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5–19. Fourth comparison: the defeat of the firstborn of the Egyptians and the religious triumph of the children of the Jews. 20–25. "Temptation of Death" in the desert. Prem.18:1. And for Your saints there was the greatest light. And they, hearing their voice, but not seeing the image, called them blessed, because they did not suffer. Prem.18:2. And because, having previously been offended by them, they did not take revenge on them, but thanked them and asked for forgiveness for forcing them to endure it, Prem.18:3. instead, You gave them a fiery pillar of light as a guide on an unfamiliar path, and a harmless sun for a safe journey. Prem.18:4. For they were worthy of being deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness, because they kept Thy sons in prison, through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world. 1–4. The first four verses of the XVIII chapter. contain a contrast to the Egyptians of the Jews during the ninth plague. “A heavy night was spread over the Egyptians” (Wisdom 17:20), and “there was a great light for Your saints” (1 v.). The idea is that the ninth plague, three days of darkness, did not apply to the Jews living in Egypt; they, like the rest of the world (Wis. 17:19), used the light. The Egyptians knew about this and considered them happy (Art. 1), and at the same time they were grateful to the Jews that they did not take advantage of their confusion and helplessness during the ninth plague to take revenge on them for the torment of long slavery (Art. 2). God's protection of the Jewish people extended further. While wandering through an unfamiliar desert, a “pillar of fire” showed them the way, and it protected them from the heat of the sun: “gave them... the harmless Sun” (3rd century). The punishment of the Egyptians by deprivation of light is fully deserved by them and corresponds to their crime, the enslavement of those “through whom the imperishable light of the law was given to the world” (Art. 4). The comparison of the Mosaic Law with light is very common in Holy Scripture (Isa. 2:5; Ps. 119:105; Proverbs 6:23). The name of the light “incorruptible” expresses the idea of ​​​​the eternity of the Mosaic Law. This thought is expressed in other places of Holy Scripture (Tov. 1:6; Bar. 4:1), especially often in connection with the messianic hope of the universal spread of the Mosaic Law (Is. 2:2; Mic. 4:1), when idolatry will be destroyed (Wis. 14:13). Prem.18:5. When they decided to kill the children of the saints, although they saved one abandoned son, as punishment for that You took away many of their children and destroyed them all in strong water. 5. From the fifth verse a new section begins, in which a new parallel is drawn between the Egyptians and the Jews. For the inhumane decision of the Egyptians to kill Jewish children, they themselves lost their firstborns, while the Jews and their children not only saved their lives, but also escaped slavery. “...they decided to kill the children of the saints...” (cf. Ex. 1:15–16, 2:1–3). “...although one son, abandoned, was saved...” We are talking about Moses, who was saved from the water by Pharaoh’s daughter. The writer makes this reservation not in order to soften the cruelty of the Egyptians towards Jewish children, but to show that, by the definition of God's Providence, the only child they saved later became for them an instrument of Divine punishment. “...he killed everyone himself in strong water.” The writer speaks in more detail about the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea in the 19th chapter, but here he only notes in passing to obtain a contrast: Moses alone was in danger from the water and was saved, but the Egyptians all died in the water. Prem.18:6. That night was foretold to our fathers, so that they, knowing the promises they believed, would be complacent. 6. “That night was foretold to our fathers...” This is not the night of extraordinary darkness, which the writer spoke about in the previous chapter, but the night on which the Egyptian firstborn were killed, and about which Moses announced to the Jews in advance (Ex. 11, from v. 4). For this foreshadowing, the writer indicates not only the immediate goal, to prepare the Jews for the upcoming event, but also the further goal, to confirm their faith in all other promises and thereby raise the national spirit. Prem.18:7. And Your people looked forward to both the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies, Verse 7 follows from the previous one. The liberation from slavery and the death of the Egyptian firstborn were not a surprise to the Jews, because through Moses they knew about it in advance. Prem.18:8. for by what You punished the enemies, You thereby magnified us, whom You called. 8. Wed. Pres.11:5–6 v. The death of the firstborn of Egypt was a great punishment for the Egyptians, but for the Jews, on the contrary, it served as the reason for their liberation (Ex. 12 from 31 v.). “... magnified us whom You called.” In connection with the next verse, we are talking about the calling to spiritual inner communication with God. Prem.18:9. The holy children of the good secretly performed the sacrifice and unanimously decreed by divine law that the saints should equally share in the same benefits and dangers, when the fathers were already singing praises. Verse 9 speaks of the Passover sacrifice (see Ex. 12:3–15): “the holy children of the good performed the sacrifice in secret.” By calling children participants in the sacrifice, the writer does not exclude adults; he singles out children only to contrast with the Egyptians: at the time when the children of the Egyptians were killed, Jewish children were having a religious meal. The sacrifice was secret. The Egyptians were not initiated into the rituals of Easter night, since they clearly indicated the fate that awaited them. On the other hand, the children who participated in the sacrifice were doomed to death by the Egyptian authorities, so their participation could only be secret. Calling children “saints” has the same meaning as calling the entire nation saints (Wis. 10:17, 18:1): it does not indicate their actual state, but their purpose, their calling to holiness. They were “the children of the good...” The writer calls the Israelites, the fathers of these children, good, as in other places in the book he called them “righteous” (Wis. 10:20, 11:14, 11:9, 16:23, 18:20) and “saints” (Wis. 10:17, 17:1). “...they unanimously decreed by divine law that the saints should equally share in the same benefits and dangers.” To establish something as a divine law means to commit to its strict fulfillment. At the Passover meal, the Jews committed themselves to the equal participation of all, without distinction, both in the dangers of free life in the desert and in its benefits. Thus, the Easter supper was for them a symbol of fraternal unity. This consciousness of brotherhood was directly expressed in a song of praise to God. Prem.18:10 . From the opposite side, the discordant cry of the enemies was heard, and a plaintive cry rang out over the mourning children. 10. Transition to the Egyptians. In contrast to the song of praise of the Jews, “from the opposite side,” i.e. from the Egyptians, “a plaintive cry rang out over the mourned children,” over the first-borns killed on the night of the Jews’ exit. Prem.18:11. The slave and the master were punished by the same court, and the commoner suffered the same thing with the king: Prem.18:12 . everyone in general had countless dead people who died the same death; and there were not enough living ones for burial, since in an instant their entire most precious generation was destroyed. Prem.18:13 . And those who did not believe anything for the sake of sorcery, when the firstborn were destroyed, recognized that this people were the son of God, 11–13. The tenth plague equally affected all Egyptians, without distinction of their social and financial status (Ex. 11:5, 12:30). Everyone was punished “by the same judgment” (v. 11), “all... had... dead men who died the same death” (12). There was no difference even in the form of death. This circumstance, the homogeneity of the punishment, which equalized all the Egyptians, according to the writer, especially strongly convinced them that the event they were experiencing was the work of God, and not human, and therefore the Jewish people, for the liberation of which this execution was carried out, “are the son of God” (Art. 13, Ex. 12:31). “...their most precious generation” are the first-born, valued among the ancient peoples more than other children. “...they did not believe anything for the sake of sorcery...” An indication of the circumstance noted in the book of Exodus (Exodus 7:11, 22), that the stubborn reluctance to recognize the Jews as the people of Jehovah and to let them go was greatly facilitated by the Egyptian wise men. Prem.18:14 . for when quiet silence surrounded everything and the night in its course reached the middle, Prem.18:15 . Thy almighty word came down from heaven from the royal thrones to the middle of the pernicious earth, like a formidable warrior. Prem.18:16. It carried a sharp sword - Your unchangeable command and, having become, filled everything with death: it touched the sky and walked on the earth. 15–16. Contain a poetic description of the action of Divine omnipotence in the extermination of the Egyptian firstborn. As in other places in our book (Wis. 9:1, 16:12), the image of the Divine will manifested in the external world is the word. “Like a formidable warrior” with a sharp sword, it descends from heaven from the royal thrones to the middle of the pernicious earth to fill everything with death. The power of the Divine word over the universe is limitless: “it touched the sky and walked on the earth.” Prem.18:17. Then suddenly their dreams of dreams were greatly disturbed, and unexpected horrors occurred; Prem.18:18 . and, being struck - one there, the other here, half dead, announced the reason why he was dying: Prem.18:19. for the dreams that alarmed them showed them this beforehand, so that they would not perish without knowing why they were suffering evil. 17–19. The writer reports a circumstance kept silent by the book. Exodus. On the night of the death of the Egyptian firstborns, they were disturbed 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 dying, and this was announced to those who remained alive. The writer does not indicate here what this reason for the terrible punishment that befell the Egyptians was: of course, the same one that he spoke about earlier (Wis. 18:4) - the oppression of the Jews. Prem.18:20 . Although the temptation of death touched the righteous, and many of them perished in the desert, this wrath did not last long, 20–25. In this section, the writer, in parallel to the punishment of the Egyptians by the death of their firstborns, cites a similar event from the life of the Jews in the desert (Num. 17:12), in order to use this example to show how merciful God was to them. Like the Egyptians on their memorable night, the Jews were in danger of death, but the destruction lasted for a short time, and with Aaron’s prayer it stopped. 20. “The temptation of death also touched the righteous.” This expression shows that the death sent was only an admonishing test for the Jews, and not a means of punishment according to the judgment of God. Prem.18:21 . for the blameless man hastened to protect them; bringing the weapons of his ministry, prayer and incense propitiation, he resisted the wrath and put an end to the disaster, showing that he was Your servant. 21. “...the blameless husband hastened to protect them.” The reference is to Aaron, see Num. 16:47 art. The epithet “immaculate” is attached to him in the sense that he was free from the sin for which the Jews were punished, and therefore could be a mediator between those who sinned and God. Prem.18:22 . He defeated the destroyer not by physical force or by force of arms, but with a word he subdued the punisher, remembering the oaths and covenants of his fathers. 22. "In a word", i.e. Through prayer and remembrance of the promises given to the patriarchs of the Jewish people, Aaron “defeated the destroyer.” By destroyer we mean the Angel of Death who struck the Jews; in 25 Art. this destroyer is called by the same word that in the book of Exodus (Exodus 12:23) the Angel of Death who struck the Egyptian firstborn was called - ό όλεθρεύων. “Remembering the oaths and covenants of the fathers...” Interceding for the people, Aaron bowed to God’s mercy by remembering the good promises given to the fathers of the Jewish people: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Prem.18:23 . For when the dead were already lying in heaps, one on top of the other, he, standing in the middle, stopped the anger and blocked his path to the living. Prem.18:24 . On his bosom was the whole world, and the glorious names of the fathers were carved on stones in four rows, and Your greatness was on the diadem of his head. Prem.18:25 . The destroyer yielded to this, and was afraid of this: for this one test of anger was enough. 24–25. In addition to prayer and burning incense, Aaron also stopped the destruction with his high priestly clothing, to which the writer seems to attribute a magical effect: “to this the destroyer yielded and was afraid of this.” “There was a whole world at his disposal.” In this idea that the high priestly garment was a symbol of the world, one feels a characteristic feature of Alexandrinism, which found symbols of natural objects and higher ideas in sacred rites and objects. In particular, we find a comparison of the high priest's clothing with the world in Philo - De profug. I, 562; VitaMos. II, 154. - “The glorious names of the fathers were carved on the stones in four rows.” We are talking about a breastplate on which were carved the names of the twelve ancestors of the tribes of Israel (Num. 28:15–30). “...Your greatness is on the diadem of his head.” On the headband of the high priest was attached a gold tablet with the inscription: “holy to Jehovah.”