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He disciplined them through the river and the earth, but also through the air and the sea; and from heaven He sent down thunderbolts upon them, teaching that He Himself is the Maker and Master of all things. For the blessed Moses also said this to him: "that you may know that the earth is the Lord's, both you and your servants." XXII Why did He destroy the firstborn of the Egyptians? Because he had very harshly enslaved Israel, being the firstborn of God; for the Lord God Himself also said this: "Israel is my firstborn son," He most justly sent the firstborn of the Egyptians to death. It should be known, however, that the firstborn also has brothers; for the first-begotten, or firstborn, is the first of many. Let Israel know, therefore, that it was first named the people of God. But the Gentiles who have believed have not only obtained salvation, but have also enjoyed the rights of the firstborn; "for, it says, a people shall overcome a people; and the elder shall serve the younger." 117 XXIII Some find fault with God's having commanded the Hebrews to ask the Egyptians for articles of gold and silver and clothing, and to despoil the Egyptians; for this is how Symmachus translated "to get themselves goods." The people endured for a long time in Egypt, making bricks and building walls and constructing cities. Therefore, the Lord God wished them to receive wages for their labors. And for this reason He commanded them to do these things. And let no one think it unjust that, when Pharaoh had wronged the people, the Egyptians were made to pay the wages. For they also shared in the injustice, imitating the king's cruelty. XXIV Why did He command them to celebrate the feast of the Passover as they were fleeing? He wished the memory of their salvation to be kept ever-memorable. For this reason also, when giving the law, He said: "If your son asks you, saying: What is the Passover? You shall say that: On this day the Lord our God brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, and delivered our firstborn, when the destroyer smote the firstborn of the Egyptians." For this reason He exhorts those celebrating this feast to be in the attire of a journey: "for it says, let your loins be girded, and your sandals on your feet, and your staffs in your hands; and you shall eat it with haste. It is the Lord's Passover." But Pascha 118 Philo translated as "crossing"; Josephus, "passing over"; Symmachus, "passovers"; and Theodotion, "phasekh," having set down the Hebrew word itself. But the name signifies the salvation of the Hebrews' firstborn. For He commanded to take a bunch of hyssop and, dipping it in the blood of the sacrificed sheep, to anoint the doorposts and the lintel, so that when the destroyer enters to strike the firstborn of the Egyptians, seeing the blood, he might pass over the houses of the Hebrews. Not because the incorporeal nature needed such signs, but because through the symbol they had to learn of God's care, and we who sacrifice the unblemished lamb to recognize the prefigured type. He commands them, therefore, to take not only year-old lambs from the sheep, but also kids from the goats; not so that they might sacrifice both this and that at the same time, but so that he who has a sheep might sacrifice it, and he who lacks a sheep, the kid. He directs to take this on the tenth of the first month, so that one may prepare before the feast; and on the fourteenth towards evening it is to be sacrificed. For on this evening the Lord Christ was also handed over to the Jews. And He commanded it to be eaten with bitter herbs, in remembrance of the most bitter life in Egypt and the most grievous bondage. And through the unleavened bread He shows not only the haste of the journey and the improvised nature of the food, but also that it is fitting to bear not even a trace of the Egyptian way of life. For thus also the Lord in the Gospels interpreted, saying, "Beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees." And He commanded those who were sufficient 119 for the eating of a sheep to sacrifice the Passover at the same time, teaching them brotherly love and the

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αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἀέρος καὶ τῆς θαλάσσης ἐπαίδευσε· καὶ οὐρανόθεν αὐτοῖς κεραυνοὺς ἐπαφῆκε, διδάσκων ὡς αὐτός ἐστι τῶν ὅλων ποιητὴς καὶ δεσπότης. τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ μακάριος εἴρηκε Μωϋσῆς πρὸς αὐτόν· " ἵνα γνῷς ὅτι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ γῆ καὶ σὺ καὶ οἱ θεράπον τές σου ". XXII ∆ιὰ τί τὰ τῶν αἰγυπτίων ἀνεῖλε πρωτότοκα; Ἐπειδὴ πρωτόγονον ὄντα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν Ἰσραήλ, ἄγαν σκληρῶς ἐκεῖνος ἐδουλαγώγει· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς εἴρηκεν ὁ δεσπότης Θεός· " υἱὸς πρωτόγονός μου Ἰσραήλ ", μάλα δικαίως τὰ τῶν αἰ γυπτίων πρωτότοκα θανάτῳ παρέπεμψεν. ἰστέον μέντοι, ὡς ὁ πρω τόγονος καὶ ἀδελφοὺς ἔχει· ὁ γὰρ πρωτόγονος ἢ πρωτότοκος, πολλῶν ἐστι πρῶτος. γινωσκέτω τοίνυν ὁ Ἰσραήλ, ὡς πρῶτος μὲν τοῦ Θεοῦ λαὸς ἐχρημάτισε. πεπιστευκότα δὲ τὰ ἔθνη οὐ μόνον τῆς σωτηρίας τετύχηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν πρωτοτοκίων ἀπήλαυσε· " λαός, γάρ φησι, λαοῦ ὑπερέξει· καὶ ὁ μείζων δουλεύσει τῷ ἐλάσσονι ". 117 XXIII Αἰτιῶνταί τινες τὸ προστεταχέναι τὸν Θεὸν τοῖς ἑβραίοις αἰτῆσαι τοὺς αἰγυπτίους σκεύη χρυσᾶ καὶ ἀργυρᾶ καὶ ἐσθῆτα καὶ σκυλεῦσαι τοὺς αἰγυπτίους· οὕτω γὰρ ὁ Σύμμαχος τὸ " σκευάσασθαι " ἡρμήνευσεν. Πολὺν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ χρόνον ὑπέμεινεν ὁ λαὸς πλινθουργῶν καὶ τειχοπο ιῶν καὶ πόλεις οἰκοδομῶν. ἠβουλήθη τοίνυν μισθὸν αὐτοὺς τῶν πόνων λαβεῖν ὁ δεσπότης Θεός. διὸ δὴ καὶ ταῦτα δρᾶσαι προσέταξε. καὶ μηδεὶς ἄδικον νομιζέτω, τοῦ Φαραὼ τὸν λαὸν ἠδικηκότος, τοὺς αἰγυπτίους τὸν μισθὸν εἰσπραχθῆναι. ἐκοινώνουν γὰρ κἀκεῖνοι τῆς ἀδικίας μιμούμενοι τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ὠμότητα. XXIV ∆ιὰ τί φεύγουσιν ἐπιτελέσαι προσέταξε τὴν τοῦ Πάσχα ἑορτήν; Ἀείμνηστον ἠβουλήθη φυλαχθῆναι τῆς σωτηρίας τὴν μνήμην. διάτοι τοῦτο καὶ νομοθετῶν ἔλεγεν· " ἐὰν ἐρωτήσῃ σε ὁ υἱός σου λέγων· τί ἐστιν τὸ Πάσχα; ἐρεῖς ὅτι· ἐν τῇ σήμερον ἡμέρᾳ ἐξήγαγε τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐρρύσατο τὰ πρωτότοκα ἡμῶν, ἡνίκα ὁ ὀλοθρεύων ἐπά ταξε τὰ πρωτότοκα τῶν αἰγυπτίων ". τούτου χάριν παρακελεύεται ταύτην ἐπιτελοῦντας τὴν ἑορτὴν τῆς ὁδοιπορίας περικεῖσθαι τὸ σχῆμα· " ἔστωσαν, γάρ φησιν, αἱ ὀσφύες ὑμῶν περιεζωσμέναι, καὶ τὰ ὑποδήματα ὑμῶν ἐν τοῖς ποσὶν ὑμῶν, καὶ αἱ βακτηρίαι ὑμῶν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν ὑμῶν καὶ ἔδεσθε αὐτὸ μετὰ σπουδῆς. Πάσχα ἐστὶ Κυρίου ". τὸ δὲ Πάσχα ὁ μὲν 118 Φίλων ἡρμήνευσε " διαβατήρια "· ὁ δὲ Ἰώσηπος " ὑπερβασία "· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος " ὑπερβάσεις "· ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων " φασὲχ " αὐτὴν τὴν ἑβραίαν φωνὴν τεθεικώς. σημαίνει δὲ τὸ ὄνομα τῶν ἑβραίων πρωτοτό κων τὴν σωτηρίαν. παρεκελεύσατο γὰρ δέσμην ὑσσώπου λαβεῖν καὶ τῷ αἵματι τοῦ θυομένου προβάτου ἐμβάψαντας τοὺς σταθμοὺς ἐπιχρίσαι καὶ τὴν φλιάν, ἵν' ὅταν εἰσέλθῃ ὁ ὀλοθρεύων πατάξαι τὰ πρωτότοκα τῶν αἰγυπτίων, ἰδὼν τὸ αἷμα ὑπερβῇ τῶν ἑβραίων τὰς οἰκίας. οὐκ ἐπει δὴ τοιούτων ἐδεῖτο σημείων ἡ ἀσώματος φύσις, ἀλλ' ὅτι διὰ τοῦ συμβό λου κἀκείνους ἔδει μαθεῖν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ κηδεμονίαν, καὶ ἡμᾶς τοὺς τὸν ἄμωμον ἀμνὸν θύοντας γνῶναι προδιαγραφέντα τὸν τύπον. κελεύει τοί νυν αὐτοῖς λαβεῖν οὐ μόνον ἐκ τῶν προβάτων ἄρνας ἐνιαυσίους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν αἰγῶν ἐρίφους· οὐχ ἵνα κατὰ ταὐτὸν τοῦτον κἀκεῖνον θύσωσιν· ἀλλ' ἵνα ὁ μὲν πρόβατον ἔχων, τοῦτο θύσῃ· ὁ δὲ σπανίζων προβάτου, τὸν ἔριφον. παρεγγυᾷ δὲ τοῦτο λαβεῖν τῇ δεκάτῃ τοῦ πρώτου μηνός, ἵν' εὐτρεπίσῃ πρὸ τῆς ἑορτῆς· τῇ δὲ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ πρὸς ἑσπέραν τυθῆναι. κατὰ ταύτην γὰρ τὴν ἑσπέραν καὶ ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς παρε δόθη τοῖς ἰουδαίοις. μετὰ πικρίδων δὲ αὐτὸ βρωθῆναι προσέταξεν, εἰς ἀνάμνησιν τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πικροτάτης ζωῆς καὶ τῆς χαλεπωτάτης δου λείας. διὰ δὲ τῶν ἀζύμων ἐμφαίνει οὐ μόνον τῆς ὁδοιπορίας τὸ σύντονον, καὶ τὸ τῆς τροφῆς αὐτοσχέδιον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτι προσήκει μηδὲ ἴχνος τῆς αἰγυπτιακῆς ἐπιφέρεσθαι πολιτείας. οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τοῖς εὐαγ γελίοις ἡρμήνευσε, " προσέχετε, λέγων, ἀπὸ τῆς ζύμης τῶν γραμματέων καὶ φαρισαίων ". ἐκέλευσε δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀρ 119 κοῦντας εἰς ἐδωδὴν προβάτου κατὰ ταὐτὸν θῦσαι τὸ Πάσχα, φιλαδελ φίαν αὐτοὺς ἐκπαιδεύων καὶ τὸν