Комментарий о цитате к Тегилим 136:10

לְמַכֵּ֣ה מִ֭צְרַיִם בִּבְכוֹרֵיהֶ֑ם “Who struck Egypt through their first born.” (Ps. 136:10) This refers to the generation of Noah in whose time God smote all life with the waters of the flood. The Psalm states, “Their firstborn;” because, just as God smote the Egyptians by way of their firstborn, since it is not the way of ethics for a child to strike his parent (be the cause of his parents punishment), so too in the generation of the flood God smote all the animals, as the verse states, “That same day Noah and Noah’s sons… went into the ark…” (Gen. 7:13) They were not like the rest of the world whose fear and terror did not occur until that last moment.

According to that which is described in Psalms (136:10 — To Him who struck Egypt through their first-born), and in contrast to the simple understanding of the verses in our section, the revolution began earlier, before the plague of the firstborn. The Egyptian people did not wait for the death of their firstborn. The information about the expected death of the firstborn leaked out, such that the firstborn were fighting for their lives. Their struggle brings about an attempt at suppression and an actual civil war.

בעשור לחודש, “on the tenth day of the month;” the acquisition of the Paschal lamb in Egypt had to be made on the tenth of the month. There was a special reason for this. When the firstborn Egyptians saw what the Israelites were doing, they asked them for the reason of this. The Israelites explained that it was an offering to be offered when G–d would skip over the homes of the Israelites when He would slay the Egyptian firstborns as a punishment for their refusing to let the Israelites go. Upon hearing this, the firstborn Egyptians immediately went to the other Egyptians telling them to release the Israelites forthwith, accusing them of responsibility for their death in case they refused. Nonetheless, the other Egyptians refused. In fact, they themselves slew some of the firstborns in an altercation. This is what is meant when we read in Psalms 136,10: למכה מצרים בבכוריהם כי לעולם חסדו, i.e. the psalmist does not write: that G–d smote the Egyptian firstborns, but that the Egyptians killed their firstborn. (Compare Midrash Tehillim 136, as well as Yalkut Shimoni on that verse.) We read also in that Midrash that the tenth of the month of Nissan of that year occurred on a Sabbath so that Passover occurred on the Thursday following, as stated in the Talmud, tractate Shabbat folio 87. When the Egyptians saw how the Jews made ready to cut the throats of their lambs they attacked them, as they were afraid of these animals, which were deities for them, and feared punishment for allowing their deities to be slain. G–d performed a miracle for the Israelites thus attacked and they were saved. This is the reason why the Sabbath prior to the Exodus is called שבת הגדול, “the great Sabbath.” Still we need to explore the reason why the tenth day in Nissan was chosen for the command to the Israelites to purchase, or if they had animals to set aside the respective animal for that sacrifice. According to Rashi, the Israelites were required to perform circumcision on themselves prior to being able to slaughter and to partake of the Paschal lamb. It would take them four days to recover from the wounds inflicted through their having circumcised themselves. (Attributed to Rabbi Yitzchok from Ibro.)

כל בכור בארץ מצרים ALL THE FIRSTBORN IN THE LAND OF EGYPT — also the first-born of other nations who happened then to be in Egypt. And whence may we deduce that the first-born of the Egyptians who happened to be in other countries also died? From what Scripture states: (Psalms 136:10) “To Him that smote the Egyptians in their first-born” (an unqualified statement) (Mekhilta).