We will begin this lesson in Exodus 12:25 “And it shall come to
pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you,
according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.”
God was reminding these Hebrews, here, that He had not forgotten
His promise to give them the land of promise, but He expected them to
celebrate this Passover, when they arrived in this land.
Exodus 12:26 “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall
say unto you, What mean ye by this service?” Exodus 12:27 “That ye
shall say, It [is] the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed
over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the
Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and
worshipped.”
God, in this, was reminding these Israelites that it was by His
mighty hand that they were spared their firstborn. God expected His
people to tell their children, and their children’s children, on down
through the ages every year that God had the destroyer to pass over
their house and spare their families. He did not want them to forget.
At each Passover Feast, the story was told again how God saved Israel.
These people were so thankful to God for not only the destroyer passing
over their house, but they knew, now, that their deliverance from this
terrible bondage was here, as well. They bowed their heads and thank God.
Exodus 12:28 “And the children of Israel went away, and did as the
LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.”
We need to stop and look at this whole incident, here. We see in
verse 28, that these children of Israel had finally accepted that this
was God who had intervened in their behalf. They were no longer
complaining about the heavy load put on them, when Moses first spoke to
Pharaoh for them. These Israelites were saved by the shed blood of
this lamb. If we really look at the above Scriptures, we see that
they, also, killed the lamb. We, Christians, fall into this category,
too. The Lamb of God was slain to deliver us, but we, also, were the
ones who killed the Lamb. It was all of our sins that nailed Him to
the cross. It troubles me greatly that so many ministers have stopped
preaching about the blood. The blood is what saved us. Without the
shedding of the blood, there is no remission of sin. (Hebrews 9:22)
If we take the blood out of our belief, we have lost our salvation.
Exodus 12:29 “And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD
smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of
Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that
[was] in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.”
We discussed, before, that God struck these cattle, because they
were objects of worship in Egypt. God defamed this false god, when
He killed their firstborn. With God, there is no difference in the
Pharaoh and the prisoner. God is no respecter of persons. The
Pharaoh was Pharaoh, because God made him ruler. Had God spared
Pharaoh’s family, he would, probably, not have been moved to let the
children of Israel go. You remember, in an earlier lesson, that
Pharaoh had no compassion, when his people alone were plagued. Pharaoh
only took notice when it affected him. This happening at midnight,
just made the deaths more terrifying.
Exodus 12:30 “And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his
servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt;
for [there was] not a house where [there was] not one dead.”
This had to be one of the worst crises Egypt had ever faced. When
God struck a blow of judgement, such as this, there was nowhere to go
for comfort. There was no question where this punishment came from;
Moses had warned Pharaoh ahead of time. This “hurt” had been felt by
every family in Egypt. We must relate all Scripture to our standing
with God. God has warned over and over in the Scriptures of a great
day of God’s wrath that will come upon those who do not accept His
Son as Saviour. There is no excuse acceptable for those who do not
repent, and turn from the world (Egypt). The wrath of God will fall
on the worldly people, just as it fell this night on the firstborn of
Egypt. God is patient, not willing that one be lost. ll Peter 3:9,
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God has a
day set, that will be like this tenth plague. On that day, He will
say: IT IS ENOUGH, then His wrath will fall. Don’t wait; repent and
receive Jesus as your Saviour today.
Exodus 12:31 “And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and
said, Rise up, [and] get you forth from among my people, both ye and
the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.”
This death of the firstborn was so terrible, that Pharaoh couldn’t
wait until morning. He wanted to be rid of Moses, Aaron, and the
children of Israel, who had brought so much sorrow into his home and
in Egypt. At this point, I believe, Pharaoh was frightened of Moses’
God. Pharaoh was no longer concerned about the money it would cost him,
to lose this approximately three million people. When you fear for
your life, money becomes very unimportant. It appears, here, at any
rate, that Pharaoh had completely given up. The Israelites could even
take their livestock with them, also, because Pharaoh said “as ye
have said”. This was not saying, you can go if you want to, but get
out. Pharaoh had had enough plagues.
Exodus 12:32 “Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have
said, and be gone; and bless me also.”
Here, we see a plea of Pharaoh. He asked Moses to not only leave,
but to stop the plagues. In his last statement (bless me also),
Pharaoh was finally recognizing Moses’ God. He admited He (God) had the
ability to bless, or curse.
Exodus 12:33 “And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that
they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We [be]
all dead [men].”
We see, here, the fear that gripped these Egyptians’ hearts. They
did not believe any would be alive, after one more plague from God.
Each plague got worse, and they knew this tenth plague had affected
every family in Egypt. Here, we see them saying hurry up and get out
of here, we can’t stand anymore.
Exodus 12:34 “And the people took their dough before it was
leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon
their shoulders.”
I believe this Scripture was just explaining how hastily the
children of Israel left Egypt and, also, to show that they left
nothing behind. They took all their possessions. Notice, this week of
unleavened bread would be completed, as they went. (They took their
dough before it was leavened).
Exodus 12:35 “And the children of Israel did according to the word
of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and
jewels of gold, and raiment:” Exodus 12:36 “And the LORD gave the
people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto
them [such things as they required]. And they spoiled the Egyptians.”
This word translated “borrowed”, here, has a number of meanings.
One meaning is request, another is demand. Some milder words it could
be translated are ask, require, obtain, and wish. You can see from
all these possibilities of translations, that these Egyptians, probably,
knew that these were not to be returned. This was, probably, like
back pay these people had not received during their years of servant
toil. The Egyptians were happy to give them these things, to be rid of
them. I really believe a certain amount of guilt (for the way they
had treated the Israelites) was present here, and they (Egyptians )
wanted to send them off with no hard feelings. At any rate, the
Israelites got the goods, and spoiled the Egyptians. These jewels of
gold and silver would be required of God for the tabernacle in the
wilderness, later. Note that God sees nothing wrong in silver and
gold. Only the misuse of silver and gold is wrong. Verse 36 allows us
to see that the Israelites left Egypt not as slaves, but as
conquerors. Remember, they had not won the battle, but God won
the battle for them.
Exodus 12:37 “And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses
to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot [that were] men, beside
children.”
This 600,000 men causes us to estimate, that when you add the women
and children to this number, it would be approximately three million
people. Rameses was a main city of Goshen, where the Israelites had
lived, while they stayed in Egypt. This Succoth was an ancient town in
Palestine. Here, we see the beginning and the end of this journey,
which should take just a few days, but lasts forty years.
Exodus 12:38 “And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and
flocks, and herds, [even] very much cattle.”
We are not told exactly who this mixed multitude was. All we can
do is suppose. Perhaps, it was people who had been in servitude to
the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh had opened his gates to let the Hebrews
leave, and in so doing, probably released other nationalities with
them, in fear that he might not let all the Israelites go. At any
rate, they were people who were not the children of Israel (strangers).
This was undoubtedly a vast amount of humanity and animals leaving
Egypt.
Exodus 12:39 “And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which
they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they
were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they
prepared for themselves any victual.”
This is a strange statement (because they were thrust out of
Egypt). It appears that, the reason the bread was unleavened, was
because God told them to eat unleavened bread. This could be their
first act of rebellion toward God on their way to the promised land.
They hurriedly baked unleavened bread to eat along the way.