Exodus 11-13

What’s Happening?

God has sent nine plagues that have crippled Egypt. But none of them have caused Egypt’s Pharaoh to release God’s people from their slavery. So God prepares one final plague to secure his people’s freedom (Exodus 11:1-3). Moses warns Pharaoh that just as Egypt has drowned countless Hebrew sons in the Nile, every firstborn male living in Egypt, whether human or animal, will die (Exodus 11:4-6). Pharaoh must let God’s people go, or his dynasty and kingdom will be decimated (Exodus 11:7-8). But Pharaoh’s heart remains hardened (Exodus 11:9-10).
In the first nine plagues, God supernaturally spared his people from the destruction caused by the flies, locusts, boils, and hail without requiring them to do anything. But in the coming final plague, God’s people are called to actively protect themselves. To be spared from the final plague, God says they must prepare a sacrificial lamb, spread its blood on the doorposts of their home, and quickly eat the lamb as if their liberation could come at any moment (Exodus 12:1-11). When God’s plague arrives, he will see the blood and pass over those homes (Exodus 12:12-13, 21-23). God promises that a lamb’s blood will protect his people from harm and secure their freedom.

With these commands given, God’s people listen. The blood of many lambs is spilt. Then, the plague arrives at midnight, and every firstborn not protected by blood dies (Exodus 12:29-30). Broken and grieving the loss of his kingdom and son, Pharaoh finally releases God’s people (Exodus 12:31-32). The Egyptians are so desperate for the Israelites to leave that they give them as much gold, silver, and clothes as these former slaves can carry (Exodus 12:33-36). Finally, after 430 years of slavery, God’s people begin their journey to their new homeland as free people (Exodus 12:37-42).

Throughout this story, the author of Exodus interrupts the narrative with laws. These laws detail how Israel needs to continually remember and celebrate the liberation God achieved on their behalf. God says a seven-day Passover feast should mark the beginning of every new year (Exodus 12:17-20). During the feast, everyone should kill a lamb without breaking its bones and eat it with bread, just as their forefathers did the night before their exodus (Exodus 12:24-27; Exodus 12:43-13:9). Not only did Israel’s freedom affect their calendars but also their families and farms. God freed his people at the terrible cost of Egypt’s firstborn sons and animals. Israel’s firstborns were only spared because of the blood of a lamb. So from this point forward, firstborn animals would be set aside as a sacrifice, and after the birth of every firstborn son, a sacrifice would be made (Exodus 12:13; 13:10-16). God’s people are finally freed from their enslavers, so the first laws God gives his people make sure that everything in Israel, from the calendars to their livestock, remembers and celebrates the victory God achieved for his people through sacrifice.

Where is the Gospel?

The Passover is the defining event of God’s people. From this moment on, Israel’s national life will revolve around, remember, and rehearse the good news of their miraculous exodus, the terrible loss of life, and the bloody lamb. But God’s liberation of his people in Egypt also sets the pattern for how God will rescue all people from the powers that enslave all of humanity.

We are still enslaved, perhaps not to an authoritarian leader, but enslaved to the power of inevitable death. Like Pharaoh, Death will never let us go. And like the Israelites, we have little hope of escape without someone to rescue us. So God, following the pattern he set in the Exodus, sent his firstborn son into the world to die (John 3:16). One of Jesus’ first followers announced him as the “Lamb of God” who would free us from our inevitable death (John 1:29). That’s why Jesus died during the feast of Passover, and tells his disciples that his blood will be spilled so they can escape the plague of death and live (Luke 22:7-8, 19-20). For their part, they must actively participate in a meal of bread and blood. Just as Hebrew families ate their sacrificed lambs in the hope of redemption, the disciples must eat and drink in hopes of theirs. Jesus came to liberate all humanity from our enslavement to Death. He does so at the terrible price of his own life. But as Israel rose from their slavery and began their journey to a new homeland, Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is the only man in history to die and rise, never to die again. Jesus has broken Death’s power forever. The emancipation Jesus accomplishes is eternal.

The blood of the lamb named Jesus has freed God’s people from Death forever (Revelation 12:11). His death and resurrection are the new defining events of God’s people. And like God called Israel’s national life to revolve, remember, and rehearse the good news of their exodus, followers of Jesus are called to live lives that revolve around, remember, and rehearse the good news of Jesus. That’s why every week begins with a Sunday feast of bread and wine that remembers and rehearses Jesus’ death for us (1 Corinthians 11:23-25).

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who saves his people. And may you see Jesus as the Passover Lamb whose blood guarantees our freedom from Death forever.