October 19, 2024
Reading: Exodus 11-12:30
Focus: Exodus 12:12-13 – On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
Father God, Thank You for Your faithfulness. Thank You for Your word. Help us to see what You would have us to see. Help us to learn what You would have us to learn. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Once the darkness lifted, Pharaoh went back to trying to bargain with God. (Exodus 10:24-29) But, God is not to be bargained with. I enter the Publishers’ Clearing House sweepstakes again and again. I want to win $10 million. I can think of all the things I can do with it. I want to help my church. To make it haven for those in need. To give the homeless a place to live until they can get back on their feet and to teach them marketable skills to do just that. Help my church to be a light in the darkness to all. I tell God over and over that’s what I want to do with that money, but God knows best for me. And so, I don’t win it. I’m good with that. I am sure you know people who tell God that they will do something if He will do something for them. God doesn’t work that way. He wants us to come to Him, no strings attached.
But Pharaoh, believed he was on equal footing with God. He was worshipped in Egypt as a god. Pharaoh was considered to be a god, the son of Ra, the supreme god. But he was only human, just as God was trying to show him. It still hasn’t dawned on him that God was greater and more powerful than any god he worshipped. But soon, he would learn that God was more powerful than life itself.
God told Moses that there was one more plague for Pharaoh and Egypt to suffer. Afterwards, he will let the Israelites go. Moses was instructed to tell the people to ask their neighbors and employers for silver and gold. God said that the Egyptians would be more than willing to comply with the requests.
God had told Moses to tell Pharaoh what would happen to the Egyptians. Every firstborn son of Egypt would die. From the son of Pharaoh to the firstborn son of the lowest handmaid. Not only among the people but also among the animals. The anguish of the Egyptians would be worse than ever before. God also said that the Israelites would be spared, so that Pharaoh would know that the Lord made a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites. Moses told Pharaoh that he would then tell him to take the Israelites and leave. In anger, Moses left the Pharaoh and went to the people with the instructions God had given for the days to come.
What comes next are the first instructions for one of the most holy festivals of Judaism. God told the people through Moses that the month that they were in was to be considered as the first month of the Hebrew (Jewish) year. On the tenth day of the month, every family was to take a lamb, a year-old lamb, without spot or defect. They were to determine the amount of lamb that each family member would eat. If a household was too small, they would share the lamb with their nearest neighbor, so that the lamb would be completely consumed rather than have any leftovers.
They were to take care of the lamb until the fourteenth of the month. At twilight, the lamb was to killed, and the blood caught in a bowl. The blood was to be put on the sides of the door of the house and across the lintel above the door. Once this was done, they were not to go outside the house that night. The lamb was to be roasted. No other manner of cooking was permitted. They were to eat it with bread that had no yeast. Nothing was to be left of the lamb. All was to be consumed – head, legs, organs. If there were leftovers, it was to be burned. They were to eat it dressed and ready to travel. They were to be ready to travel!
Moses tells them that that night the angel of death would pass over Egypt and the firstborn of all would die. Except those in the houses where the blood was applied. No one in those houses would die. God said, “. . . when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” What a promise! What a prophecy! The blood saved those in the houses marked with it. Just as when Jesus died, when His blood is applied to the hearts of believers, we will be saved from eternal death.
Then God commanded that this event be celebrated every year. From the first to the fourteenth day, they were to clean their homes of all yeast. And from the fourteenth day to the twenty-first day, they were to eat only unleavened bread (bread without yeast). It was to be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Most call it Passover now. Christians celebrate Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, on the last day of the Passover week. Orthodox Jews follow this to the letter. There is a special family dinner on the night of Passover. It is holy time. Then and now. We’ll go more into how we see Jesus in the Passover later on.
So, the people prepare as God instructed. Up to now, the Israelites have been passive in their deliverance. Now, they are to take an active part in their deliverance. They are given fourteen days to get ready to leave Egypt. After four hundred and thirty years, they were going to leave Egypt! At last! Years of suffering, years of loss, years of hard work and years of near hopelessness. Now, there may have been some who were skeptical or even those who refused to believe. But how could they not believe completely after all that had happened to the Egyptians. Makes one wonder. By now, I am sure there were Egyptians that believed.
On the night of the fourteenth of the month, all of Israel were in their homes, standing ready to travel, eating the lamb they had prepared and waiting. As they ate, the Lord passed over all of Egypt and all of the firstborn died, from Pharaoh’s son to the firstborn of the lowest of the low, along with their firstborn of their animals. All of Egypt got up in the night to find death had visited their homes. There was no Egyptian home in which there was no death.
Rebellion against God is a sin. Pharaoh sinned, over and over again. He refused to obey God’s command to let the Israelites go. Again and again, his people and his land suffered and still he would not obey. As a parent, what do you do when your child disobeys? Of course, there is punishment. But what if they continue to disobey? More punishment, often more than before. Some kids can really be stubborn. I know this isn’t a popular opinion, but a good spanking often convinces a rebellious kid. I am not talking a beating. A spanking. I survived them and I am sure others my age did too. It makes you wonder what our world would be like if spanking was not considered abuse. Ridiculous if you ask me.
Discipline, administered with love, can mold a child into a responsible, compassionate adult. It’s hard to discipline your child. Making them cry tears at your heart. Just think what God feels when He has to discipline us. As I have said before, He doesn’t cause bad things to happen to us. He allows it. He does not prevent the consequences of our sin, but He does give us the strength to get through them. His discipline molds us into the person He wants us to be. We learn from our mistakes. We must learn from our mistakes, or we will make them all over again. Pharaoh refused to learn. He softened when there was trouble but when the trouble was gone, he went back to his stubborn self. He refused to see that God was offering mercy with each warning that Moses brought to him. He could have obeyed. But he didn’t.
Can you see God’s mercy?
Father God, help us to see Your mercy. Help us to see Your love when You discipline us. Help us to grow to be the people you want us to be. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Food for Thought
- Why do you think God gave the Israelites fourteen days to get ready to leave Egypt?
- Why do you think God instructed them to eat the night before they were to leave?
- Why do you think the Egyptians were so generous to the Israelites?
- What was the purpose of the blood on the door jambs and lintels of the houses?
- Do you see Jesus in the Passover? How and where?
