Many of us are familiar with the story of the ten plagues. In the book of Exodus 11, the announcement of the tenth plague is given. The last plague God used to deliver Israel from Egypt is the most horrendous of the list. There were others that were awful, the turning of the Nile to blood, the darkening of an eclipse that lasted for days and was specific on the Egyptians and not the people of Israel. Some eclipse that was. Cattle disease, boils, gnats, flies, awful things, but none of the plagues is like the tenth. Because in the tenth plague we’re told that from the house of pharaoh, to the humblest farmer in the land, and even extending out to the barn, the firstborn of Egypt will die. They will not die, however, as Sunday school lessons have it, by the “Angel of Death,” but by the hand of God.
Take a look at Chapter 11 verse 1: “The LORD (Yahweh) said to Moses, ‘One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh.’” He says I will do this. Verse 4, “Thus says the LORD, ‘About midnight, I am going out into the midst of Egypt’” You see what we’ve done? We’ve softened this because it’s almost intolerable. It’s something that we can’t stomach. God? No, we’d like it to be done by an angel. God? No, we’d like it to be done by a demon. God? No, we’d like it to be done by a storm or a disease, but God says, “I will do this.” And so He did.
Turn to Chapter 12 and look at the summary in verse 29. “It came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the first-born.” Not an angel, not a seraph, not a messenger, but the Lord.
Many religious people do Passover Seders in the spring. The rabbis sometimes got things right, and this they nailed. In the Passover Haggadah, the liturgy for that wonderful service of praise to God for deliverance from Egypt, there is a homily on these words from Chapter 11 where God says, “I will go out into the midst of Egypt.” Listen to this.
“The Lord, (Yahweh), brought us forth from Egypt, not by means of an angel, nor by means of a seraph, nor by means of a messenger, but the Most Holy. Blessed be He in His own glory. As it is said, ‘I will pass through the land of Egypt in this night, I will smite every firstborn of the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.’ I, Yahweh, will pass through the land of Egypt, I, and not an angel. I will smite every firstborn, I and not a seraph. And on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment, I, not a messenger. I, Yahweh, I am He, there is none other.” And that’s the way it was.
When the final act of deliverance was done, it was God who did it. And that was to get His people out of Egypt. And then when they came to the watery mass, and the army was behind them and the Sea of Reeds or the Red Sea was before them, then it was again that God acted in His own person, not by an angel, not by a seraph, not by a messenger, but in His own glory.
To Be Cont'd.
Stay blessed.
When the final act of deliverance was done, it was God who did it. And that was to get His people out of Egypt. And then when they came to the watery mass, and the army was behind them and the Sea of Reeds or the Red Sea was before them, then it was again that God acted in His own person, not by an angel, not by a seraph, not by a messenger, but in His own glory.
To Be Cont'd.
Stay blessed.
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