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Exodus 10-12     Listen Podcast

The key verses to the whole God/Moses/Pharaoh ordeal (Exodus 10:1-2)

1 Now the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him,
2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”

In Exodus 7-9 (see notes) we see that "God hardened Pharaoh's heart." So one might wonder: Why perform the miracles of bringing the plagues on Pharaoh and the Egyptians if God was going to cause Pharaoh to dig in his heals each time and refuse compliance? Here's your answer in verses Exodus 10:1-2, "Now the LORD said to Moses, 'Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.'" Have you been thinking all this time that the miracles were for Pharaoh's benefit? If you're going to lead approximately two million people out of the only life they have ever known, you had better demonstrate to the people how awesome their God is. That's what God is allowing Moses to do before the Hebrews. The miracles of the plagues were for the Hebrews' benefit.

This is a good time to get an overview of how Pharaoh came by his stubborn streak:

You must agree, based upon these passages, the plagues were not about convincing Pharaoh; they were about convincing the Hebrews.

Plague #8: Locusts...everywhere (Exodus 10:3-20)

3 ¶ So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
4 Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.
5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field.
6 They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 ¶ Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”
8 ¶ So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the LORD your God. Who are the ones that are going?”
9 ¶ And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
10 ¶ Then he said to them, “The LORD had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you.
11 Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the LORD, for that is what you desired.” And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 ¶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land—all that the hail has left.”
13 So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them.
15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.
16 ¶ Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.
17 Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the LORD your God, that He may take away from me this death only.”
18 So he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the LORD.
19 And the LORD turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt.
20 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.

Has anyone seen those Egyptian magicians lately? Looks like they could use a few more locusts! Verse 7 indicates some movement in the Egyptian/Hebrew contract negotiations, "Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?" Pharaoh wanted some hostages to make certain Moses and the men would return. You see, up to this point, Moses had only requested from Pharaoh that they be permitted to go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to God. Obviously Pharaoh suspects that Moses and company have no intention of returning from this outing. But Moses drives a hard bargain, "When we go to worship, we'll take our women, children and cattle." I can't imagine why Pharaoh was suspicious of their intentions, can you?

All right, Pharaoh, hang on for the locusts. Finally, Pharaoh cries "uncle!" Well, maybe not those words exactly, but he does come to another of those breaking points in verse 16 where he says, "...I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you." So Moses rids the land of the locusts; he does a better job here than he did with the frogs, You will recall that they just died in place and stank up the land (perhaps to make a nice breeding ground for the flies that followed). God actually causes a wind to blow the locusts into the sea. BREACH OF CONTRACT! There it is in verse 20, "But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go." Incidentally, a locust infestation like this happens in that region from time to time, just as it did in November, 2004. Another happened in Egypt just three weeks before Passover in 2013. That would be about the same time as the one here in the Book of Exodus. The notable miracle here is that Moses was able to orchestrate their arrival and departure with his supernatural control of the wind.

Plague #9: Three days of darkness (Exodus 10:21-29)

21 ¶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.”
22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.
23 They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
24 ¶ Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you.”
25 ¶ But Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
26 Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the LORD our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the LORD until we arrive there.”
27 ¶ But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.
28 Then Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!”
29 ¶ So Moses said, “You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.”

Here's the last plague before the big one - darkness. This is some heavy-duty darkness; it was so dark that the Egyptians could not even move outside. It would appear that not even artificial light penetrated the darkness outside. Each of the plagues to this point have been caused by God's supernatural influence over nature at the command of Moses as a consequence to Pharaoh's refusal to submit. There is no reason to believe this one to be different. These three days of darkness were likely the phenomenon in that region known as "Khamsin" or sometimes "Chamsin." This is a wind that moves eastward along the southern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, and it happens generally in the March/April time period. It is unusual for it to last as long as three days, but the dust that is stirred up in the air is truly "darkness which may even be felt." In its severest activity, light is blocked, darkness prevails, and folks generally avoid going outside if at all possible. This phenomenon still occurs today.

Of course, the Hebrews had light. Pharaoh calls for Moses and he fires up negotiations again: Take your women and children to the wilderness to worship, but leave your cattle." In the world of contract negotiations (give a little, take a little), that seems like a pretty attractive offer. Nope! No compromises. Let's get real here for a moment. If you go into the wilderness to worship with all of your wives, children and cattle, how likely are you to return a few days later and serve again as slaves? We see in verse 27 that God hardens his heart again. But this time Pharaoh adds to his harsh words when he says in verse 28, "Get away from me! Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die!" Uh...Pharaoh...I don't really think it's going to turn out like that.

God outlines the exit strategy with Moses (Exodus 11)

1 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.
2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.”
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 ¶ Then Moses said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt;
5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, 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.
6 Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again.
7 But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’
8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, “Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.
9 ¶ But the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
10 So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Keep in mind that Moses has never asked Pharaoh for anything more than a vacation...three days into the wilderness to offer a sacrifice to God. The sticky point in the negotiations has been that Moses was not willing to leave anything behind to indicate that they would return after they made their sacrifices. Pharaoh has always seen that as a deal breaker. Well...here in verse 1, God tells Moses that Pharaoh will "drive" him out of Egypt after they lose their firstborn sons.

If there's one thing we've learned about Pharaoh, it is that he bristles up at a challenge...as he does here. God instructs Moses to get the Hebrews to take up a collection before they go. While the KJV uses the word "borrow" in verse 2, trust me when I say that the Hebrew word (shaw-al´) holds no implication whatsoever that the Egyptians will be receiving their contributions back again at a future date. The NKJV uses the word "ask" there. Moses begins speaking in verse 4, but it is not apparent that he is speaking to Pharaoh until we get to verse 8. Moses warns Pharaoh about the death of Egypt's firstborn in this chapter; it's the last big confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh. Note verses 9-10, "But the LORD said to Moses, 'Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.' So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land." Well...I guess it's time for the big plague #10.

Let's once again emphasize that Moses had only requested a temporary leave to go sacrifice in the wilderness, but we see in verse 1, "And the LORD said to Moses, 'I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.'" It is also interesting that only Pharaoh was the big holdout here. Look at verse 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." God wasn't hardening their hearts - just that of Pharaoh.

I guess we should point out that the jewelry taken by the Hebrews would later be used to construct a tabernacle in the wilderness. Well...and that's the jewelry they used to also construct the golden calf.

The Passover: Israel's biggest historical event (Exodus 12:1-28)

1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: “On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.
4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails.
10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.
11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’S Passover.
12 ¶ “For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 ¶ “So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.
15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you.
17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”
21 ¶ Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.
22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.
23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.
25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.
26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?’
27 that you shall say, “It is the Passover sacrifice of the LORD, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
28 Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

Nine plagues down and one really big plague to go - but first there must be some preparation. The calendars were based upon the new moon. For a more thorough understanding of the Jewish calendar and the positioning of the Festivals (feasts) of Israel, click here. You'll see from the calendar of Feasts that the Passover Feast and Feast of Unleavened Bread were two different Jewish Feasts, on successive days.

Israel will forever modify their calendars for the following sequence of events:

Incidentally, you'll notice from verse 5 that a goat could be used for the meal if no lamb was available.

Notice the specific instructions on the meal in verse 8, "Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it." This meal is symbolic of the hurry they're in to get out of Egypt - no time to wait for the leaven to cause the bread to rise. The blood on the door is important here. When the angel of death shows up, only those with the blood sprinkled on the door will have their firstborn sons spared from death. And this is to be a very significant day for Israel forever; look at verse 14, "...and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance."

Hey! Why the blood on the door? Doesn't God know who are Israelites and who are Egyptians. Of course, but it was a FAITH THING! You see, the blood here is the key. As a matter of fact, any Hebrew who refused to sprinkle the blood on his door was in for a long night. Conversely, some non Hebrews who did sprinkle the blood would, by faith, presumably be spared as well, as we'll see in verse 38; that assumes that they had been previously circumcised as the Hebrews were (verses 43-45). According to verse 48, perhaps some non Hebrews were circumcised that very night.

So, what happens at midnight? (Exodus 12:29-42)

29 ¶ And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.
30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
31 ¶ Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said.
32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”
33 ¶ And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”
34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.
35 Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing.
36 And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37 ¶ Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.
38 A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock.
39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
40 ¶ Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
42 It is a night of solemn observance to the LORD for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the LORD, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

This is the big one. Pharaoh summons Moses in the middle of the night and tells him to leave with his people, cattle and everything; JUST GO! Look at verses 31-32, "Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, 'Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.'" Whoa! Did you see that? Pharaoh, who was thought by the Egyptians to be divine, asks Moses to bless him. One more thing should be noticed here. Pharaoh is still not granting a permanent move of residence to Moses and the Hebrews...just the vacation requested to go sacrifice.

We see in verse 37 the number of Hebrews at 600,000 men. When you count women and children into that number, a conservative estimate for the whole nation of Hebrews here is something greater than 2,000,000 people. Notice again in verse 35 the silver, gold and clothing taken by the Hebrews from the Egyptians. It's sort of ironic to think that some of this gold will go to make an Egyptian-like golden calf in Exodus 32 (see notes). However, Moses will later take up a gold collection from among the Hebrews for the construction of the tabernacle that will follow as God specifies in Exodus 25:1-9 (see notes).

What about this "mixed multitude" of verse 38. Who are they? They are not Hebrews; that's all we know for certain. They get another mention in Number 11:14 (see notes). So, it was not only Jews who left Egypt that night. However, we see the specific instructions regarding the passover meal in verses 43-45 which specifically indicates that in order to partake of the passover meal, one must have been circumcised as were the Jews. Or...perhaps this "mixed multitude" who left with the Hebrews had lost their first born as well, but now chose to leave with Hebrews.

The institution of the Passover (Exodus 12:43-51)

43 ¶ And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it.
44 But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.
45 A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it.
46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.
47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48 And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
49 One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”
50 ¶ Thus all the children of Israel did; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
51 And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.

This is Israel's banner day. In verse 43 we see that this event and day are to be observed by Israel forever as a reminder of God's deliverance, and some general instructions for its future observance are given here. More is written in Leviticus 23 (see notes).

Worth noting here regarding the treatment of the passover lamb is the specification in verse 46 that "nor shall you break one of its bones." Jesus, as our passover lamb, was likewise spared the broken bones which commonly accompanied a Roman crucifixion according to John 19:33 (see notes).

There's an interesting deduction that might be made regarding circumcision and Passover. In the initial instructions given to the Hebrews regarding observance of Passover in Exodus 12:48, they were adamantly instructed, "no uncircumcised person shall eat it." That is reinforced in Numbers 9 (see notes) prior to the observance of their first Passover out of Egypt. We are not told in scripture that the Hebrews observed another Passover during the 38 years of wilderness wandering, but it appears that perhaps they did not based upon Joshua 5:1-9 (see notes). In that passage Joshua is instructed to have a mass circumcision prior to entering Canaan. We are told in that passage that they did not circumcise for those 38 years of wilderness wandering. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that they did not observe Passover during that time either, because to do so would have been a violation of Exodus 12:48 along with the instructions in Numbers 9 at their observance of the first Passover out of Egypt.