Roadmap for the soul - Judaism, the bible and the tabernacle

Thus far, Egypt has experienced nine "plagues" as a result of Pharaoh's refusal to let the children of Israel leave.
And now, God is giving Moses instructions regarding the tenth and final plague ---

Exodus 11:1 "And the Lord said to Moses, 'I will bring yet one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.'"

Exodus 11:4-7 "...Thus says the Lord: About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; (v.5) and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the maidservant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the beasts. (v.6) Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. (v.7) But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel".

As you can see, God is done waiting. The time has finally come for God's people to be set free from slavery. And judging from Exodus 11:4 (above), the process is going to have something to do with 'death'... Specifically, the process is going to involve the death of the "firstborn".

But notice verse 7... It says, "...the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel".
What does that mean?

It means that God is going to offer Israel protection from the coming plague of death.
The actual means of protection is described here ---

Exodus 12:3-8 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. (v.4) And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. (v.5) Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. (v.6) Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. (v.7) And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. (v.8) Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it".

Exodus 12:13 "Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt".

Notice the words, "pass over you"...
To this day, this event is commemorated as---

Exodus 12:11 "...the Lord's Passover".

There is one very, very, important point to notice in this event ---
Although Israel was exempt from some (and quite possibly all) of the previous nine plagues, 28
they are not being exempted from this one.
Just in case anyone missed that point, I repeat... this time, Israel is not exempt!
This time ---

Israel is only being spared as the result of a
'substitution'!

And amazingly, all of this, even the issue of 'substitution', was predicted previously by Isaac's experience on Mt. Moriah... God's provision of this 'substitute' (the Passover lamb) was presaged by the miraculous provision of the "ram" 29 which was sacrificed in Isaac's place.

Here in our current story, the various 'predictions' conveyed by Isaac's past experiences are beginning to prove true ---

Now, we see that (just as predicted) Isaac's descendants have indeed experienced 'slavery' (to the 'world of sin', as represented by Egypt). And now, in order to be freed from 'slavery' and taken to the 'promised land', we see that (just as predicted) they are indeed going to experience 'death'. As we've just seen, death is about to come upon both Egypt and Israel. And again, just as predicted, we also see a 'resurrection'... Through the substitution of the 'Passover lamb', Israel is essentially offered the opportunity to be 'resurrected' from the coming experience of 'death'.

One thing is for sure... God definitely considers this 'Passover' symbolism to be important...
In the following passage, He tells the people of Israel to contemplate it regularly ---

Exodus 12:24-25 "And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. (v.25) It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service."

In any case, 'death' is now on the way... ...to everyone.
Both Egypt and Israel.

It is only the substitution of the 'Passover lamb' that will protect Israel's firstborn when the plague of death finally arrives.

Thankfully ---

Exodus 12:28 "... the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord commanded... so they did".

Exodus 12:29-32 "And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck 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 livestock. (v.30) So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. (v.31) Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, 'Rise and go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. (v.32) Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone...'"

Exodus 12:41 "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years-- on that very same day-it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt".

Most of you probably know what happens next ---

Exodus 14:5 "...the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, 'Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?'"

Exodus 14:9 "So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea..."

Is Pharaoh stubborn or what?!

As you might imagine, the children of Israel were scared to death when they found Pharaoh coming after them. Even more frightening was the fact that they were trapped against the Red Sea, with no place to go. Someone obviously had to be blamed, so the people blamed Moses, saying ---

Exodus 14:12 "...it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness".

But Moses knew that God hadn't brought Israel this far for nothing, and he reminded them of God's commitment, saying, "...the Lord will fight for you." 30 And indeed ---

Exodus 14:21-22 "...the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. (v.22) So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left".

God miraculously provides a way of escape, by allowing Israel to pass through the waters of the Red sea.

But Pharaoh still wasn't ready to concede defeat and the Egyptians followed Israel into the breach.
This turned out to be a fatal mistake as ---

Exodus 14:28 "...the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained".

Wow... Israel is finally free!

Well... free from Egypt, at least.

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