April 11, 2024

Exodus 12:29-42 (HCSB)
The Exodus
29 Now at midnight the Lord struck every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock. 30 During the night Pharaoh got up, he along with all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud wailing throughout Egypt because there wasn’t a house without someone dead. 31 He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship Yahweh as you have asked. 32 Take even your flocks and your herds as you asked and leave, and also bless me.” 33 Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We’re all going to die!” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35 The Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord gave the people such favor in the Egyptians’ sight that they gave them what they requested. In this way they plundered the Egyptians. 37 The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 soldiers on foot, besides their families. 38 An ethnically diverse crowd also went up with them, along with a huge number of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 The people baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, since it had no yeast; for when they had been driven out of Egypt they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves. 40 The time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years, on that same day, all the Lord’s divisions went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of vigil in honor of the Lord, because He would bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is in honor of the Lord, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations.

James Burns
In this passage, the final plague, death of the firstborn, takes place. God knew that Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and it would take something so strong that it would shake him to his core. The death of the firstborn was a direct attack on two of the most important Egyptian gods, one that gives life, and one that is represented by the firstborn of Pharaoh himself. And obviously it worked, and impacted Pharaoh so profoundly that his heart was broken with the loss of his firstborn. So, He summoned Moses and Aaron and told the Israelites to leave Egypt immediately. He wanted them to leave so quickly (for fear that the remaining inhabitants of Egypt would die) that there was no time for preparation, no time for the bread in their bowls to even leaven or rise. So the Israelites gathered their possessions, their livestock, and Egyptian gold and silver, and left Egypt. The Israelites had been in Egyptian captivity for 430 years, and now 600,000 Israelite men and their families are freed from their bondage. To put it into perspective, that’s about the entire population of Davidson County Tennessee leaving in mass. Obviously, this event was so significant that it is remembered down through Jewish history, and foundational in their beliefs.