Pestilence (דֶבר) and the Plague of the Firstborn: A Study of the Origins of an Ancient Exegesis

Abstract

This article analyzes an ancient tradition related to the story of the exodus from Egypt, which combines a plague of pestilence (dever) with the final plague, the plague of the firstborn (makkat bekhorot). In the first sections, I trace the sources in which this tradition appears and attempt to identify the biblical origins of this tradition and the exegetical difficulties it tackles. In the final section, I aim to show how this tradition sheds light on an abstruse passage in the Passover Haggadah. By completing the different parts of this inquiry, it becomes possible to delineate the evolution of the link between the plague of the firstborn and pestilence as stemming from key issues within the biblical exodus tradition that preoccupied exegetes in antiquity.