impenetrable darkness. Therefore, “the darkness that once had to embrace them” is the actual darkness of hell, in which the souls of dead evil people reside. However, no matter how terrible the darkness of the Egyptian night was, the main source of horror lay not in it, but in the internal state of mind that the Egyptians experienced: “for themselves they were more painful than darkness.”