The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about this last plague. He told them that this time, this month, would be the first month of their calendar year. It was to mark a new beginning for these people. (this was around March/April...) They were to take a lamb for each household (a smaller family who'd east less than one lamb were to share with their larger-sized family next door), taking a year-old male lamb or goat without defect. They were to take care of them until the 14th day of the month, and slaughter it at twilight. They they are to take some of its blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they ate the lambs. Then they were to roast the animal over a fire -- head, legs, and inner parts. They were to not save any until morning. If any was left over, they were to burn it before morning.
"This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover."
The Lord would passover the houses and see the mark of a cross, basically, over the doorposts of the Israelites, sparing them while the "destroyer" would kill the firstborn of all of Egypt -- men and animals, from the greatest of them, like Pharaoh, to the least, like the prisoner in jail. God wanted this Passover celebrated each year, too, in order for the people to remember what He did for them.
At midnight, this plague happened. All the firstborn in Egypt were struck down. Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron (who were instructed not to leave their houses, but I guess an exception was made for them), where he let the Israelites take off. He also said, "And also bless me." This is interesting. The man whose heart was hardened is now not only asking Moses and Aaron to pray for him, but to bless him.
It says that God pronounced judgment upon the Gods of Egypt this night. Some commentators have said that all ten plagues represented ten of Egypt's Gods. The plague where the Nile's water was turned to blood could be seen as defiling the god Hopi. The plague of frogs could be seen as mocking the goddess Heqt, who "assisted women in childbirth."
The Bible says that when the Israelites asked for silver and gold and how the Egyptians looked with favor upon these people -- that it was Israel "plundering" the Egyptians. There was 600,000 men marching out of Egypt, and if you average about 1 wife and 1 child for every man, that's almost 2 million people (not to mention all the livestock) parading out of the country on foot. That's a big deal.
Their departure time marked exactly (to the day) 430 years of them living in Egypt as a people. God "kept a vigil" for the people as they left on this night, and He asks them to remember that night by keeping a vigil as well. That's kind of a cool holiday -- staying up all night. God also instructed the people that no foreigner or alien or temporary resident was to celebrate and eat the Passover with them -- unless the males were circumcised. Then, they could celebrate with God's people. That's very inclusive, isn't it? The rules forbid outsiders, but they also provide a way for the outsider to become like an insider.
Maybe that could be factored into the current political debate the US is having about illegal immigrants...?
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 23, 2007 09:28 AM