The Passover
Notes
Transcript
Last week, we talked about plagues 3-9
there were some very grievous plagues up to that point, wiping out the cattle, the grain, and even the light at one point
but for many of these plagues, God set apart His people and protected them from these plagues, even the darkness one!
while the egyptian priests replicated a couple of the plagues, at least to some degree, after God sent the plague of boils on Egypt, they couldn’t even stand before Moses
additionally, we never hear about them again
things had been ramping up in intensity
but nothing would be quite as painful as what would happen during the 10th plague
And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether.
Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.
The words are emphatic: גָּרֵשׁ יְגָרֵשׁ (garesh yégaresh). The Piel verb means “to drive out, expel.” With the infinitive absolute it says that Pharaoh “will drive you out vigorously.” He will be glad to be rid of you—it will be a total expulsion.
so God makes it to where not only are they able to leave, the Egyptians WANT them to leave, badly
it’s certainly understandable, their country is in shambles
And the Lord gave the people favour 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.
They were impressed and fearful of and by Moses’ miracles and his power with Pharaoh. Moses was great in stature—powerful and influential.
there could also be an element of Moses once being a part of Egypts royal family, which was held in very high regard by the Egyptian public
Pharaoh was considered a god, the son of Re, the sun god, for the specific purpose of ruling over Re’s chief concern, the land of Egypt.
which brings up interesting thoughts such as that even Pharoah, a supposed “God” had to beg God for some of the plagues to be stopped
the people having favour with the Egyptians ends up fulfilling a prophecy mentioned in
And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:
as always, showing God never fails in f ulfilling His promises
you could only imagine what the people thought of Moses, the Israelites, and God at this point after everything that happened
and especially where God’s people were always separated, to show that God separates His people from everyone else
but yet, now everyone is welcome to be His people, amen
So Moses goes before Pharoah and says the following:
And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.
And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.
But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.
v4-5 - so now this is God Himself going out into the midst of Egypt, so this is God Himself now executing judgement on the Egyptians
so just like how God is protecting HIS people, those who reject Him will also end up meeting Him
the point being that we will all meet God at some point, it’s just a matter of what the circumstances are and where our heart is
FIRSTBORN - SLIDE
“To strike any firstborn was to destroy the heir, who embodied the hopes and aspirations of the Egyptians, but to strike the firstborn son of Pharaoh was to destroy this cardinal doctrine of the divine kingship of Egypt. Such a blow would be enough for Pharaoh, for then he would drive the Israelites out.”
God punishes entire nations sometimes - we often see nations whose people are corrupt, we will see later that every house of the Egyptians was to lose someone
so we can see t hat even though God had shown such great power in Egypt, they still weren’t recognizing God for who He really was and following Him, they still chose to be against Him
God brings a painful judgement upon them here, just like the quote says, it destroys the aspirations of families in Egypt, and it causes much pain even on the family level
we see such pain hadn’t been in Egypt before or would ever be again
V7-8 - again, we see just how much God is protecting His people, that even after such devastation will be afflicted on the Egyptians, not even a dog will move his tongue, or bark, at them
and so we see that Moses leaves Pharoah in great anger, or righteous indignation
And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.
this shows that God created a situation to where His glory would be greatly shown, so that the people may see His greatness and further know and understand who He truly is and the power He truly holds as well as the mercy He has for His people
And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.
Here we see a verse wrapping up the previous section of plagues and meetings with Pharoah, and go into the passover narrative proper
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.
v2 - This shows us that around this even the Jewish new year would be established, and the passover and exodus would happen on the 10th day of the first month
this parallels with the fact that Christ did the Triumphant Entry on the donkey into Jerusalem on the same day
v3,5,7 - first of all, we see that the lamb must be without blemish - with the lamb being a foreshadowing or type of Christ, showing just how amazingly written the story and reality of the Bible truly is
not only this, butmost importantly the blood from the lamb is placed on the doorposts - being yet another symbol or foreshadowing that the blood of the lamb is what would save the people from this 10th plague
just like how they were saved by the blood of a spotless lamb back then, we are saved by the spotless lamb or sacrifice that is Christ Jesus
it’s such a beautiful image, showing just how much love that Christ has for us, that He would willingly give Himself up to be sacrificed on our behalf
and that all we must do is “wipe the blood” of Christ on the doorposts of our heart by believing in Him and what He’s done for us
so just like they were saved by the blood of the lamb then, we can be under the blood of Christ for salvation today
v8 - speaking of the unleavened bread - Jesus says He is the bread of life, and there is also the unleavened bread that is eaten during the last supper
Speaking further of typology...
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
They used a branch of hyssop to wipe their doorpost with the blood of the lamb, and a branch of hyssop was used to give Jesus His last drink on the cross
Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
more typology...
In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
this verse is talking about the spotless lamb the Hebrews would wipe the doorposts of their door with
which parallels with Christ not having a bone broken when He was beaten and crucified
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
So this night God executes judgement, not only on the people of egypt, both man and beast, but also the gods of Egypt, and the even more phony god known as pharoah as well
v13 - but we see a beautiful verse here, that says when God sees the blood on the doorposts, He will pass over them - what a beautiful thing, showing the salvation of His people via the blood
and thank the Lord we can have the same thing ourselves, if only we apply this blood to our hearts - so that God will “pass over” us in judgement as well
and show a difference between His people and the world
God then tells people in verses 14-20 thatt this will be a lasting memorial and ordinance and festival for them, and explains the passover feast and how they should do it for years to come
and in verses 21-28 He again tells them exactly how to apply the blood of the lamb to the doorposts, and that the passover feat will be a lasting ordinance so that they may pass down this great story to their children and be a memorial to the exodus
additionally verse 28 says that the Hebrews DID EXACTLY AS THE LORD COMMANDED
So we will end on this note and pick up here again in the next discussion
And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said.
Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
So God did exactly as He’d said He would, He executed judgement upon the Egyptians
and He spared His people
and also we see that just like God said earlier in the chapter, Pharoah would end up telling the people to leave Egypt completely now
and we still see the ego of Pharoah here, since he asked for a blessing on while they were on the way out - this may have been because Pharoah thought “Hey, I’ve let you go now, just like your God wanted, isn’t that worth a blessing from you?”
so again, we will end here today on somewhat of a cliffhanger
and we will pick it up again where they leave Egypt next time we talk
today, the focus was largely on the typology and the foreshadowing, and next week we will get back into the narrative