The Passover Blood (1)
Posted by Vincent Cheung on March 16, 2006EXODUS 12:1-3, 7, 11-14, 29-30
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household….Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs….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.
"On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn – both men and animals – and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD – a lasting ordinance."
At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
Here we have the biblical record of the institution of the Passover. Before we deal with the Passover itself, let us first place it in the proper context by considering the events that led up to it.
About four hundred years before, God told Abraham that his descendents would be enslaved and mistreated for a time in a country not their own, but after that God would punish the nation where they serve as slaves, and would bring them out and lead them to their own land (Genesis 15:13-14). In accordance with God's plan and decree, the sons of Jacob, who were jealous of their father's special favor toward Joseph, sold their younger brother to Egypt. But God watched over Joseph, and he was elevated to the highest position in Egypt under Pharaoh to oversee the preparations for the famine to come.
When the famine came and the nations were without food, they came to Egypt to buy from them. Jacob also sent his sons to buy food, and they were reunited with Joseph. As the famine would continue for still some time, Jacob and his whole family moved to Egypt and were given a piece of land as their residence.
The Book of Exodus begins when a new Pharaoh felt threatened by Israel's growing number and prosperity. Thus he enslaved them and then even issued orders to kill their newborn males. But then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, who was faithful to his promise to Abraham, and sent Moses to confront Pharaoh and to lead his people out of Egypt.
Even as God called Moses to this special work, he told him that Pharaoh was not going to let the people go so easily. Or, from another perspective, we can say that God was not going to let Pharaoh go so easily. He said, "But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you" (Exodus 7:3-4). He would directly control Pharaoh's heart to defy the divine command, even in the face of the miraculous disasters that God would send against the nation.
In other words, God would deliberately prolong the struggle between Pharaoh and Moses so that there would be additional opportunities to display his power at the expense of Egypt. This is so that he could glorify himself, punish the nation of Egypt, and induce confidence in the people of Israel toward God and his servant Moses.
Chapters 7 through 10 exhibit a consistent pattern. Moses would confront Pharaoh and ask him to let the people of Israel depart from Egypt to worship the Lord. Pharaoh would refuse, and so God would send a plague against the nation. Then, even when Pharaoh would appear to yield, God would control his heart and harden him again.
(to be continued)