Wisdom - The Red Sea Crossing

 The Egyptians who desperately wanted the Israelites out of the land after the tragedy of their firstborn - would soon change their minds to pursue them. This chapter starts off from here and continues to describe the Egyptians pursuit which eventually led to the parting of the Red Sea for the Israelites. It justifies the punishment God put on the Egyptians for their enslavement of the Israelites. The final main paragraph describe a change in nature including sea animals becoming land animals and vice versa. Not certain if this has taken place yet.


Wisdom 19 (RSVCE) 

The Red Sea
19 But the ungodly were assailed to the end by pitiless anger,
for God[a] knew in advance even their future actions,
2 that, though they themselves had permitted[b] thy people to depart
and hastily sent them forth,
they would change their minds and pursue them.
3 For while they were still busy at mourning,
and were lamenting at the graves of their dead,
they reached another foolish decision,
and pursued as fugitives those whom they had begged and compelled to depart.
4 For the fate they deserved drew them on to this end,
and made them forget what had happened,
in order that they might fill up the punishment which their torments still lacked,
5 and that thy people might experience[c] an incredible journey,
but they themselves might meet a strange death.
God Guides and Protects His People
6 For the whole creation in its nature was fashioned anew,
complying with thy commands,
that thy children[d] might be kept unharmed.
7 The cloud was seen overshadowing the camp,
and dry land emerging where water had stood before,
an unhindered way out of the Red Sea,
and a grassy plain out of the raging waves,
8 where those protected by thy hand passed through as one nation,
after gazing on marvelous wonders.
9 For they ranged like horses,
and leaped like lambs,
praising thee, O Lord, who didst deliver them.
10 For they still recalled the events of their sojourn,
how instead of producing animals the earth brought forth gnats,
and instead of fish the river spewed out vast numbers of frogs.
11 Afterward they saw also a new kind[e] of birds,
when desire led them to ask for luxurious food;
12 for, to give them relief, quails came up from the sea.
The Punishment of the Egyptians
13 The punishments did not come upon the sinners
without prior signs in the violence of thunder,
for they justly suffered because of their wicked acts;
for they practiced a more bitter hatred of strangers.
14 Others had refused to receive strangers when they came to them,
but these made slaves of guests who were their benefactors.
15 And not only so, but punishment of some sort will come upon the former
for their hostile reception of the aliens;
16 but the latter, after receiving them with festal celebrations,
afflicted with terrible sufferings
those who had already shared the same rights.
17 They were stricken also with loss of sight—
just as were those at the door of the righteous man—
when, surrounded by yawning darkness,
each tried to find the way through his own door.
A New Harmony in Nature
18 For the elements changed[f] places with one another,
as on a harp the notes vary the nature of the rhythm,
while each note remains the same.[g]
This may be clearly inferred from the sight of what took place.
19 For land animals were transformed into water creatures,
and creatures that swim moved over to the land.
20 Fire even in water retained its normal power,
and water forgot its fire-quenching nature.
21 Flames, on the contrary, failed to consume
the flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them,
nor did they melt[h] the crystalline, easily melted kind of heavenly food.
Conclusion
22 For in everything, O Lord, thou hast exalted and glorified thy people;
and thou hast not neglected to help them at all times and in all places.

Light Shines on the Israelites

 The chapter starts with a picture of victory for the Israelites as they have just won their freedom from Egypt. Their Egyptian captors should be thankful that the Israelites did not retaliate for the wrongs that have been done to them. Instead the Israelites were called to be the light to the world through the law.

The effects of the death of the firstborn were accounted here. There was no doubt the sufffering of the Egyptians were punishment for the oppression on the Israelites. The punishment however, does not differentiate between slaves and masters, kings and common man. Interesting to note that judgment did not come suddenly for the Egyptians 'for the dreams which disturbed them forewarned them of this, so that they might not perish without knowing why they suffered'

The Israelites too were far from blameless. When they sinned in the desert, they were almost destroyed, if not for the 'prayer and propitiation' from Moses - an interesting word that would be used to describe what Yshua has done for us. 


Wisdom 18 (RSVCE) - Light Shines on the Israelites
18 But for thy holy ones there was very great light.
Their enemies[a] heard their voices but did not see their forms,
and counted them happy for not having suffered,
2 and were thankful that thy holy ones,[b] though previously wronged, were doing them no injury;
and they begged their pardon for having been at variance with them.[c]
3 Therefore thou didst provide a flaming pillar of fire
as a guide for thy people’s[d] unknown journey,
and a harmless sun for their glorious wandering.
4 For their enemies[e] deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness,
those who had kept thy sons imprisoned,
through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world.
The Death of the Egyptian Firstborn
5 When they had resolved to kill the babes of thy holy ones,
and one child had been exposed and rescued,
thou didst in punishment take away a multitude of their children;
and thou didst destroy them all together by a mighty flood.
6 That night was made known beforehand to our fathers,
so that they might rejoice in sure knowledge of the oaths in which they trusted.
7 The deliverance of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies
were expected by thy people.
8 For by the same means by which thou didst punish our enemies
thou didst call us to thyself and glorify us.
9 For in secret the holy children of good men offered sacrifices,
and with one accord agreed to the divine law,
that the saints would share alike the same things,
both blessings and dangers;
and already they were singing the praises of the fathers.[f]
10 But the discordant cry of their enemies echoed back,
and their piteous lament for their children was spread abroad.
11 The slave was punished with the same penalty as the master,
and the common man suffered the same loss as the king;
12 and they all together, by the one form of death,
had corpses too many to count.
For the living were not sufficient even to bury them,
since in one instant their most valued children had been destroyed.
13 For though they had disbelieved everything because of their magic arts,
yet, when their first-born were destroyed, they acknowledged thy people to be God’s son.
14 For while gentle silence enveloped all things,
and night in its swift course was now half gone,
15 thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne,
into the midst of the land that was doomed,
a stern warrior 16 carrying the sharp sword of thy authentic command,
and stood and filled all things with death,
and touched heaven while standing on the earth.
17 Then at once apparitions in dreadful dreams greatly troubled them,
and unexpected fears assailed them;
18 and one here and another there, hurled down half dead,
made known why they were dying;
19 for the dreams which disturbed them forewarned them of this,
so that they might not perish without knowing why they suffered.
Threat of Annihilation in the Desert
20 The experience of death touched also the righteous,
and a plague came upon the multitude in the desert,
but the wrath did not long continue.
21 For a blameless man was quick to act as their champion;
he brought forward the shield of his ministry,
prayer and propitiation by incense;
he withstood the anger and put an end to the disaster,
showing that he was thy servant.
22 He conquered the wrath[g] not by strength of body,
and not by force of arms,
but by his word he subdued the punisher,
appealing to the oaths and covenants given to our fathers.
23 For when the dead had already fallen on one another in heaps,
he intervened and held back the wrath,
and cut off its way to the living.
24 For upon his long robe the whole world was depicted,
and the glories of the fathers were engraved on the four rows of stones,
and thy majesty on the diadem upon his head.
25 To these the destroyer yielded, these he[h] feared;
for merely to test the wrath was enough.

Fear Strikes on the First Passover and beyond

 This passage in Wisdom describes the terror on that first Passover night. Before discussing the Wisdom chapter in detail, let us remember the passage from Exodus.

Exodus 11

4 Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 So there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. 7 But not even a dog will [c]threaten any of the sons of Israel, nor anything from person to animal, so that you may [d]learn how the Lord distinguishes between Egypt and Israel.’

Exodus 12

The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you [o]live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you [p]to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

It is very easy to assume that the last plague will punish the Egyptians and protect the children of Israel, and even Exodus 11:7 hinted at this. However the exact text about the plague is on the firstborn of the land of Egypt, including the slaves (who were likely non-Egyptian, and likely to be Hebrew) and the animals too. God does not condemn based on race and ethnicity, neither is salvation based on race and ethnicity. For the firstborn of the Israelites were not safe too, unless they had the blood brushed on the houses. It is the faith in God's word that led them to trust in God that they will be spared when there is blood on the house.

With this perspective, both Egyptians and Israelites would have been affected by fear and uncertainty over the announcement of the last plague. The ungodly, including the powerful ones, may continue to sin but they are affected by fear. They are terrified by the darkness, the same darkness in which they sinned. None of their magicians, supernatural crafts, medicine are able to alleviate their fears. Fears turn into terror, even when there is nothing or an animal passing, will cause them to tremble. 

It continues with more intense description of the terror from sleepless nights, to feeling totally powerless, to imaginations of monsters and spectres and becoming paralysed by the fear. Every sound from wind, birds, animals, water will cause them to be paralyzed by fear. Even though that First Passover was for only one night, the description of man's fear in this passage also extend to any general time when man refuses to accept the promise of salvation from God.

Wisdom 17 (RSVCE) - Terror Strikes the Egyptians at Night
17 Great are thy judgments and hard to describe;
therefore uninstructed souls have gone astray.
2 For when lawless men supposed that they held the holy nation in their power,
they themselves lay as captives of darkness and prisoners of long night,
shut in under their roofs, exiles from eternal providence.
3 For thinking that in their secret sins they were unobserved
behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness,
they were scattered, terribly[a] alarmed,
and appalled by specters.
4 For not even the inner chamber that held them protected them from fear,
but terrifying sounds rang out around them,
and dismal phantoms with gloomy faces appeared.
5 And no power of fire was able to give light,
nor did the brilliant flames of the stars
avail to illumine that hateful night.
6 Nothing was shining through to them
except a dreadful, self-kindled fire,
and in terror they deemed the things which they saw
to be worse than that unseen appearance.
7 The delusions of their magic art lay humbled,
and their boasted wisdom was scornfully rebuked.
8 For those who promised to drive off the fears and disorders of a sick soul
were sick themselves with ridiculous fear.
9 For even if nothing disturbing frightened them,
yet, scared by the passing of beasts and the hissing of serpents,
10 they perished in trembling fear,
refusing to look even at the air, though it nowhere could be avoided.
11 For wickedness is a cowardly thing, condemned by its own testimony;[b]
distressed by conscience, it has always exaggerated[c] the difficulties.
12 For fear is nothing but surrender of the helps that come from reason;
13 and the inner expectation of help, being weak,
prefers ignorance of what causes the torment.
14 But throughout the night, which was really powerless,
and which beset them from the recesses of powerless Hades,
they all slept the same sleep,
15 and now were driven by monstrous specters,
and now were paralyzed by their souls’ surrender,
for sudden and unexpected fear overwhelmed them.
16 And whoever was there fell down,
and thus was kept shut up in a prison not made of iron;
17 for whether he was a farmer or a shepherd
or a workman who toiled in the wilderness,
he was seized, and endured the inescapable fate;
for with one chain of darkness they all were bound.
18 Whether there came a whistling wind,
or a melodious sound of birds in wide-spreading branches,
or the rhythm of violently rushing water,
19 or the harsh crash of rocks hurled down,
or the unseen running of leaping animals,
or the sound of the most savage roaring beasts,
or an echo thrown back from a hollow of the mountains,
it paralyzed them with terror.
20 For the whole world was illumined with brilliant light,
and was engaged in unhindered work,
21 while over those men alone heavy night was spread,
an image of the darkness that was destined to receive them;
but still heavier than darkness were they to themselves.