In fact, he's going to facilitate their departure from Egypt. And so just as Moses had demanded, all of Israel will leave and just as God had predicted, Pharaoh, himself would be brought to recapitulate and desire it. Notice also, if you look at verse 2, for the first time in the stories of the plagues, Moses is instructed to speak to the people of Israel.
He had spoken to the children of Israel before the plagues began, but during the plagues, the focus is on this contest between Moses and Pharaoh, ultimately between God and Pharaoh, God and Egypt, God and the oppressors of His people. And so there had not been any recorded dialogue between Moses and the people. But now that the preparation for departure is beginning, now Moses needs to deal with internal affairs.
And so he speaks to his people, and he directs his attention to them. It is a fulfillment of something that God had said to Abram hundreds of years before. Four hundred and some odd years ago, in Genesis, chapter 15, verse 14, God had told Abram that the children of Israel would come out of the land of their oppression with many possessions. Now, God instructs Moses to tell the people to ask their neighbors to give them gold and silver. And from everything indicated in the text, the people of Egypt do so willingly.
Now, there's something very interesting going on here. When do you plunder someone? You plunder someone after you have conquered them. You remember those great narratives in the historical books of the Old Testament when Israel wins a great battle? What happens? The armies go out in the field, and they plunder. Well, the children of Israel are being told to go to their neighbors, and just ask them for gold and silver.
And the neighbors give these things to them. What is this a sign of? It's a sign of the total conquest of the sovereign God over Egypt. And it's indicated again on the Passover night. When we get to Exodus, chapter 12, verses 35 and 36, it will be indicated again that the children of Israel did this. They asked for these things. They asked for this gold and for the silver, these possessions.
And they received them. By the way, isn't it interesting that the things which the children of Israel will receive from Egypt will be both used for good and evil. We often talk about plundering the Egyptians as a view of how Christians are to take possessions of the world, and use them for the Lord. But isn't it interesting, that these things gotten from the Egyptians were both used for evil and good.
In Exodus 32, some of these things were used to build the golden calf. In Exodus 35, verses 22 and following, some of these things were used to build the tabernacle of God.
Same things, different uses. Things aren't evil, their uses are. And so the taking of those things and the use of those things in and of themselves did not involve Israel in sin. However, the wrong use of those things, in the case of the golden calf, involved Israel in sin, as the right use of those things brought glory to God.
Notice also in verse 3, that the Egyptians give them things upon their departure, for many of those Egyptians had come to esteem Moses, even Pharaoh's servants had a great regard for him. And this, of course, is a part of the fulfillment of God's purpose in the Exodus, that the Egyptians would know His greatness.
He had said this all along. I'm the Lord God Almighty. I'm the ruler of heaven and earth. The Egyptians had a grudging respect for this one who had been brought against him as a scourge. I don't know whether many of you have ever read any of the writings of Douglas Southall Freeman, the author of Lee's Lieutenants , and the four-volume account of Robert E.
He also wrote a wonderful biography of George Washington. He was a newspaper editor and writer in Richmond, Virginia, and his father fought in the Army of Northern Virginia in the time of the late unpleasantness. And as Douglas Southall Freeman was writing Lee's Lieutenants, and this four volume biography of Lee, he spent many a Saturday talking with his father about the events of the battles in northern Virginia, and the other battles as the Army of Northern Virginia ventured over a couple of times into northern territory.
The calvary of the Army of the Potomac was the finest calvary ever to ride. The Army of the Potomac was one of the greatest armies that ever walked on the face of the earth. Well, the Egyptians had come to a grudging respect for Moses in this particular context. And it's interesting, isn't it in this passage, that Pharaoh now stands alone in opposition to God. The people of Egypt are beginning to see. This is a noble man that is demanding his people be released from oppression.
Now God's wonders have been brought before his eyes, and though his people having seen those wonders, have come to a grudging respect for Moses and the children of Israel, Pharaoh is unmoved.
Is this not a picture of a hard heart? We've been hearing about leaders tonight in the report. Never think that your leaders don't matter. What havoc, what spiritual havoc did the hardness of heart of Pharaoh reap upon his own people because he would not repent.
Well, here you see, my friends, the sovereignty of God, and the fulfillment of this prophecy and in the esteem of the Egyptians, and even in the isolation of Pharaoh, all of Pharaoh's support is beginning to crumble now, and he alone stands against the Lord. Have you noticed how the Lord has moved everybody out of the way?
Alma Tadema. Acquisition gift Mar Copyright Public domain. Baarsen, Margreet Boomkamp, Duncan Bull, cat. Jansen, Wiepke Loos, cat. Do you have a remark or extra information on this object? Please let us know! Back to top. In this way the angel would know to 'pass over' the houses of the Israelites. This is why the festival commemorating the escape from Egypt is known as Passover.
This image shows several scenes from Passover. On the right in a domed room, the angel of death is swinging his sword at a man in bed. On the left the Pharaoh and Queen are mourning the death of their first born son. Evidence that vv. In Exodus 5, Moses requests from Pharaoh that the people be allowed to go on a pilgrimage. Pharaoh rebuffs him with the assertion that he never has heard of YHWH. Verses , followed by read:. Whether these traditions were all once part of a single narrative is unclear, but they all tend to point to a single idea, that the tradition of the ten plagues against all of Egypt is the end product of a long developmental process which began with an exodus story without plagues, but only a punishment to Pharaoh.
Please support us. Rashi approaches the problem midrashically and suggests it refers to Datan and Abiram, whom the rabbis identify with the men who were fighting Exod ; see Rashi ad loc. If this is correct, then v. The latter assumption coincides with Exod , which mentions the birth of Gershom alone. From a redactional point of view, we must read verses as a single unit that tells us that the plague of the firstborn will come after Moses performs all the other nine plagues before Pharaoh.
But once we understand that verse 21 is redactional supplement, we may set it aside while we seek to understand verses on its own terms. The same points appear in his long commentary as well:. Ostensibly, the answer is Moses, though he is not named, and, as noted above, if this verse originally followed v. But in its present context, this verse follows v.
In other words, God says that Israel is his firstborn son, which is a metaphor. He then says to Pharaoh, I will kill your firstborn son.
This could also be a metaphoric son, i. But to transfer the metaphor to Pharaoh as a metaphoric, divine-like father on par with God does not really fit, since Pharaoh has only one metaphoric son, which would be all of Egypt. See also, Brevard S.
The phrase then referred to the time that God relayed this message and was not part of the divine address itself. See b. Rabbi David Frankel did his Ph. He teaches Hebrew Bible to M. I would like to receive new essays When published Before Shabbat. Torah Portion. This Week's Torah Portion. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy. Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur Yom Kippur. Sukkot Sukkot.
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