God announces to Moses that there is just one more plague to come and then Pharoah will let the people go (Exodus 11:1). Before he announces the plague, Moses instructs the Isralites to go and request silver and gold from the Egyptians. YHWH ensures that the people find favour with the Egyptians and additionally, Moses now has a fearsome reputation as well due to the signs (v2-3).
Moses delivers the final message to Pharoah. The firstborns will die but the Israelites will be protected. Moses tells Pharoah that the end result will be his servants begging Israel to go. Moses is described as leaving Pharoah’s palace in “hot anger”. We are not told what causes this anger. Is it wrath at the wickedness and hardness of Pharoah that has brought things to this point or is it anger at the king’s unstated but implied response, his continuing stubbornness? I suspect the latter given that God tells Moses again that the king will not listen (v4-9).
The author sums up the cycle of plagues here observing that Moses and Aaron perform all these signs but Pharoah does not relent. The reason being that God has hardened his heart (v10).
God then sets out instructions for the Israelites. Whilst again, they are to be shielded from the plague, this time they are to take responsibility for some aspects of the protection. They are instructed to take a lamb or young goat on the tenth of the month, kill it, roast it and eat it at twilight on the 14th day. Instructions are given for the meal, and the people are to eat together in households (combining smaller households). They are to be dressed ready for the journey ahead. The blood from the animal is to be sprinkled on the doorposts of the house as a sign that they are there. The Lord will pass over that house, and the firstborn will be spared (v7-13).
The people are also instructed to commemorate the day annually as a memorial. They will do this by re-enacting the meal including eating only unleavened bread for several days as a reminder of preparing bread in a hurry for a journey. This will have been the bread used by Jesus in the last supper. Strikingly, a failure to observe this element and by bringing leaven into the home is considered a serious matter which will cut you off from God’s people ((v14-28).
At midnight, God brings death to Egypt and all the first born sons die, including Pharaohs. The King summons Mosen and Aaron, now urging them to go and take all their livestock with them, he begs a blessing from them as they go. In other words, he is looking for them to lift the curse that is over him and Egypt (v29-32).
The Israelites set out. There are 600,000 men plus women and children. They have prepared unleavened bread in a hurry to take with them (it’s only at this stage that the symbolic festival bread is explained). They are described as a mixed company indicating that other ethnic tribes join with them, perhaps other slave workers who have been subdued by the Egyptians plus also sympathetic Egyptians. They have done as instructed and gathered gold and silver. They had been in Egypt for 430 years.
The author or editor adds a note here to explain another aspect of Passover observation. Part of the festival was a night vigil because God had watched over them that night. This is fascinating when we consider that Jesus after the last supper went to Gethsemane to watch and pray and asked his disciples to do this with him (v33-42).
We are reminded again that the Lord institutes the Passover feast. Further he insists that this feast is specifically for God’s people. Slaves who have been brought in and have no option but to be there may participate in the meal but this is not for foreigners passing through, those who sojourn in the land. If they wish to participate, they must first be circumcised.[1]
The response to the salvation of Israel’s firstborns is that the people are now to consecrate the firstborn sons. This is the obligation that Mary and Joseph fulfil with Jesus in Luke 2:22-38 when they meet Simeon and Anna (Exodus 13:1).
Moses now introduces and gives details for a second festival, closely related to the festival of the Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread. This has already been alluded to in the previous chapter. For seven days, each year at this time, the people will only eat unleavened bread. They are to tell their children that they are doing this in order to remember when God brought them out of Egypt. “it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt”.[2] In other words, this will be a vivid, immediate, in your face reminder. Note the connection here with Torah, God’s Law which they would later also be encouraged to place in the same visible manner as a reminder (v2-10).[3]
Additionally, when they reach the land, they are to consecrate the firstborns again both sons and livestock. This seems to be something that will be repeated. They are to be ready to answer their children’s questions again using a similar formula. The formula of a witness between their eyes is used again (v11-16).
[1] Note, there has been a tendency to assume that the repetition of instructions about the festivals reflects editing and incorporation of various sources. It is possible that the author structures the account logically to include later commentary, just as the Gospel accounts do not stick to strict chronology and especially John incorporates authorial commentary. However, there is no resume to presume that Moses did not use the opportunity at the time to instruct for the future, although the hasty departure may suggest that detail followed later. On sources see e.g. Alexander, Exodus, 246.
[2] Verse 9.
[3] See also Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18. Alexander agrees that this is intended metaphorically. The Jewish tradition of wearing phylacteries (little boxes containing words from the Torah) dates only as far back as the Babylonian exile. See Alexander, Exodus, 257.
Faithroots 