Ancient Near Eastern Index – Parashat Vaera/0

Ancient Near Eastern Index – Parashat Vaera

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Egyptian Slavery

• Dr. Nahum Sarna, in Exploring Exodus (New York, 1996): 21-25 for analysis of the nature of Egyptian slavery. Dr. Sarna points to several Egyptian texts which might shed light on the hardships experienced by agricultural workers and brick builders in ancient Egypt. for analysis of the nature of Egyptian slavery. He characterizes Egyptian servitude as “state slavery, the organized imposition of forced labor upon the male population for long and indefinite terms of service under degrading and brutal conditions” without compensation or civil rights, whose lot might have often been worse than that of household salves. [See <a href="Nature of the Bondage">Nature of the Bondage</a> for differing views of the nature of the Egyptian oppression among Biblical commentators.]

The Plagues and Egyptian Deities

Both Shemot 12:12 and Bemidbar 33:4 explicitly state that the Plague of the Firstborn executed a "judgment against the [Egyptian] gods". Both Midrashim and scholars have suggested that the other plagues as well might have targeted what were believed to be Egyptian deities.

• Primary sources – See Tanchuma Vaera 13, Midrash Aggadah Shemot 7:15, and Shemot Rabbah 9:9 that the Nile was viewed as a deity and was thus struck first with the plague of blood.
• See “And Upon All the Gods Of Egypt I Will Execute Judgment”: The Egyptian Deity in the Ten Plagues, by Ira Friedman, for analysis of the meaning and symbolism of the ten plagues against the context of Egyptian religious beliefs.
• See Z. Zevit, "Three Ways to Look at the Ten Plagues: Were They Natural Disasters, a Demonstration of the Impotence of the Egyptian Gods, or an Undoing of Creation?" BR 6 (1990): 16-23, 42.

The Wonders and Egyptian Legends

Dr. Nahum Sarna, in Exploring Exodus (New York, 1996): 66-70, identifies connections between the miracles performed by Moshe and Aharon and parallels in Ancient Near Eastern legend, including the following: 

• The sign of the staff turning into a crocodile can be more fully understood against the context of the Egyptian legend of Khufu, narrated in brief here as Story 2 on the Westcar Papyrus. 
• The Sumerian legend of Inanna and Su-Kale-Tuda, narrated in brief here, tells of a plague of water being turned to blood. 
• The Egyptian text The Prophecies of Neferti describes wild animals overrunning the land as a symbol of destruction and chaos.