마지막 재앙 재고

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Egypt had to experience 10 plagues before the exodus of the Israelites. The last plague in Exodus has a special status among those plagues. Its uniqueness is the fact that it cannot be explained from the perspective of natural phenomenon unlike all the other 9 plagues. Not all the Egyptians died, but only the firstborn of the Egyptians died of this final plague. This kind of selective character in the last plague makes it differentiated from other plagues in Exodus. Furthermore, unlike the plague of hail, there was no way to avoid this plague. Also this last plague killed the people in Egypt because they were Egyptians. In this respect, it was the worst and the most tragic plague among 10 plagues. This study focuses on the point different from the one that traditional commentaries have focused on. As a plague that took the people`s lives, in order to make Israel go out of Egypt, the last plague victimized the firstborn of the Egyptians. Unlike this kind of a traditional interpretation, this study focuses on the visual element and aural element in the last plague. In the cases of previous 9 plagues the effectiveness of a plague was enhanced by the visual elements. However, at night when the visual ability becomes nullified, the last plague fell upon all the houses of the Egyptians. Also Israel was supposed to put the blood of the lamb on the door in order to avoid the disaster. Only YHWH could see that blood on the door at night and he passed over the houses of the Israelites. All the previous plagues aimed at the Egyptians but this final plague aimed also at the Israelites if they did not obey YHWH`s commandment. In contrast to the visual element, there is the aural element in the last plague. The great cry was heard in every single house of the Egyptians because their firstborns were dead in the middle of the night. The visual image was not used to confirm the damage of the disaster. This aural element in the form of a great cry made the tragic situation even more fearful. At night the sound is the only instrument that could let the people of both Egypt and Israel know that the final plague eventually fell upon the Egyptians. Both visual and aural elements played their roles in the last plague and showed that YHWH sent the disaster upon the land of Egypt. In this respect, all the effort to explain it from the perspective of natural phenomenon has to be given up once and for all.