east lake FELLOWSHIP

   Contributed by Barry Drake

One More Plague

Exodus 11:1 thru 13:16

 

Death, the “king of terrors” (Job 18:14), “the last enemy” (1 Cor. 15:26).  Not a subject most people like to talk about but for us as true believer, the day we die is the day we have lived our lives for.  But this is not the case with our Pharaoh.  The king Pharaoh is about to meet the king of terrors and it is not going to be a good meeting.  In one night, all the firstborn sons and all the firstborn livestock in Egypt would die.  Only then will the Pharaoh let the Jews go. 

 

But death will not come to Goshen and the Jews that live there.  The only ones to die in Goshen would be innocent yearling lambs, one for each Jewish household.  This night would mark the beginning of Passover, Israel’s first national feast and the world’s longest, continues running celebration.  We are going to look at Passover and examine five different aspects of the Passover event.

 

1.    Passover and the Egyptians (Ex. 11:1-10)

The people of Egypt had been annoyed by the first six plagues, and their land and possessions had been devastated by the next two plagues.  The ninth plague, the three days of darkness, had set the stage for the most dreadful plague of them all, the visit by the death angel to the land.  Psalm 78:39 NIV says “He unleashed against them His hot anger, His wrath, indignation and hostility - a band of destroying angels”. 

 

Moses heard God’s Word (Ex. 11:1-3).  The timeline here is a little off.  These verses here actually describe what happened before Moses was summoned to the palace to hear Pharaoh’s last offer back in 10:24-29.  Moses’ speech in 11:4-8 was delivered between verses 26 and 27 of chapter 10, and it ended with Moses leaving the palace in great anger in 10:29 and 11:8. 

 

God told Moses that there would be one more plague and this one would be so bad that the Pharaoh would not only let the people  go but would command them to go.  Little did he know that he would be fulfilling the promise of God made before the plagues ever began back in chapter six. 

 

Moses now tells the Jewish people to collect their unpaid wages for all the work they and their ancestors had done as slaves in Egypt.  The word “borrow” actually means “to ask or request”.  They did not plan to return it.  Back in Genesis chapter 15, God had promised the Jews that they would leave Egypt “with great substance” and this was it.  God gave the Jews favor and the Egyptians gave freely.

 

Moses warned Pharaoh (Ex. 11:4-10).  After all this, Pharaoh still had no fear in his heart for the Lord.  Moses warned and Pharaoh resisted.  But this time, resistance would cause death, death of the first born and this would bring sorrow to the entire land.

 

Now, lets look at a couple of questions: (1) Why did God slay only the firstborn?  (2) Was God just in doing so when Pharaoh was the true culprit? 

 

In most cultures, firstborn sons are considered special.  In Egypt they were not only special, they were sacred.  Also remember God’s feelings toward the firstborn sons of Israel (Ex. 4:22; Jer. 31:9; Hosea 11:1).  Lets go back to Exodus 4:22-23 and look at an early warning to Pharaoh from Moses.  Pharaoh had tried to kill the male children of the Israelites and had treated the slave Jews.  What goes around, comes around, even with God. 

 

Lets look at this “what goes around ....” a little deeper.  Pharaoh drowned the babies.  What happened to Pharaoh’s army?  Compensation is a fundamental law of life (Matt. 7:1-2).   Now. back up a little.  Remember Jacob lied to his father and later Jacob’s sons lied to him.  David committed adultery and had the woman’s husband murdered and the David’s daughter was raped and two of his sons were murdered.  One of my favorites is in Ester where Haman built a gallows on which to hang Mordecai, but it was Haman who was hanged instead.  “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7).

 

Now, lets try to find something spiritual in the death of the firstborn.  Remember in our study of Genesis, there were many times when God did not choose the firstborn.  There was Cain and Able, there was Shem, not Japheth, Isaac and not Ishmael, and Jacob instead of Esau.  If you look close you can see a symbolic way of saying that our first birth is not accepted by God.  We must experience a second birth, a spiritual birth, before God can accept us.  Just read the book of John.  The firstborn son represents humanity’s very best, but that is not good enough for a holy God.  It is because of our first birth that we inherit Adam’s sinful nature and are lost; but when we experience a second birth through faith in Jesus, we receive God’s divine nature and are acceptable to God through Christ. 

 

Pharaoh and the Egyptian people had seen God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s long-suffering and yet they continued to rebel and be arrogant and even insulted God.  They had continued to give nothing but cruel treatment to the Jewish people.  God had warned and warned but they would not listen.  God had publicly humiliated the gods of the Egyptians and proved Himself over and over again, yet the nation would not believe.  The Pharaoh and his court sound so much like our government and courts today.  “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18).

 

2.    Passover and the Israelites (Ex. 12:1-28, 43-51).

The Passover represented a new beginning for the Jews and bound them together as a nation.  This was in 1446BC and has continued, without interruption, ever since.  Anytime a Jew thinks of Passover or deliverance from Egypt, they think of the blood of the lamb.  The blood of the lamb liberated them from bondage.  You and I, in a since, were in the same fix as Israel.  We were in bondage to sin and needed to be liberated and for that liberation, blood needed to be shed.  When the Lord liberated us, it was the dawning of a new day and the beginning of a new life.  That is what the NT word redeem or redemption means, freedom from bondage.  We have been redeemed through the blood of the Lamb.

 

The Jewish nation of the OT had two calendars, a civil calendar that began in our September-October, and a religious calendar that began in our March-April.  New Year’s Day in the civil year (Rosh Hashana - beginning of the year) fell in the seventh month of the religious calendar with such feast as Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles.  Passover marked the beginning of the religious year, and at Passover, the focus is on the lamb. 

 

Remember when we were in Genesis 22 and Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac and Isaac ask the question “Where is the Lamb?”?  That question introduced one of the major themes of the OT as God’s people waited for the Messiah.  John the Baptist finally answered the question when he pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  The Passover lamb is a picture of Jesus and that is affirmed in the NT by Philip in acts 8, Paul in 1 Cor. 5, Peter in 1 Peter 1 and John in Rev. 5 and 13. 

 

Next week, the Passover, Old and New