The tenth plague of Egypt (Exodus 12) leads to Passover, the first festival in the biblical calendar. Israel celebrates with Passover or Pesach, the beginning of a free life with the opportunity to build up their faith in God. The key to this story is in the first and perfect sacrifice.

God does not save because of ethnicity, but because of practiced faith. Faith is not about developing our ideas about God, but about listening to what He says.

The point is that the Egyptians trusted in other gods and despised the God of Israel. The attempts to wipe out Israel now hit them themselves.

Some think why should an animal be slaughtered, and the blood painted on the doorpost?

There are things in faith that we cannot explain as human beings because they come from a divine order, because they are important to God.

Perhaps it will help us if we remind ourselves that this story leads to the Jewish Passover festival. It was on this feast that Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, died. The death of Jesus is the fulfilment of Passover.

Despots seem to tend to stubbornly stick to their plans, even if their people perish in the process. Exodus 10:7 says, “Let the men go… Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?”

A power struggle ensues. The Egyptians also had a god for the wind. But now the wind drives innumerable locusts, which also eat the sacred trees. There was also a god named Seraiah who was considered a protector from plagues of locusts. But he was powerless against the God of Israel.

The Pharaoh plays with deception. But you can already see the pitfall in his wording. His admission “Forgive my sin, … and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me” (Exodus 10:7) is only superficial. He does not ask God for deliverance himself, but let’s others pray for him.

Anyone who changes his mind turns by himself to God for mercy.

The locusts consumed whatever was left of the hail. Instead of seeing the light and giving in, Pharaoh’s heart grows dark.

The Egyptians destroyed the lives of the Israelites. Now, in the sixth plague, the destruction comes back on themselves.

Purity was important to the Egyptians. Those who could had themselves embalmed so that the body remained intact. In Exodus 9:11 we read something important: “And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians.”

What a fiasco. The Egyptian ceremonies are cancelled. This is also where the magicians are mentioned the last time. The god of medicine, Imhotep, was powerless.

Six times Pharaoh hardened his own heart and resisted the signs of God. Now he is reaping what he has sown. From now on he himself is affected.

The cattle plague, the fifth in Egypt, results in loss of income. Without healthy animals there is no work.

The trouble for Pharaoh was that God made a distinction between the animals of the Israelites and those of the Egyptians. In Exodus 9:7 we read: “Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”

The Egyptians regarded cattle as sacred, even as incarnations of deities. The deity Hathor, a mother deity, resembled a cow. No wonder it would have been an abomination to them if the Israelites had sacrificed in the land.

Despite the clarity of the message, the pharaoh locked his heart. No matter how clearly God speaks, if man does not want to hear, he shuts himself off to God.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Psalm 95:7-8

There is an interesting structure in the text. Three times Moses should go to Pharaoh early in the morning. By the first (Exodus 7:15), fourth (Exodus 8:16) and seventh plague (Exodus 9:13) God always makes a new beginning. In all three cases, Moses must appear before Pharaoh early in the morning. Each morning points a beginning of God’s calling to the Pharaoh and Egypt. Continue reading The structure of the 10 plagues →