Exodus Chapter 11 Deep-Dive: The Plague on the Firstborn

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EX CH 11 A Final Plague Threatened

1The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. 2Speak now in the hearing of the people ISRAEL, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” ASK YOUR EGYPTIAN NEIGHBORS TO GIVE YOU THEIR SILVER AND GOLD … WHAT?! YES, GOD WILL WORK IT OUT SO THAT THE EGYPTIANS WILL WILLINGLY ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE PLUNDERED BY THE ISRAELITES 3And the Lord gave the people ISRAEL 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. GOD IS COMPLETELY CONTROLLING THIS DISPLAY OF HIS MIGHT, EVEN TURNING THE HEARTS OF THE EGYPTIANS TO VIEW THE ISRAELITES AND MOSES FAVORABLY EVEN IN LIGHT OF YAHWEH DESTROYING EGYPT ... THESE ISRAELITES HAVE A GOD WHICH IS FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN PHAROAH OR ANY EGYPTIAN GOD!

4So Moses said, TO PHAROAH AND HIS COURT “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go YAHWEH HIMSELF IS GOING TO DO THIS! I will go out in the midst of Egypt, 5and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh THE KING who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, “INNOCENT” SLAVE GIRLS WHO HAVE NO POWER and all the firstborn of the cattle. THE FEW THAT MAY BE LEFT AT THAT POINT … EVERYTHING THAT LIVES BELONGS TO THE LORD 6 There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 7But 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.’ THAT’S THE REASON WHY THIS IS HAPPENING – THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EGYPT AND ISRAEL, BUT IT’S NOT GOOD VS BAD, IT’S CHOSEN BY YAHWEH VS NOT CHOSEN. 8And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I YAHWEH will go out.” And he MOSES went out from Pharaoh in hot anger PHAROAH WAS ANGRY … HE HAD THREATENED TO KILL MOSES THE LAST TIME HE SAW HIM. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” FINAL WARNING TO PHAROAH, AT THIS POINT HE MUST KNOW THAT THIS EPIC DISASTER IS GOING TO HAPPEN BUT HE DOES NOTHING TO PREVENT IT!

10Moses 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.

What about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart? God is sovereign and controls all things, at the same time the Bible clearly shows that each man will be held responsible and/or rewarded for all of his actions:

God is totally sovereign and in control of all things

Is 29:16You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?

Is 45:6-7 6That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. “CREATE EVIL, OR PREPARE EVIL” IN THE SENSE OF DOING DESTRUCTIVE OR PAINFUL THINGS … EVERYTHING GOD DOES IS RIGHTEOUS BECAUSE HE IS RIGHTEOUS, HE’S ALSO THE CREATOR AND DESTROYER OF ALL THINGS … EVERYTHING EXISTS AT HIS WILL & MERCY … THE CREATOR GOD IS THE ONLY VICTIM IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE … HUMAN BEINGS, CREATED IN HIS IMAGE, ARE IN CONSTANT REBELLION AGAINST HIM … EVEN SOME ANGELIC BEINGS, CREATED BY HIM, ARE ALSO IN REBELLION … HE IS THE CREATOR … HE DECIDES & JUDGES, OR TESTS, ALL THINGS …

Is 45:9“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’

CONSIDER THE APOSTLE PAUL AS HE USES HIS NEW COVENANT DECODER RING TO SPEAK DIRECTLY TO THIS ISSUE OF GOD HARDENING PHAROAH’S HEART Rom 9:10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ESAU WILL SERVE JACOB 13Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” SPEAKING OF THE NATIONS ISRAEL VS EDOM 14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” BECAUSE EVERYONE IS IN REBELLION! 16It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” 21Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

HERE’S A PICTURE OF SOVEREIGNTY AND FREE WILL AT WORK TOGETHER IN THE HANDS OF GOD: GOD USED THE NATION OF ASSYRIA TO PUNISH ISRAEL AND TAKE THE PEOPLE INTO CAPTIVITY:

Is 10:5“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! 6I send him against a godless nation ISRAEL, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

At the same time the Bible states that God holds all men responsible for their actions & presents man as having free will:

AGAIN, ISAIAH CH 10 … THE ASSYRIANS SENT BY THE LORD TO TAKE ISRAEL INTO CAPTIVITY Is 10:12 When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem (punishing them), he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. 13For he says: “ ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.

OR CONSIDER WHAT PAUL SAYS TO THE CORINTHIANS ABOUT THE FACT THAT THEY WERE MISTREATING THE POOR DURING THEIR CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER AND SOME WERE GETTING DRUNK

I Cor 11:27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord (the Lord’s Supper) in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ YOUR POOR BROTHERS AND SISTERS SITTING WITH YOU WHO HAVE NOTHING eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep DIED. 31But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world. OUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES AND WE ARE JUDGED BY GOD … SIN CAN LEAD TO WEAKNESS, ILLNESS AND EVEN DEATH IN THE LIFE OF A BELIEVER.

OR CONSIDER WHAT GOD SAID TO MOSES REGARDING THE EXODUS Ex 13:17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” THEY MIGHT CHANGE THEIR MINDS WHAT ?! … FREE WILL?! YES! THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES BOTH FREE WILL-TIED WITH REWARD FOR THE RIGHTEOUS AND PUNSISHMENT THE WICKED, AND, THAT GOD IS TOTALLY SOVEREIGN AND IN CONTROL OF ALL CIRCUMSTANCES

Rev22:12 (Jesus said) “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.

These seemingly contradictory truths are an antinomy, A contradiction between principles or conclusions that seem equally necessary and reasonable; a paradox. This is beyond our ability to understand Deut 29:29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

The truth of the sovereignty of God should be a significant comfort to all believers – God controls all of our circumstances, and uses them for our good

Rom 8:28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he JESUS might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 31What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (BUT MAYBE NOT IN THIS LIFE) 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who then is the one who condemns? No one. (SATAN ACCUSES US, JESUS IS OUR ADVOCATE) Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (OUR DEFENDER BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD). 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” (GOD MAY REQUIRE ANY OF THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES FOR US) 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NO MATTER WHAT GOD HAS IN STORE FOR US, FOR HE HAS NUMBERED THE HAIRS ON OUR HEADS AND CONTROLS ALL OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCES, SO, ACT CORRECTLY IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES BECAUSE GOD SEES EVERYTHING YOU DO)

AND THAT WILL WRAP UP EX CH 11

 

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