The Last Plague and the Passover – Making it Simple – Lesson Twenty Six
The Last Plague and the Passover
Exodus 11-13
Lesson 26
Exodus 11
The Lord tells Moses that He is going to send one more plague on Pharaoh and Egypt. This time Pharaoh will let the people go. Moses is to instruct the people to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold. The Egyptians will do this because the Lord has made the Israelites and Moses greatly esteemed in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh and the people of the land.
The Lord shares that at midnight He is going out into Egypt and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt are going to die; from the firstborn of Pharaoh down to the firstborn of the slave girl. The firstborn of the animals will die as well. God will show that He makes a distinction between Israel and Egypt.
Moses warns Pharaoh of these things. He tells Pharaoh that his servants will be begging for the people of Israel to be allowed to leave and then leaves Pharaoh’s presence. God tells Moses that Pharaoh still will not agree “so that My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
Exodus 12
Verses 1-13 God comes to Moses and tells him that this is the beginning of a new time. The month they are in is now going to be the first month of the year for Israel. On the 10th day of the month each household is to take a lamb for themselves – but not more than can be eaten.
The lamb is to be unblemished, a male, and one year old. It may be a sheep or a goat.
The lamb is to be kept until the 14th day of this month. Then all in Israel will kill their given lamb at twilight.
They are to take some of the blood of the lamb and put it on the doorposts and on the lintel of the house in which they are eating it. This is to be a sign on the house so the Lord will pass by and no plague will fall there.
They shall eat the lamb that night, roasted, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
All of the lamb shall be cooked and eaten. If there is anything left, it is to be burned.
All of this is to be done with the people ready to leave in haste – with their belt and sandals on, and staff in hand – because the Lord is going to go through Egypt that night and strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt – man and beast. God is executing judgment upon all of Egypt’s gods.
This meal is the Lord’s Passover.
Verses 14-28 God tells Moses to tell the people to keep this day (the 14th of the month) as a memorial and to celebrate it to the Lord. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was to last for seven days. No leaven was to be eaten at all during those days. It is to be a “Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.”
“Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.”
Verses 29-51 At midnight the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt; the firstborn of Pharaoh, the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon, the firstborn of the animals. There was a great cry in Egypt “for there was no home where there was not someone dead.”
Pharaoh calls for Moses and tells him to take all the people, all their flocks and herds and go worship the Lord. The people of Egypt urged Israel to leave; fearing that all in Egypt would die if Israel stayed. The people were ready to go with their unleavened bread, the gold, silver and clothing they had received from the Egyptians. In this way, Egypt was plundered by Israel.
The sons of Israel had been in Egypt for 430 years. At the end of 430 years, to the very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
This night is to be remembered in the Passover feast and it is to be remembered in the way God dictates.
Exodus 13
Verses 1-16 The Lord tells Moses to tell the people to sanctify every firstborn of Israel – both man and beast – for the Lord. These belong to Him.
Moses reminds the people of the ways in which they are to remember this day when they come to the land of Canaan that the Lord is going to give to them. These memorials are to be signs to teach to the next generation of what God has done for His people, “…for with a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”
Verses 17-22 The Lord does not lead the people by the most direct path because it goes through the land of the Philistines. He did not want the people to turn around when they encounter war so soon. Instead He leads them to the Red Sea. Moses took with him the bones of Joseph to keep the promise that Joseph demanded.
The Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them and in a pillar of fire by night so they could travel day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire from before the people.
In Your Bible:
Exodus 34:18-20, 25 Leviticus 23:4-6
Numbers 3:11-13, 40-51 Numbers 8:14-19
Numbers 9:1-14 Numbers 20-14-17
Numbers 22:9-12 Numbers 33:1-4
Joshua 5:10-12 Joshua 24:5
2 Kings 23:21-23 Ezra 6:19-22
Nehemiah 10:34-36 (returning back to the law) Psalm 78:40-53
Psalm 81:10 Psalm 105:36-39
Psalm 135:8-9 Psalm 136:10-15
Ezekiel 45:21 Matthew 26:1,17-30
Mark 14:1, 12-26 Luke 2:41-42
Luke 22:1, 7-23 John 2:13, 23
John 6:4 John 11:55 John 13:1-2
John 18:28, 39 1 Corinthians 5:7 1 Corinthians 10:2
Hebrews 11:27-28
These accounts are sobering! As a child, I was fascinated by the miracles, and the joy of the Israelites’ escape. Today I read them and shudder–just thinking how God was so patient to try to teach Pharaoh and his people who HE was. Pharaoh’s words were: Who is God that I should serve him? Proud, blind man… Are we like that man?
I agree! When I see how much effort God put into showing Himself to the Egyptians, and the Israelites, I’m awed by the amount of evidence that we now ignore. We have nature, so we have excuse, but we also have God’s Word, written so that we might learn the lessons we need without making the same mistakes previous generations made. My prayer is that we would read more, listen better, and apply the lessons every day to avoid the fate of Pharaoh and so many others who failed to heed God’s warnings. God is patient and He has taken much time so that I will see my need and turn to Him.