Waiting is hard. Have you ever had to wait for something for a long time? Maybe you’ve been through times when you’ve had to wait for really big things like: waiting for God to intervene in a hopeless situation, or waiting on guidance from God for a major decision, or waiting to hear news from a doctor about a recent diagnosis. Waiting for things this big can be agonizing.
Or maybe you’ve been through times when you’ve had to wait for really small things like: waiting in traffic, or waiting longer than usual for your meal at a restaurant, or waiting for someone who’s late to a meeting. Waiting for small things like this can also be difficult.
But, why is waiting so difficult? Whether the situation is big or small, waiting reminds us of our lack. It’s a humbling reminder that we’re not in control. We wait because we have reached the limit of our own power…we cannot do something, we cannot figure out something, or we cannot fix something on our own…so we wait.
If you can relate to that, then you can relate to the Israelites in our passage today. They were enduring a cruel enslavement in Egypt. They’d been there over 400 years, and had likely given up hope of God ever coming to rescue them. They weren’t strong enough on their own to right this wrong, so all they could do was wait. And yet, into their darkness, God came! The promised rescue began, and they watched God attack Egypt with nine fierce plagues.
As we come back to the story today in Exodus 12, we see the glorious moment when their waiting finally comes to an end as the final plague falls and the Exodus begins. And those just happen to be our two main headings today. See first…
The Final Plague (v29-32)
“At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 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 someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
In these verses God carries out the tenth and final plague as He said He would back in the start of chapter 11. v29 brings us right into the devastating scene. The Lord descends to strike down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the palace on high to the pits in the depths. We can so easily just read by these things and not even notice what’s happening, so let’s pause right here and look at this. Here in the Bible we read of God killing people. Can our theology handle this? Does our doctrine of God even have a category for this? Or do we just immediately believe something else must be going on because certainly this is too cruel and unjust an act for God to do? Church, we would do well to see this as it is rather than explaining it away. Remember the context. Early on in Exodus we saw Pharaoh enjoying the enslavement and oppression of the Israelites. Then Pharaoh raised the bar by murdering as many Hebrew baby boys as he could. Into this murderous scene God sends His deliverer, Moses, and keeps him safe in a little ark. Years later after God called Moses out and sent him back to Egypt, God gave him these words to tell Pharaoh in Exodus 4, “Israel is My firstborn son. Let My son go that he may worship Me. But if you refuse, I will kill your firstborn son” (Ex. 4:22-23). Now, in our passage this morning, this Word comes to pass. So what do we make of this? Church, God is not committing wickedness here, no, God is carrying out justice against Egypt for all their many sins.
And carry it out He did, as v30 says, “…And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.” Of course, we know that in the land of Goshen, most (if not all) the homes were safe from this plague for one reason only…the blood of the lamb. The unblemished Passover lamb, slain as the substitute for the firstborn child. When God came near in this tenth plague to destroy and saw the blood He passed by. But for all the homes with no blood, He entered in order to carry out justice.
The word for cry in v30 is ironic in the original Hebrew. It’s the same Hebrew word used earlier in Exodus to describe Israel’s crying out to God in the midst of their suffering. It’s ironic because now the same word is used to describe the deep cries of death rising all throughout Egypt.[1]
This was such a devastating blow to Pharaoh, that after he rises, sees his own child dead, and cries out himself, he summons Moses and Aaron and tells them to take all the people and leave. Can you imagine what this moment was like for him? To finally give in after losing a child? What else could he do? He had been effected before in the previous plagues, but not like this. This time, the plague took his own child, so he commands Moses to take the people and go. But notice in his parting words Pharaoh asks Moses to bless him. We’ve seen him ask Moses for prayer on many occasions by now, but here I think we see something different. I think this is Pharaoh acknowledging, in a manner of speaking, that the God of Israel is really where all power and authority lie. Pharaoh once believed he was a god himself, and yet in plague after plague the Lord forced Pharaoh to face the unsettling reality of his own powerlessness. So in a real way, I think Pharaoh knows that God is on the side of Israel, and so he asks for a blessing from the God of Israel. This hasn’t happened since the days of Joseph years before this moment.[2]
See it Church, here in this final plague Pharaoh is defeated, as God rids him of all the resistance left in him,[3] causing him to finally let the people go. And, the moment Israel has waited for…now finally arrives.
The Exodus (v33-42)
“The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.”
Finally, the Exodus event long anticipated begins, and as it begins the text is soaked with a deep sense of urgency. In v33 the Egyptians were urging and pressing Israel to make haste and get out of Egypt. They did this because the plagues had so terrorized them they thought they’d all be dead soon. This impressed a deep sense of urgency on Israel in v34, causing them to quickly pack up belongings and leave. They left so quickly took their food, bowls, and clothing…put it on their shoulders and left. v34 is also more evidence of how the Passover ceremony and tradition will become normal for Israel from this point on. God reminds Israel of this as they’re about to cross into the Promise Land in Deut. 16:3 saying, “You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.” All that came from this here.
In this urgency, just as God had said, Israel plundered the Egyptians on their way out in v35-36 by asking and gladly receiving much silver and gold. On one hand this shows the great favor God gave His people with Egypt. That they were so favored is astounding because think of how drastically things have changed for the Israelites and the Egyptians. Before Israel was a weak, suffering, enslaved people…now by God’s great work Israel is the greater nation, enjoying great riches in God’s great victory.[4] But on the other hand we see a double edge in this. You see, this silver and gold would be both used and abused. Israel would use it for godly purposes in the making of the tabernacle but they would also use it in the making of the golden calf. Lesson? When God’s gifts and favor are used in godly ways, it serves the purpose of building their new identity in the Lord. But when God’s gifts and favor are abused in ungodly ways, it serves the purpose of maintaining old idolatries.[5] Church, isn’t this true of all of God’s gifts?[6] His favor and blessing is great, and used rightly it serves to build God’s people, but used wrongly it destroys God’s people.
Then, what a moment, the Exodus begins in v37-39. Beginning at Rameses they went out toward Succoth. Both of these were historical cities, Rameses being a city Israel likely helped build and Succoth being most likely a city to the southeast.[7] Out they went, 600,000 of them, or were there more of them? It’s very likely there were more because of says 600,000 men. Including the women and children this was a company of two to three million people leaving Egypt. And notice, it wasn’t just Israelites that left. In v38 it says a “mixed multitude” left. This is an explicit reference to non-Israelites joining up in the Exodus. They would soon be called sojourners, who joined up after witnessing the great works of God and being convinced that following Him and doing life among His people was the best thing for them. They foreshadowed the many foreigners soon to join up with Israel like Rahab and Ruth.
The passage ends with a summary in v40-42 bringing the section and our time in Exodus for the next few months to a close.
Conclusion:
Here we have seen the Exodus itself, long awaited by Israel, much postponed by Pharaoh, yet carefully prepared by the Lord.[8] We began today with waiting. How waiting is hard in the big things and in the small things. Why? Because of how the act of waiting forces us to face our own lack. Israel had waited over 400 years for God to save them, but save them He did! All of us have to wait on God in life with Him, some of you are waiting right now for big or small things.
So, question: how can you and I today take heart and be confident in our own waiting? Answer: we can take God at His Word.
Church, we can take God at His Word. God promised long ago to Abraham in Genesis 15 that He would lead His people out of great suffering one day, and that He would punish the nation who caused their suffering. Church, God said this, and guess what? It all happened. Israel went into another nation under the care of Joseph, and they were treated well, but when a new Pharaoh arose, everything changed and their suffering began. Egypt turned on them, enslaved them, and Israel suffered for years. But God came to rescue them! Through sending Moses and through attacking them with ten plagues, God saved His people, and they walked out of Egypt in victory. Israel learned anew that they can take God at His Word.
The rest of the OT reveals this too, as God’s people ebbed and flowed throughout their history, they were waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue them! God said He would come. God said His coming would bring great light into their darkness. And God said when He comes nothing would ever be the same. And sure enough, in the fullness of time, He came. The eternal Son of God took up residence in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and was born as one of us. He showed Himself to be the true and better Moses, yes, He is the true Passover Lamb, yes, but He is also the true firstborn son who dies for us and leads us out in a greater Exodus, freeing us from the slavery of our sin. All who trust in Him are victorious in His victory.
But then He ascended back into the heavens, and we’re still here. And though much gospel light has now dawned, this world is still very dark in sin. And so we wait, for the Son of God to come again. God said He would come. God said His coming would bring great light into this darkness. And God said when He comes nothing would ever be the same. So Church, as we wait…we can take God at His Word.
Do you do this? Do you take God at His Word? Herein lies our confidence as we wait Church. If we’re to take God at His Word, we must be in His Word, taking it into ourselves, living by it, living near it, and living to spread it around.
(expand?)
Don’t miss that our passage ended today in v42 with God watching over His flock by night. Sound familiar? He watched over them by night at the Exodus. As the Great Shepherd He watched over His flock by night at Christ’s birth. Church, He watches over us still.
Therefore, in all our waiting we have great hope!
[1] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus – NAC (Brentwood, TN: B&H Publishing, 2006) 292.
[2] Stuart, 294.
[3] John D. Currid, Exodus 1-18 - EP Study Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: EP Books, 2014) 248.
[4] Stuart, 296.
[5] Victor P. Hamilton, Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2023) 193.
[6] Hamilton, 193.
[7] Currid, 252.
[8] John I. Durham, Exodus - WBC (Waco TX: Word Books, 1987) 173.
