Day 1039: A new beginning - Exodus 11 vs 1 - 10

1 The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterwards he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. 2-3 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbour and every woman of her neighbour, for silver and gold jewellery.” 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.

4-7 So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the hand-mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But 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. 8 And 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 will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” 10 Moses 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. Exodus 11:1-10 English Standard Version

Yes, this is a dark passage to begin a new year with, yet there IS a connection. In the next chapter we're told that it was at this time that God says to Moses and Aaron: “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.” (Exodus 12:1) In the future ‘first months’ of their calendar year, Israel would remember how God had brought them out of their bondage in Egypt, and saved them with a mighty hand. That's a theme Christians today can also take to heart at the outset of a new year. But the plague that followed is also an event that critics use against Christians, and say: “How could God do such a terrible thing as causing the death of all the firstborn of man and beast in Egypt?”

The apostle Paul answers such critics in Romans 1:18-23. He wrote: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

Egypt in those days was the equivalent of the most technically advanced nations of today. Yet, in their human cleverness, they rejected God and worshipped idols. The plagues God sent were evidence of His power over their idols. The terrible final one was likely a judgement on their God Isis, who the Egyptians revered as 'the protector of children'. Remember too that the Egyptians had been forcing the Israelites to not allow their male babies to live. The punishment would fit the crime. So, in vs 8, Moses tells Pharaoh what the result would be.

We're not told if Moses' 'hot anger' means he lost his temper, or if it was righteous anger at Pharaoh's stubbornness which would lead to such loss of lives in the land. But we see from vs 2-3 that Israel wouldn't leave empty handed. The wages that were denied them over the years would be paid freely by the Egyptians only to glad to see them go. And all of these things were what future Israelites would remember as they started a new year. Their God is greater than the idols of even the most powerful nations of the world, and a God who is able to save. As Christians start a new year, it's good to recall how God saved us from sin’s bondage by Christ Jesus, and gave us a new beginning.