Exodus 11

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. ² Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” ³ And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people. ⁴ So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, ⁵ and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. ⁶ There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. ⁷ But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ ⁸ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

 

Solzhenitsyn wrote a sentence in The Gulag Archipelago that I have always found chilling.  In this sentence, Solzhenitsyn is reflecting on his time in the Russian prison camps and he is trying to describe the trains, boats, and trucks on which countless Russians were hauled to the Gulag.  After speaking of this mass movement of prisoners into these terrible concentration camps, Solzhenitsyn writes:

Shut your eyes, reader.  Do you hear the thundering of wheels?[1]

There is something poignant and devastating about that sentence:  “Shut your eyes, reader.  Do you hear the thundering of wheels?”  I am tempted to ask us to do the same as we approach this introduction to this last and most horrifying plague.  Shut your eyes, church member!  Do you hear the shrieks and cries of the parents of Egypt’s firstborn sons?  Do you hear the lamentation of a nation that turned time and again away from God?  Do you hear the thundering of wheels?

Chapter 11 sets the stage for the execution of the final plague.  Terence Fretheim put it nicely when he wrote this:

Yet one more plague.  The end is near.  An impasse has been reached.  There is no more room to maneuver.  The stream of negotiation has reached the narrows, and the waters are shortly going to go crashing through the gorge.  There is no stopping things now.  A final judgment will fall upon Pharaoh and Egypt.[2]

It is to the announcement of that judgment that we turn tonight.

I. God Provides for His People (v.1-3)

We have already seen how the plagues increased in intensity, each being worse than the one before.  Here is the final plague, the final blow from the just hand of a mighty God.  The Lord first turns to Moses to tell him to prepare the people and to announce judgment over Egypt.

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. ² Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” ³ And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

It is interesting to note that verse 1 is the only use of the actual Hebrew word for “plague” in the book of Exodus.  The Lord is truly foretelling the plague of all plagues.  But first he speaks of provisions for His people.  He says that the Israelites should ask their Egyptian neighbors for silver and gold and that the Egyptians will be favorably disposed to give them these things.  It has been noted that the Lord does to the opposite to the hearts of the Egyptian people that He did to Pharaoh’s heart:  He softens the hearts of the people.

The question is why?  Why does God command His people to request such from the Egyptians and why does He move the Egyptians to give?  There are perhaps many reasons why this might be, but a providential meting out of divine justice is surely among them.  The Egyptians had lived off of the toil of the Hebrew slaves for four hundred years.  It was only just, then, that that the Hebrews receive payment for their labors.  In doing this, God allowed the Hebrews to plunder peacefully their Egyptian captors.

Gregory of Nazianzus said this about the collection of Egyptian gold and silver:

What then?  Do you come out for nothing and without wages?  But why will you leave to the Egyptians and to the powers of your adversaries that which they have gained by wickedness and will spend with yet greater wickedness?  It does not belong to them.  They have ravished it and have sacrilegiously taken it as plunder form him who says, “The silver is mine and the gold is mind, and I give to whom I will.”  Yesterday it was theirs, for it was permitted to be so.  Today the master takes it and gives it to you that you may make a good and saving use of it.[3]

Here we see the generous provision of God!  It should also be understood that, apparently, some of the Egyptians went with the Israelites when they left.  We do not often think about that, but Exodus 12:38 informs us that “a mixed multitude also went up with them.”  Thus, while it is clear that this was a supernatural turning of the dispositions of the Egyptians towards magnanimity, it is also the case that some of the Egyptians had become God-fearers and likely willingly gave what they had as offerings of worship and repentance.

II. God Foretells Devastating Judgment (v.4-8)

The liberation of the Hebrews came at great cost to the Egyptians.

⁴ So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, ⁵ and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. ⁶ There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. ⁷ But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’ ⁸ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

The ESV says that “every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die,” but the NIV, NLT, HCSB make it clear that this is referring to the “firstborn son” or “firstborn male.”  Truly, this is a terrifying and devastating plague.  The horrific progression has reached its culmination.

This plague can be jarring for modern readers.  How could God kill the firstborn sons of Egypt?  I certainly have no intention of defending God’s actions, as God’s actions do not need defense, but I would like for us to remember a few things.  First, the coming of Jesus, the Son of David, depended upon the survival of the Jews.  Jesus was Jew.  It was necessary that He come in Israel’s line.  This is not simply a people.  This is God’s people.

Secondly, let us realize that Egypt has been trying to destroy God’s “firstborn son.”  What do I mean?  In Exodus 4:22, God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Israel is my firstborn son…If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.”  This does not mean that Israel is God’s “only begotten son.”  That title is for Christ and Christ alone.  The Father has no other Son but Jesus.  But, metaphorically, Israel is the apple of God’s eye, His firstborn son.

Furthermore, how many literal firstborn sons of Israel had died on Egyptian soil these 400 years?  How much blood had the Egyptians shed?  It is not as if God was striking out haphazardly or in an arbitrary manner.  He is defending and delivering His people from cruel tyranny.

The firstborn of the mighty Egyptians would die and the firstborn of the lowly Egyptians would die.  The firstborn of their cattle would likewise die.  The Lord God will reveal to Egypt the dastardly wickedness of their deeds against His firstborn son.  Their reaction would be one of despair.

⁶ There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again.

Here we are back to Solzhenitsyn:  “Shut your eyes, reader.  Do you hear the thundering of wheels?”  Do you hear the cry of Egypt?  Do you hear their wailing howls of terror and grief?  God will put His hand on Egypt.

It is likely the case that every church age has a kind of theological temperament.  Meaning, every church age, in general, tends to lean this way or that in terms of what they emphasize.  The Puritans, for instance, are often depicted as leaning inordinately towards the wrath of God in terms of what they emphasized.  That is likely a caricature to some extent, but there can be no doubt that many ages of the church have inordinately stressed God’s wrath.  In William Faulkner’s novel, Intruder in the Dust, Lucas Beauchamp reflects on the church steeples he has seen:

…and he remembered the tall slender spires which said Peace and the squatter utilitarian belfries which said Repent and he remembered one which even said Beware but this one said simply:  Burn…[4]

There have been times in Christian history where the gospel was eclipsed by an overemphasis on the wrath of God, when the church seemed to reduce its message to one word:  burn.  That is a great tragedy.

Our age, of course, has taken the opposite approach and has stressed God’s love almost to the exclusion of His wrath.  We do not know what to do with the wrath of God.  We modern Americans have almost been conditioned instinctively to side with the guilty and to mistrust authority.  Again, that is a generalization, but as a national temperament, that’s likely true.  And our pulpits and worship services have probably come to reflect that fact.

For instance, the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song recently voted to exclude Keith Getty and Stuart Townsend’s song, “In Christ alone,” from their new hymnal after Getty and Townsend refused to let them change the line, “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the wrath of God was satisfied,” to, “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the love of God was magnified.”  Here is a committee that did not like the notion of Christ bearing the wrath of the Father on Calvary.

Let me simply say, however, that God is holy and God is perfect.  This means that God is perfect in His love and perfect in His wrath.  Jerry Bridges once referred to holiness as the perfection of the attributes of God.[5]  I agree with that.  We must resist the temptation to whittle God down so that His attributes fit our template for what is appropriate and right.  If the actions of God seem odd to us, it is because we are off base, not God.

Observe, again, however, that as fierce as the wrath of God is when He pours it out, He protects His people from it.

⁷ But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

It has been observed that dogs were not domesticated pets in Egypt but instead “were considered undesirable and a general nuisance, perhaps as a rat would be viewed today.”  Thus, the observation that “not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either or man or beast” “suggests unusual calm, for these roaming curs were easily antagonized by the slightest irregularity.”[6]  Not even the stray animals will dare growl at the people of God when He has covered them in His mantle of protection.

Brothers and sisters, we have been covered by the mantle of the blood of Christ.  It protects us.  It is over us.  We are not the objects of God’s wrath, but of His love.  And we extend this love to the world when we proclaim Christ, calling all people to come to Him.

III. God Works Sovereignly to Further His Own Glory (v.9-10)

Once again, we see that the purpose of the Exodus is theological rather than geographical.  He is not merely wanting to move a people from there to here.  No, He is primarily wanting to assert His own glory and power.

⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

Why are you doing this, Lord?  “That my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”  The salvation of the world does not depend upon the migration or even the liberation of a people.  It depends upon the rock solid fact that God is able to do all that He intends to do.  He is strong.  He is mighty.  He is powerful.  He is God on high.  He is able to save.

We may feel many things as we work through the Exodus, but surely wonder is one of them.  We wonder at the wonders of God!  This is the God we worship.  This God…the One who can lay low the mighty kings of the earth, the One who laughs to scorn all Pharaohs and kings and potentates and despots and dictators and Prime Ministers and Presidents and rulers and lords and conquerors who dare to think that they are gods.  He can also lay us low when we presume to think the same thing of ourselves.

Watch Pharaoh, sitting there on his throne.  Now watch him fall as he dares to raise a hand against God and His people.  Our God is indeed an awesome God.  He is strong and mighty to save!  I conclude with the majestic words of Psalm 2.

1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.

8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.

9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
 for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Our God reigns!  Let us praise Him.  Let us follow Him.