Death of firstborn sons
11
📚And the LORD had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that he will let you go from here. And when he lets you go, he will in fact drive you out of here altogether. 2 📚Now speak in the hearing of the people, and have each man ask his neighbour, and each woman her neighbour, for silver ornaments and gold ornaments”. 3 📚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 📚And Moses had said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD: ‘About midnight I will go out among Egypt’s people, 5 📚and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the servant girl who is behind the millstones, and all the firstborn of animals.
11:4-5 The Egyptians worshiped gods who were supposed to give life and to destroy life. But now Jehovah reveals that it is He and not those gods who has the power of life and death in His hands. See 1 Sam 2:6; Gen 38:7; Ps 33:18-19; Matt 10:28; Rev 1:18.⚜
6 📚And there will be a great cry throughout the whole land of Egypt. Never was there one like it, and never again will there be. 7 📚But not a dog will move its tongue against any of the children of Israel, against man or beast, so that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.’ 8 📚And all these servants of yours will come to me, and bow down before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go”. And, burning with anger, he had gone out from Pharaoh.
9 📚And the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt”. 10 📚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.
11:10 This record of God’s judgment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians shows that seeing even the greatest miracles in itself cannot change the heart of man. Outward miracles cannot break his stubborn will. Human pride and hardness of heart are amazing, audacious and unreasonable in the extreme. Compare Ps 78:17, 32-42. This is seen also in the time of the Lord Jesus. Many who saw His mighty miracles failed to repent and believe and obey Him. See what He said in Luke 16:31. The judgment of God on such people is inevitable.⚜