St. Gregory of Nyssa contends that the slaughter of Egypt’s firstborn, if taken literally, would be morally intolerable. He therefore interprets the killing of the firstborn as the Christian’s killing of personal vices early, before they can blossom into serious sins. The following article is taken from Gregory of Nyssa: The Life of Moses, pp. 75–77:
And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on the throne, to the first-born of the captive-maid in the dungeon, and the first-born of all cattle. And Pharaoh rose up by night, and his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in all the land of Egypt, for there was not a house in which there was not one dead.(Exodus 12:29-30)
Let us proceed to what follows in the text. We have learned through the things examined already that Moses (and he who exalts himself by virtue in keeping with his example), when his soul had been empowered through long application and high and lofty life, and through the illumination which came from above, considered it a loss not to lead his countrymen to the life of freedom.
When he came to them, he implanted in them a more intense desire for freedom by holding out worse sufferings to them. Intending to remove his countrymen from evil, he brought death upon all the firstborn in Egypt. By doing this he laid down for us the principle that it is necessary to destroy utterly the first birth of evil. It is impossible to flee the Egyptian life in any other way.
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First found at https://scottnevinssuicide.wordpress.com/category/10th-plague-of-egypt/
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