And it came to pass that at midnight Jehovah smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.
It is midnight in Egypt, and the last of the ten plagues falls. It strikes the eldest son of every home, from the palace down to the prison. The verse raises three questions: why the firstborn, why every household, and why God frees His people by an act of judgment.
The first nine plagues came through Moses and his rod. This one did not.
To bring about this deliverance in righteousness, He sheltered them by the blood of the Passover lamb from the judgment that fell on the firstborn. They were sinners just as much as the Egyptians. The tenth plague differed from the others. The Lord no longer struck the Egyptians by the rod of Moses; it was, as it were, God as Judge Himself. Having sheltered them as sinners by blood from His own righteous judgment, He can now be their Deliverer.
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The verse names the two ends of Egyptian society. Neither the top nor the bottom escaped, though each had reason to think it might.
All ranks of Egyptians would feel it. Pharaoh's power and his wealth could not prevent the death of his firstborn. The miseries already suffered by the captive in the dungeon could not save his child either. For when God executes judgment on man, no human power can resist the blow. No worldly wealth can buy escape from it, and no earlier suffering can soften the stroke. It is worth remembering this. People forget it, and hope that suffering on earth will be accepted instead of enduring God's just judgment.
The blow lands on what Egypt valued most. The firstborn son was a household's pride and the proof of its future.
The firstborn was the chief of their strength, everything a man would boast in, the fulfilment of his hopes and desires. By human standards the firstborn stood for the best of a family's dignity and strength. God "struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength" (Ps. 78:51). See Egypt as a picture of the world in its opposition to God, and Pharaoh as its god and prince, whose spirit drives those he rules — not by right, but by usurpation. Then it becomes vital for the children of God to grasp that everything man boasts in lies under the judgment of God. Death is on everything here; all is shut up under death.
The livestock are struck too. Egypt worshipped its animals, and God had said He would judge its gods.
The hand of Jehovah was heavy also on "all the gods of Egypt" (Ex. 12:12), which added to the dismay. He executed judgment on their deities — probably the living creatures that represented their gods. That must have caused terror in every temple. God's vengeance falling on the gods of the land proved Jehovah's supremacy over all the powers people worshipped. His hand struck the firstborn only, of man and of livestock alike, and that showed His power so clearly that all Egypt dreaded death and begged Israel to leave.
Israel was not exempt because Israel was better. A death took place in their homes as well — a different one.
The Lord passed through the land of Egypt with the sword of justice drawn, to strike all the firstborn. Israel's firstborn would not have escaped either, had the sword not fallen on the neck of the spotless victim. As someone has well said, "There was death in every house, not only in the houses of the Egyptians but also in those of the Israelites: in the first it was the death of Egypt's firstborn; in the second, the death of God's LAMB."
Nothing else about the household made any difference.
Neither good conduct nor religious orthodoxy saved them that night, but the blood of the lamb alone. Sheltered by it, they could eat and drink in peace, with their belts fastened and their staff in hand, ready to march out of a place that was in no sense their home.
The blow that ruined Egypt was the same blow that set Israel free.
At midnight, the time of deepest darkness, Jehovah is coming into the land Himself, and "all their firstborn, the chief of all their strength," shall die. The thunderbolt of Israel's deliverance is at last to fall. The collapse of the world is the deliverance of those for whom God has undertaken.
- Judge — the tenth plague came not through Moses' rod but from God acting as Judge Himself.
- Level — from Pharaoh's throne to the captive's dungeon, no rank, wealth or past suffering bought a way out.
- Target — the firstborn was the chief of Egypt's strength, so the blow fell on everything the world boasts in.
- Substitute — there was a death in every house that night: in Egypt the firstborn, in Israel the lamb.
- Release — the same stroke that shattered Egypt was the thunderbolt of Israel's deliverance.
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his bondmen, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house in which there was not one dead.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.