Saturday, April 17, 2010

Exodus 11

The final plague announced (vs. 1-10)—God informs Moses and Aaron that there will be one more plague, and after that, Pharaoh would let the people go (v. 1). The children of Israel were to ask “from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold” (v. 2); the Egyptians had plundered the Israelites for over 200 years, now payment was due. The people of the land were willing to do this, as Moses was gaining quite a reputation as the representative of an almighty God (v. 3). No doubt the Egyptians were impressed with this God who had defeated their Pharaoh (god) at every turn.

The plague would be the death of the firstborn of Egypt, “from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals” (v. 5). This is not very appealing to us, but Jehovah is the Judge. The Bible speaks of and illustrates often temporal judgment upon a wicked nation. The Egyptians had enslaved God’s children for over two centuries; they were a pagan, polytheistic society who rejected the one true God to follow the unrighteous ways of man. Hence, they were ripe for sore punishment. Think of all the ancient peoples the Israelites came into contact with—Hittites, Hivites, Girgashites, Jebusites, Jericho, Ai, Assyrian, Babylon, etc. etc.—the list of city-states, empires, and cultures in the ancient world is almost endless. How many of them still exist today? Whether we like it or not, in God’s eyes, there are some people who simply aren’t fit to live on this earth, not only because of their own wickedness, but because of the influence for evil that they have upon others. Students of the Old Testament are well aware of the negative sway the Canaanites had on the Israelites once the latter arrived in the Promised Land. That was no excuse for Israel, but it there was no excuse for the Canaanites to be so wicked and barbaric. God’s justice is fair; we may not always see it on this earth, but then, His ways are not our ways, either (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Moses goes to Pharaoh with the pronouncement from God (v. 4). The plague would come that night (vs. 4-5). The children of Israel would be spared the catastrophe that God was sending upon the Egyptians—“against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue” (v. 7), an interesting proverb, of which we do not know the source. Part of the reason God did not send the plague upon the Israelites was so “that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel” (v. 7). The people of Egypt would then, in effect, beg Israel to leave (v. 8). Pharaoh wasn’t ready yet to heed God’s warning (vs. 9-10), but he would be after the plague came.

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