For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, х balayªlaah (H3915) hazeh (H2088)]. The English demonstrative, "this," denotes the present, as 'this day,' expresses a period of time not yet elapsed. But the Hebrew equivalent signifies the thing referred to in the context, whether past, present, or future. Hence, it is often rendered 'the same' (Genesis 7:11; Genesis 7:13; Genesis 17:26; Leviticus 23:6; Leviticus 23:15; Leviticus 23:21). On the meaning of this demonstrative pronoun, Dr. Colenso rears the whole structure of his argument against the historical character of this narrative. In answering him, Dr. Benisch pertinently remarks: 'Had this verse (12) been found detached, quite unconnected with what precedes and follows, the professor would have been justified in taking the phrase in the sense in which he did; but, part and parcel as it is of a series of injunctions given to Moses before the 10th day of the first month (Exodus 12:3), to be carried out on the 14th of the same month, the professor, as a Hebrew scholar, was bound to consult the context before he put his construction upon the phrase; and the context shows clearly enough that God did not mean to say "this," but "the same night" - i:e., the night of the day on which the Israelites were to kill the Passover. The expression, "I will pass through the land of Egypt this night" is clearly a part of what was said to Moses at least a week before the night of the fourteenth, and is evidently only an emphatic mode of marking this fourteenth of the month as the night from which memories should be perpetuated through all the generations of Israel.'
And will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. This was not to be a pestilence acting according to usual experience, striking down its victims everywhere indiscriminately, but confining its attacks exclusively to the first-born among all classes of human society, and all kinds of useful cattle. 'This plague and deliverances, comprehending all the preceding plagues, was a perpetual memorial to Israel of his election, sealed for him in the institution of the Passover, and dedication of the first-born to the Lord' (von Gerlach).
And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment (see the note at Genesis 15:13). This language does not, as Newman asserts ('Hebrew Monarchy,' p. 26), assume the actual existence of other gods beside the Almighty. It is used only in accommodation to the ordinary style of speaking with reference to idols as objects of worship among the pagan; or, if any recognition of their reality is implied, it is as the work of evil spirits, whose influence gives a personality to the false object of worship (Isaiah 19:3; 1 Corinthians 10:21). But the whole tenor of Bible teaching represents that the Lord is God alone, and that beside him there is none else (Deuteronomy 4:35; Isaiah 14:5), while it uniformly speaks of idols as non-entities (Leviticus 19:4; Psalms 96:5; 1 Corinthians 8:4; 1 Corinthians 10:19).
In the whole series of these destructive plagues, which were inflicted on the land and the people of Egypt, the contest, as we have already shown, was directed against Egyptian idolatry, which was a system of Pantheism, an adoration of universal nature, as seen in that country. It assumed a great variety of forms, according as the powers of nature displayed themselves, and was manifested by certain symbols suggested by the hieroglyphic system which prevailed in Egypt. The following are the names of their principal divinities: There were eight primary gods:
(1) Phtah, the chief elemental god of Lower Egypt-the Roman Vulcan, the Grecian 'Heefaistos, an object of worship over the whole country; for the name Aiguptos (G125), seems to be not only identical with Kopt, but also a Greek form of Kah-Phtah, 'the land of Phtah' (Uhlemann, 'AEg-Alt,' quoted by Hardwick). Phtah was the fire-god-fire being regarded as the original element; and he was also the Demiurgus of the universe, who, by his plastic power, gave form to primeval matter. The Scaraboeus or Nile beetle, was sacred to him. Phtah was an androgynous divinity, combining the properties of both sexes: and hence, his female half was,
(2) Neith. While he was the productive element, she was the conceptive power-the great cow who gave existence to the sun and moon. She was worshipped at Sais as the Egyptian Minerva, and is sometimes called Neith-ank, or onk, which, according to Plutarch, was afterward applied to the Boeotian Minerva.
(3) Re, Ra, or, with the definite article, Ph'ra, the sun-god of Lower Egypt. There was a splendid temple to him at On (Heliopolis). The Pharaohs claimed the honour of being the children of the sun.
(4) Kneph, or Chnubis, a ram-headed deity-the mythic personation of the annual overflow of the Nile-was worshipped at Thmuis, in the Mendesian nome ('Herodotus,' b. 2:, ch. 166).
(5) Amun, or Ammon, deity of Peramoun (city of Amun), on the eastern bank of the Phathmetic branch of the Nile. This god had also a temple at Coptos, where his worship was obscene, and at Luxor. He is sometimes called Amun-Re, his worship being conjoined with that of the sun. The ram or goat was the living symbol of both this and the preceding deity.
(6) Month, Mentu, or Mendes, the Egyptian Mars-a great human warrior, deified after death at Papremis, a city between Menzaleh and Damietta, on the Delta (Wilkinson, in Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' b. 2:, ch. 63). His living symbol was the eagle or large hawk.
(7) Thoum, or Atmu-the source of all fecundity-was worshipped at Pithom [Patoumos], the 'temple or habitation' of Toum. His name is frequently found in the Delta, on the obelisks brought from Heliopolis, and on the monuments of Ramses at Abu-Keisheid (Lepsius). (8) Osiris and Isis were worshipped in every canton ('Herodotus,' b. 2:, ch. 42). The former was deified at Busiris (i:e., the tomb of Osiris), on the Phathmetic or eastern branch of the Nile. In the Egyptian mythology he sustained the united characters of creator, enlightener, and fructifier. By some he is identified with Bacchus; but by others he is said to have been the oldest son of Seb [Kronos], and of Nut, or Nutpe [Rea], Isis, the Greek Demeter or Ceres.
There was a family group of inferior deities connected with these, among whom we mention only Horus, their son-the Egyptian Apollos;-Bubastis, or Pasht, the Grecian Diana, called on the monuments 'the beloved of Phthah.' The remains of her temple are still visible at Bubastis, the Phi-beseth (Pi-basth) of Ezekiel, now Tel Basta (the mound of Pasht).
Besides these primary deities, there was a vast number of others of a second and tertiary class-the most eminent of whom, without regard to order, are these: Athom, or Re-Athom, tutelary deity of Heliopolis. He had a temple in (On) Heliopolis, where he was worshipped as the sun, under the impersonation of a man named Athom. Thoth, the moon, Ibis-headed deity, inventor of the hieroglyphic system in Heliopolis, was deified as the god of letters, and of the wisdom imparted by letters, at Hermopolis, in the western Delta. His living symbol was the black and white Ibis. Sa, the male half of the goddess Neith. Anubis was worshipped at Lycopolis, in the northeastern corner of the Delta. The black dog, or jackal, was his sacred animal. Hen (Hanneth), the Egyptian Hercules, had a temple in Hanes (Isaiah 30:4), or Seveneh (Ezekiel 29:10) (Greek Sebennytus), on the western bank of the Phathmetic branch of the Nile.
Among the goddesses were Athor, or Hathor, at Heliopolis. Thmei, the Egyptian Themis, or goddess of justice. Heki (Greek Buto), the expeller of frogs-whence her symbol was a frog. Maut, the female half or wife of Amun, lion-headed, to denote that she is a Fury, taking vengeance on the enemies of Egypt. Phi-chot, one of the Eumenides or Furies. Her cave-temple has been discovered at Beni-hassan, in middle Egypt. Ranno-her symbol was the asp.
There were various other gods and goddesses-Typhon, the personified principle of evil; Khem (Pan), Sate, Seba, or Sebek, crocodile-headed, was god of the Faioum. Amoungst foreign divinities recognized and adored in Egypt were Ashatoreth (Astarte, Venus), at Memphis; Remphan (in hieroglyphics Renpu or Rempu) and Chiun (Ken), which were probably imported by the Hykshos, or shepherd dynasty. Manetho records that the bulls Apis in Memphis, Mnevis in Heliopolis, and the Mendesian goat, were appointed to be gods in the time of Pharaoh Caechos, second king of the second dynasty.
There were also the heavenly luminaries, the fruit-bearing trees and vegetables, beast, birds, and reptiles, comprising every object in nature. They were for the most part local delties, whose parentage was probably traceable to Osiris and Isis; for, as Bunsen has endeavoured to show, by many powerful arguments and striking illustrations, the provincial deities were only diversified forms of the original impersonations, which assumed different phases on the formation of new colonies or cities, until they came to be blended and incorporated into one elaborate system of national worship. Besides, their is reason to think that the astronomical or stellar idolatry was, by the shepherd kings, engrafted on the animal worship of the Egyptians, as this seems the only rational way of accounting for the incongruous relations of the Egyptian divinities. The whole system of Egyptian idolatry, with its disgusting devils of the intrigues and incests of gods and goddesses, was a foul and debasing mass of superstition. (On the subject of Egyptian mythology, see Jablonsky, 'Opp.,' 2:, 208; 'Movers die Religion und die Gottheitender Phoenizier, Champollion sous les Pharaons,' 2:, p. 134; Kenrick's 'Egypt,' 1:, p. 437; Bunsen's 'Egypt's Place,' vol. 1:, sec. 6, and 'Appendix of Authorities,' No. 11; Rawlinson's 'Herod.,' b. 2:, ch. 42:, 145; Hardwick, 'Christ and other Masters,' 2:, pp. 242-259; Prichard, 'Eg. Mythol.,' p. 292, etc.) It was against this monstrous system of idolatry, the source or the type of all pagan worship in succeeding ages, that the momentous contest in Egypt was waged; and hence, the series of plagues inflicted upon the land and people extended over every department of nature. It is in this way, as demonstrating the utter helplessness and insignificance of the gods, that the true character and design of those plagues are to be seen. These miracles, which prepared the way for the exodus, together with the exodus itself, formed a grand religious triumph; where the majesty of God was vindicated in the presence of a people foremost in the rank of civilization, yet peculiarly besotted by their worship of the various energies of nature. There it was that Israel also had defiled themselves with the idols of Egypt (Ezekiel 20:7): they were on the point of losing the traditions that connected them with Abraham, and with the evangelic promise; they were melting fast away into the mass of paganism by which they were encircled, when the Lord himself came forward to their rescue. He asserted the unrivalled greatness of his sovereignty: "Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the Lord" ('Christ and other Masters,' vol. 1:, pp. 90,91). According to Jewish tradition, the images of all the Egyptian idols were on that night broken in pieces (Numbers 33:4; Isaiah 19:1).