Benjamin Fleischer

Exodus In Translation

Dr. Jeffery Tigay

Spring 2001

 

 

 

Seeing Justice in the Punishment of Egypt

 

            There is a serious issue in the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.  They were brought out by great signs and marvels[1] at the expense of the Egyptians.  Furthermore, according to the Torah, the enslavement and judgment of the Egyptians was pre-ordained[2].  That means that the mass destruction and loss of life described in the Torah is part of God’s plan!  The Egyptians are made a mockery for the way they treated the Israelites[3] and yet it is not their choice?!  Abraham pleaded for the wicked Sodom not to be destroyed.  Were there not ten righteous men among the Egyptians that they should be punished so? This paper attempts to understand some 2nd Temple era responses to the punishment of Egypt in the ten plagues and Sea of Reeds narratives.

            Before we move into the topic of how the Torah is later viewed, we must first view it on its own terms.  The Israelites are foretold they will be enslaved and despoil the Egyptians[4].  God hears the cry of the slaves and remembers his covenant[5].  This sets in action the redemption of the Israelites.  We are told that they will be driven out of Egypt by a greater might[6].  Some explanations for the chastisements are so that the Israelites people will know that it is God who freed them[7].  However, the Egyptians[8] and Pharaoh[9] are to learn of God’s greatness and might.  They are to be mocked[10] and humbled[11].  God’s fame is to resound throughout the world[12].  The plagues are not meant to destroy the Egyptians but for God to gain glory[13] and show his power to the Egyptians[14].  Lastly, the chastisements are a punishment of the gods of Egypt[15].  The end result[16] of the chastisements is that the Israelites fear the Lord and have faith in Him and Moses[17].

            The first writer of the period under discussion is the Hellenistic historian Artapanus who lived between 250 and 100 BCE[18].  He briefly covers the topic at hand.  Pharaoh commands the priests to match the miracle of blood.  When they do, he becomes presumptuous and “abused the Jews with every kind of vengeance and punishment.”[19]  It is because Pharaoh was acting foolishly in not heeding the lighter plagues that the heavier ones were brought.  The King eventually released the Jews because of the disasters and everyone had died[20]. Thus, for Artapanus, the plagues served the purpose of coercing Pharaoh to free the Jews.

            The second source for consideration is the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon, which was likely written between 220 BCE and 50CE.  For the Wisdom of Solomon (WisSol), the plagues take the form of measure for measure[21].  “Punishment itself comes after all possibilities have been exhausted.”[22].  However, the punishment of the righteous serves the purpose of ‘testing’ or ‘educating’. His reward is in the world to come[23].  The culprit must be made aware of the purpose of his suffering[24].  For example, the first-born are made to have dreams before their deaths[25].  For WisSol, the punishment is in response to a particular wrong and must be thus understood.  The underlying principle is “measure for measure”[26].  For every plague, there is an appropriate Egyptian practice which was the cause of the punishment.  In the final plague, the slave was killed along with the master because he disbelieved the authenticity of the plagues[27].  When the plague was done, the Egyptians “acknowledged the [Hebrew] people to be God’s son”.[28]  The Wisdom of Solomon concludes by equating the suffering of the Egyptian people with the suffering of the Israelite slaves[29].

            The third source for discussion is Pseudo-Philo.  He likely lived around 1 CE.  For Pseudo-Philo, the plagues were a response to the cry of the Israelite people in their bondage[30].  The Egyptians died at the sea because God hardened their perception and they did not recognize the sea[31].  Thus, it was God’s will that the Egyptians be thoroughly punished for the suffering of his people.

            Philo himself lived in Alexandria around 20 BCE to 50 CE[32]. Philo saw the plaguing of the Egyptians as the clearest case of judgment passed on good and bad[33].  Philo attributes the plaguing  of the Egyptians to a number of reasons.  They were to show God’s might[34], to judge/mock the gods of Egypt[35], because Egypt acted like foolish children in their abandonment of justice[36], and to teach Egypt a lesson[37].    The Egyptians eventually saw the king as the cause of the plagues.  For if he had given in at first, there would have been none[38].  Thus, the plagues were not ordained at first in the eyes of Philo. They were a necessary response to Pharaoh’s denial of God and justice[39].

            Flavius Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived from 37 to 100 CE[40].  The overriding theme in Josephus’s commentary is that of Pharaoh’s wickedness[41].  The plagues are a punishment for Pharaoh’s foolish disobedience of God’s will[42].  Pharaoh has only himself to blame[43]; he has lost all reason[44] and aroused divine wrath[45].  Pharaoh was acting plain stupid.  He refuses to believe that Moses was God’s messenger.  It was for this reason that he rushed to overtake the Israelites at the sea since he saw them as freed by Moses’ magic[46].   God then saved the Israelites, who had no human hope, by killing the Egyptians in the sea[47].    It is Pharaoh’s wickedness that brings calamity upon the Egyptians.

            The Greek Bible also discusses the exodus briefly.  It was written around 140 to 170 CE[48].  God delivers the Israelites because he heard their groaning[49].  God furthermore has mercy upon whomever he wishes. He chose to show his power and thus punished the Egyptians[50].  The Israelites were able to leave Egypt because they had faith in God[51].  Thus, the Greek Bible sees the plagues as being divine fiat that would give the people the faith in Him to leave.

            One of the Church Fathers, Origen lived from 184-253 CE[52].   He gave sermons on Exodus which his students copied down. In one of these, he explains the plagues as the response to the violent slavery imposed by the Egyptians.  Pharaoh should have been amazed by the plagues.  Origen addresses the issue of free will in Pharaoh’s hardening his heart and resolves that God formed man and may harden his heart if he wishes[53].  The plagues are meant to correct the world. Each one is in response to a particular ill of the Egyptians.[54].  Finally, Origen typifies living in error as Egypt.  For Origen, Egypt was sinful and deserved the punishments God inflicted.  In the end, the event was just because God ordained it.

            The punishment of Egypt has always been rationalized.  Even in the Torah text itself it is so.  Later commentators on the Exodus story chose to magnify particular explanations within the text.  Thus, there is nothing new in the commentaries but in how they approach the text. In the end, since they all assign the text a divine origin, they all see the text as essentially just.

               

 

Artapanus 27:27-37 in The Old Testament Pseudopigrapha edited by James H Charlesworth, printed Anchor Bible Reference Library by Doubleday in New York 1985 pp901-902

Encylopedia Judaica, 1972,

Origen, Homilies on Genesis and Exodus; trans. Ronald E. Heine (Washington, D.C. : Catholic University of America Press, c1982) ##

Josephus, The Works of Josephus  trans. William Whiston  (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1987) p73 ##

Josephus, Flavius. Judean antiquities; trans. Louis H. Feldman (Leiden: Brill, 2000 )

McCarthy D.J.  “Plagues and Sea of Reeds: Exodus 5-14” in Journal of  Biblical Literature, 1966 pp138-158.

New Catholic encyclopedia. (New York, McGraw-Hill 1967)

Philo  “On the Life of Moses, I” trans. CD Yonge in The Works of Philo  (Hendrickson Publishers, 1997)

Philo  trans. F. H. Colson and G. H. Whitaker. (Cambridge : Harvard University Press ; London : Heinemann, 1929)

Pseudo-Philo in The Old Testament Pseudopigrapha ed. James H Charlesworth, (New York: Doubleday 1985)  10:  pp317

Wisdom of Solomon in “The Exodus Story in the Wisdom of Solomon” by Samuel Cheon  Journal for the study of the Pseudepigrapha. Supplement series; 23 (Sheffield, England : Sheffield Academic Press, 1997)


[1] Exodus 7:3

[2] Genesis 15:13-14

[3] Exodus 10:1-2

[4] Genesis 15:13-14

[5] Exodus 6:5

[6] Exodus 6:1

[7] Exodus 6:7

[8] Exodus 7:5, 14:17-18

[9] Exodus 7:17, 8:6, 8:18, 9:14, 10:1-2

[10] Exodus 10:1-2

[11] Exodus 10:3

[12] Exodus 9:16

[13] Exodus 14:17-18

[14] Exodus 9:16

[15] Exodus 12:2

[16] The end of the Plagues is the Sea of Reeds narrative where their purpose is fulfilled. See McCarthy p158.

[17] Exodus 14:31

[18] Artapanus p890

[19] Artapanus p901

[20] Artapanus p901

[21] Encyclopedia Judaica, Solomon, Wisdom of

[22] Encyclopedia Judaica, Solomon, Wisdom of

[23] Encyclopedia Judaica, Solomon, Wisdom of

[24] Amir p39

[25] Wisdom of Solomon 18:19

[26] Amir p37

[27] Wisdom of Solomon 18:11

[28] Wisdom of Solomon 18:13

[29] Wisdom of Solomon 19:13

[30] Pseudo-Philo p317

[31] Pseudo-Philo p317

[32] Scholer page xi

[33] Philo p 353

[34] Philo p 325

[35] Philo p327, 331

[36] Philo p329

[37] Philo p345

[38] Philo p347

[39] Philo p349

[40] Whiston page ix

[41]  Josephus Book 2 Chapter 14-17:301,304,307,322

[42]  Josephus 309

[43]  Josephus 291

[44]  Josephus 307

[45]  Josephus 292

[46] Josephus 320

[47] Josephus 332

[48] Encyclopedia Judaica: Testament, New

[49] Acts 7:34

[50] Romans 9:16-17

[51] Hebrews 11:27

[52] New Catholic Encyclopedia: Origen

[53] Origen p262-263

[54] Origen 268-270