The Lord God had sent nine plagues in Egypt: seven days the water in the river turned to blood; frogs came out of the water and filled the land; lice off over the people; swarms of flies; death of the cattle; boils on the people; hail and fire, which destroyed most of the crops; locusts which destroyed the remaining crops; three days of darkness; and now He was preparing to send the tenth plague.
The Lord God continued saying to Moses, "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.” 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. (Exodus 11:2-3)
The Lord God had said from the beginning, when He was preparing Moses to go back to Egypt, "And I will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed. Every Israelite woman will ask for articles of silver and gold and fine clothing from her Egyptian neighbors and from the foreign women in their houses. You will dress your sons and daughters with these, stripping the Egyptians of their wealth.” (Exodus 3:21-22 NLT)
After the last few plagues, Pharaoh had tried to manipulate the Lord God by first saying, "Only the men may go and worship the Lord, since that is what you requested.” (Exodus 10:10 NLT) Then another time, “Go and worship the Lord,” he said. “But leave your flocks and herds here. You may even take your little ones with you.” (Exodus 10:24 NLT) Well, the Lord God had said that all the children of Israel, and all their possessions were going to leave. But there was one more plague the Lord God would send, and afterwards, Pharaoh would surely let them go from there, he would surely drive them out of there altogether.
Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; 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. (Exodus 11:4-5) Initially one might think that this was an unnecessarily cruel punishment on the Egyptians by the Lord God; but we have to remember, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30)
Remember, after one of Jacob's (aka Israel) sons, Joseph died, who was second in command in Egypt and the reason that all the children of Israel moved there during the famine, there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. (Exodus 1:8-12)
Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. (Exodus 1:15-17) So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” (Exodus 1:22)
The Lord God would give the children of Israel many commandments after He delivered them out of Egypt; but we are introduced to one of those commandments early in the scriptures. When Cain murdered Abel, the Lord God said to him, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground." (Genesis 4:10) Again, when the Lord God delivered Noah and his family from the flood and released them from the ark, He said, "Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man." (Genesis 9:5-6)
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19) Just as He told Cain and Noah, all those innocent firstborn males of the children of Israel that Pharaoh commanded be killed, their blood cried out to Him from the ground, and for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning. “You shall not murder." (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17)
Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ [Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21] But I tell you not to resist an evil person." (Matthew 5:38-39) "For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” (Romans 12:20; Proverbs 25:22) Jesus was specifically talking about how to treat people who mistreat us, but the point is, when someone does something evil against God's children, we are not to seek revenge, God will avenge us!
Moses continued explaining to Pharaoh, "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. 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.’ 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. (Exodus 11:6-8)
The Lord God had warned Moses from the beginning, and He reiterated it here, 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. (Exodus 11:9-10)
We had asked in a previous lesson, why did God allow Pharaoh's heart to harden? Well, the first reason was so that He could prove to the children of Israel that He was, “I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14) “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord [JEHOVAH] I was not known to them. ... ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." (Exodus 6:2-3, 6-7)
Secondly, He had to prove to the Egyptians that He was the only One, True and Living God. So the Lord said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” (Exodus 7:1-5)
And finally, the Lord God hardened Pharaoh's already hardened heart because He was not going to allow the children of Israel to leave Egypt until He had avenged the death of their male children who were murdered in Egypt, by allowing them to see the same thing happen to the Egyptian's male children. We must never forget, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12:19; Hebrews 10:30) But before the Lord God would avenge the death of the male children of Israel, He had to prepare the children of Israel...
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