^{Exodus 11:31} Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said. ³² Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

The Word of the LORD came to pass. Pharaoh has another “false conversion”. He is pressured into letting the people go. Finally, he gave an unconditional release of the Hebrews, something he could have done from day one if he had not been the hardhearted man that he was. He finally lets them serve another god, the true God.

His request that Moses bless him shows us he is convinced, for the moment, that YHWH is all-powerful. In a pantheistic culture, one can ask for the blessing of another god, even if that god is not the one they worship. It is a kind of superstitious request wanting good to come to oneself from the unknown spiritual realm. It’s like the unknown god that Paul addressed on Mars Hill. (Acts 17:23[notes1] )

It won’t be long before Pharaoh thinks he has made a big mistake. God does harden his heart again, just as He said, and lures him to his doom in the waters of the Red Sea. (Psalm 136:15[notes2] ) Pharaoh is an example of the evil that lurks within the heart of man and the end result of that evil.

Meanwhile, God has shown Himself to be just, the avenger of the downtrodden, the rescuer of the oppressed. He has turned the words of the most powerful man in the world back on him while his wizards declare it is but a finger of the mighty God YHWH. (Exodus 8:19[notes3] ) He has shown the gods of Egypt to powerless and converted a great number of those in Egypt, even when the testimony of his own people, the Hebrews, was almost non-existent. He has kept the promises to the Patriarchs, because His word cannot fail. God has shown the world that there is none like Him.

Today God still brings plagues upon prideful man to humble him and turn him. Will we listen? Will we harden our hearts and look for some other way to save us? Or will we learn from this record that has come down as a warning to us and yield our very hearts to the King of kings and Lord of lords? Will we truly acknowledge that there is none like Him and surrender our hearts? Will we join with those who leave Egypt, those who God has made separate through the blood of Jesus, or will we face His just wrath on our sins as we scream our cursing accusations at God of the sins for which we are guilty?

The greatest plague to face mankind has been announced by God. “The soul that sins must die!” (Ezekiel 18:1[notes4] ) There is but one escape. We stand at the crossroads between Egypt and Goshen. Why would you wait to see if God’s unfailing word will come to pass? Why not flee now to the safety of the house of faith? Midnight approaches. Where will you be when the moment arrives?

23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

[notes2] Psalms 136:15 (ESV)

15 but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever;

[notes3] Exodus 8:19 (ESV)

19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

[notes4] Ezekiel 18:4 (ESV)

4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Share on Facebook

Exodus 11

⁸ All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh. Everyone will bow their knee before God. That does not mean that everyone will yield their heart to God and know Him as LORD. They will bow because they must. Some will gladly bow in joy. Many will bow with gritted teeth. (Philippians 2:9-11[notes1] )

Everything God said through Moses had come to pass. Why would this be any different? Pharaoh would rather hang onto his pride than his own son!

Moses went out from Pharaoh’s presence in hot anger. It was the righteous indignation of God within him. It was God’s anger that this mere mortal would really think he could stand against Almighty God that gives him his every breath.

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.  There are still wonders to be seen, the conversion of many, and the parting of the Red Sea. God is not done. Why? That the world may know that He is the LORD and that there is none like Him.

Egyptians that did not find refuge with the Hebrews would have called on their gods. Everyone must have been up that night watching their firstborn. The breathing was normal. There was no fever. 11:59 and no signs of poor health. They thought, “Maybe Moses was wrong this time. Pharaoh is a god. His firstborn son is a god that will take his place.” Midnight! The last breath exhaled and … no other breath followed. The fulfillment of the Word of the Lord came. Exodus 12: ²⁹ At midnight the LORD struck down 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 the livestock. ³⁰ And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

Pharaoh should have been furious with his own heart, but that is rarely the case with the unredeemed. Instead their anger is turned to God, the just Judge, who has warned them, given them sign after sign, and chance after chance. Instead of repenting and pleading with God for forgiveness for the fruit of their sin, they curse God and accuse Him of the things of which they are guilty. Accusations like, “Unfair!” Yes, Pharaoh was unfair in treating the Hebrews as he did, especially after God had used Joseph to save and enrich the nation. “Hardhearted!” Yes, Pharaoh was hardhearted. “Merciless!” Yes, Pharaoh had been merciless. Sin so distorts reality that it accuses God of the things for which it is guilty. (Psalm 50:21[notes2] )

This moment makes me think of the damned entering hell. The curses that will be hurled toward God, and the accusations aimed at Him will be an accurate description of their own heart. (Revelation 16:21[notes3] ) In voicing their anger toward God they will be announcing the very reason for their sentence. The wail will go up for all that they lost, that which was never theirs in the first place, but which they selfishly claimed as their own, to do with as they pleased. Their cry is a declaration of disappointment that they are not the sole reason creation exists. That is the heart of unredeemed man. (Jeremiah 17:9[notes4] )

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

[notes2] Psalms 50:21 (NIV)

21 These things you have done and I kept silent; you thought I was altogether like you. But I will rebuke you and accuse you to your face.

[notes3] Revelation 16:21 (ESV)

21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

[notes4] Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Share on Facebook

I would imagine the word spread throughout Egypt very quickly that midnight was the final hour for all firstborn. Again, a choice had to be made. Would they call on the gods of Egypt or flee to Goshen and find refuge in a Hebrew home? It’s another chance to make a choice.

⁶ There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. Those words must have struck terror in the hearts of the officials that heard it. There would be some serious soul searching that evening about what they truly believed. How would they interpret all the plagues?

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. Osiris assistant was a canine headed god, Anubis. You see his image in hieroglyphs of embalming the dead. He guided the dead into the afterlife. That may be the reference to “not a dog shall growl”.

They had seen the distinction before. The Hebrews were God’s people. They were set apart to serve and worship Him. They did not belong to Pharaoh. Shalom (peace) was not the product of Pharaoh’s intercession with the gods of Egypt. Shalom is the presence of God in the midst of His people. (John 14:27[notes1] ) He is the only source of true peace.

This is the distinction or difference today as well. It’s not just because you go to church. It’s not because you don’t do things that they do. It is because God has made His home in the heart of the redeemed. (John 14:23)[notes2] He has set you apart for His purposes. He manifests His very nature in you. The unselfish love, mercy, grace, peace, and joy are not your own. They are His very own attributes manifest through your life. The world will always be a place of chaos when the Lord is not invited to be present. Where He is, there is peace. (1Corinthians 14:33[notes3] ) That is how the world knows there is a difference.

We would like the difference to be in programs or activities. That takes the pressure off and doesn’t demand that He be Lord of every area of our life. But the difference is seen in the presence of God in the individual life, and that only comes when we die to our self and yield our life to Him. (2Corinthians 4:10[notes4] )

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

[notes2] John 14:23 (ESV)

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

[notes3] 1 Corinthians 14:33 (ESV)

33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

[notes4] 2 Corinthians 4:10 (ESV)

10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Share on Facebook