Exodus 11:1-12:36 PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Even when one understands God’s design in hardening Pharaoh’s heart to resist letting the people of Israel go (10:1-2), the obduracy of Pharaoh is surprising in light of the destructiveness of the first nine plagues. It is an illustration of natural man’s willingness to risk total destruction rather than bow to God’s sovereignty.
Pharaoh shows inconsistency in his responses to the plagues, one time begging for relief, another time remaining unmoved, again confessing sin, and granting conditional release. However, as Greenberg points out, there is a consistency of principle. He writes:
In this dramatic evolution of Pharaoh’s reactions, there is a consistency of principle—the core of his intransigence—namely, the maintenance of his sovereignty. That is the crux of the matter; that is the offense to the Godhead’s kingship; that is what cannot coexist with God’s authority. Thus the opposition of Pharaoh is the archetypal opposition of human power, of human authority to the claims of God. Under pressure it will show flexibility and accommodation, even reversing itself—first by crying for help, then by confessing guilt and making concessions. But after all its retreats, it clings to its last redoubt, a core of self-assertiveness and independence, to surrender which would mean the end of its claim to ultimate, self-sufficient power. Here it resists, careless of the cost, unto death. 1
The Announcement of the Tenth Plague: Death of Egypt’s Firstborn, 11:1-8
The climax of the plagues with the death of the firstborn of Egypt raises the wager for Pharaoh to keep control over Israel to a dear cost. When this plague is ended, Pharaoh will drive the Israelites from the land of Egypt with the same vigor as when he resisted their departure.
Moses now announces the last plague. Verses 1-3 are apparently a parenthetical statement which provides background but interrupts Moses announcement of the plague to Pharaoh. 2 The audience with Pharaoh in 10:24-29 is resumed in verse 4.
Note the far reaching effect of the plague (11:5). “The slave girl who is behind the millstones” is a widely attested Egyptian usage meaning “the poorest of the poor.” 3 The plague will come upon everyone, from Pharaoh’s family on down.
Irony is again discernible. Israel “cried out to the Lord” under her burden (2:23) and to Pharaoh (5:15), and now it is the Egyptians who will give a great outcry (11:6). However, Israel who earlier had cried out with great urgency, will now be found to be in quietude (11:7).
Finally, Moses foretells that it will be the Egyptian people who come to him and beg him to leave with all his people. Moses leaves the presence of Pharaoh not as a subject, but as a superior (11:8). 4
Summary of Pharaoh’s Resistance, 11:9-10
These two verses become important as they explain why Pharaoh did not recant nor bow before Yahveh, the God of the Hebrews. It is because: 1) God intensifies the rebellion of Pharaoh, and 2) God will bring glory to himself by the great works he is about to do.
Institution of the Passover, 12:1-20
As Cassuto notes, the whole character of the narrative changes with chapter 12. No longer are we concerned with Pharaoh’s palace, his servants, or his decisions to let Israel go or not. Moses’ and Aaron’s attention turn to their people; and what has to be done with Pharaoh, Yahveh will decide.
The directions for the first observance of the Passover feast are given in 12:1-13. Verse two says, “This shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you” (NASB). Although the modern Jewish calendar has its New Year (Rosh Hashanah) in the fall near the Day of Atonement, the festival year commences here with the Passover in the spring.
A lamb was to be taken or a kid if from the goats and determined to feed so many households, according to how much each member of the household could eat (12:4). It was to be an unblemished year old male lamb or kid (12:5). The household was to keep it for four days and then it would be killed in a public worship assembly (12:6). The blood of the sacrificial lamb or kid was to be applied to the doorposts and lintel of the house where it was to be eaten (12:7). This identified the house occupants as Yahveh’s worshippers. The necessity of redemption by blood, i.e. by the taking of the innocent life of another is clearly implied.
Jesus was crucified during the week of Passover and probably on the very day of the Passover sacrifice (cf. Luke 22:1, 7, 8). Paul, using the analogy of putting away sin as cleaning out leaven from the house, calls Christ our Passover (1 Cor 5:6-5). Passover was not the only festival typical of Christ’s sacrificial, atoning death. Paul also mentions First-Fruits (1 Cor 15:23; cf. Lev 23:10ff.), and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews is fond of using the Day of Atonement as typical of Christ’s work (Heb 9; cf. Lev 16).
The Passover was to be roasted with fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs (12:8). Apparently, a type of Passover festival was already known in the Ancient Near east, and this command differentiates it from the known festivals. The lamb was not to be prepared as commonly done among the heathen (12:9-10). Thus, we have the careful description of it as “the Lord’s Passover” (12:11). Unleavened bread was used to symbolize the haste with which it was prepared, as was the manner in which it was to be eaten (12:11). Bitter herbs reminded the Israelites of their bitter oppression in Egypt (1:14).
The reason for the Passover lamb and the regulations regarding its observance is stated in verses 12-13. The death plague will commence upon the Egyptians and will be a judgment upon the gods of Egypt. The blood of the Passover lamb will mark the houses of the believing Israelites and deliver them from the plague.
Exodus 12:14-20 gives the regulations for the memorial observations of the Passover by Israel in the future. An annual re-enactment of the Passover is to be perpetuated by Israel. The lamb is to be slain, roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; but in addition there was to be a search of the house to remove all leaven (12:15), and the week of unleavened bread was to begin with a specially called Sabbath and end with another (12:16).Verses 17-20 may be regarded as a summary of the whole subject.
Moses Commands the People to Observe the Passover, 12:21-28
Yahveh is about to redeem his people Israel with blood atonement. Such an action required serious obedience on the part of the redeemed people. Further explanation of how the blood was to be applied to the door posts and lintel is given. Hyssop, a plant with many stalks, was gathered and dipped in a laver of blood. This action was an act of faith for the Israelites, and it is their faith in God’s word that saves them from the destroying angel. The blood of the animal, as was the case with all blood sacrifices in the Old Testament, merely points the way to Christ’s perfect and complete atoning work, but had no atoning value in itself (cf. Hebrews 9:11-14, 23-28; 10:1-4, 11-12; 1 John 1:7; and Revelation 1:5). It is only Christ’s death which atones for sin. 5
This observance of the Passover feast is to be kept perpetually by Israel when it comes into the land. The father is to take spiritual responsibility for teaching his children to remember the Passover and its significance (12:25-26).
Upon hearing the command of God, Israel responds by humbly bowing in worship and obeying his word (12:27-28). This response is the same as the response to Moses’ first revelation of God’s plan of deliverance (cf. 4:31). The intervening time was necessary to teach the people of Egypt who Yahveh is and to turn the hearts of Israel toward him more fully.
The Death of the Firstborn, 12:29-36
Moses’ words to Pharaoh (11:4-5) come to fruition in verse 29. Now Egypt cries out in distress, “For there was no home where there was not someone dead” (12:30). The effect of sin and rebellion takes its toil and is inescapable.
The self-sufficient Pharaoh is forced out of bed in the middle of the night to deal with a national crisis and calls in Moses and Aaron to instruct them to leave as they had requested. Pharaoh attempts no bargain or concessions, just “Rise up … you and the sons of Israel … both your flocks and your herds as you have said, and go” (12:31-32). The Egyptians, realizing that dead men do not profitably keep slave labor, also urge the people to leave (12:33).
The Israelites gather up their unleavened bread and the possessions given them from the Egyptians according to Moses’ instructions and prepare to leave.
© 2008, Scott Branyan
- Understanding Exodus, p. 181. ↩
- The NIV correctly translates the Hebrew with the English pluperfect, “Now the LORD had said to Moses…,” to show the parenthesis (11:1). ↩
- See Cassuto; also Cole, Exodus, in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series. ↩
- The character transformation of Moses from his call until now is striking. At first, he was almost cowardly in resisting his call. Now he is unafraid, supported by God’s strength, to stand before the ruler of the known world and pronounce a death sentence on the firstborn of all his subjects. One can begin to get a sense also here of Moses as a great prophet. ↩
- We will discuss this more fully in Leviticus, but the sacrifices in the OT only cleansed the flesh. As Hebrews tells us, they were not able to cleanse the conscience. ↩