And he called Moses and Aaron in the night, and said, Rise up, go away from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said.
It is midnight in Egypt, and the king who once said he did not know the LORD is now sending for Moses and Aaron. Two questions sit inside his order: what finally broke him, and why he now wants Israel gone with everything they own.
This time Pharaoh does not bargain. His message is an order, and it covers everything Moses had asked for.
Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. No doubt he did not see them in person, but he sent them the urgent message that Israel was to get out of Egypt. This was not only permission given, but a command that would allow no delay. Their flocks and herds were to be included, as Moses had demanded. This tenth plague was enough to shock Pharaoh into action, with the fear that something worse could happen.
The man giving orders is the same man who once said he did not know the LORD. God's judgment, falling on his own house, changed his mind.
"Who is the LORD," said Pharaoh, in the pride and deep ignorance of his heart, "that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I know not the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go." These were the words of a mere man. But the LORD is known by the judgment He carries out. Pharaoh learned that at great cost, and people will learn it later too... The proud Pharaoh of the exodus stooped to ask a blessing from Moses and Aaron. They spoke for the people he had held so long in slavery. He asked while his own firstborn lay dead in his house.
Pharaoh's last offer had been to keep the livestock: take the children, leave the business. Moses refused, and now that condition falls too.
When Pharaoh is pressed further, he says, "Go, serve the LORD; your little ones also may go with you; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind." That is to say: you may have the children, but leave me the business... What does Moses say? "Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind." We are to be for God all round, family and business included. Notice that when they finally go, Pharaoh gives up this part too. He says, "Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said." The point is this: the devil is determined to fight for every inch of ground. He will use any means at all to hinder the work of God in the soul.
Pharaoh's own words echo the demand God made from the start: let them go to serve Me. Leaving Egypt was not the goal.
And notice, it is "that they may hold a feast to me." If they were to be done with Pharaoh, it was so that they might begin with God. This was a great change. Instead of hard labour under Pharaoh's slave drivers, they were to feast in the company of the LORD. They would pass from Egypt into the wilderness, but God's own presence would go with them.
Israel walked out because the night that emptied Egyptian homes left theirs untouched. That night and the later crossing of the Red Sea are not the same event.
This was not the deliverance of Israel, like the passage of the Red Sea, but it was the ground of it... But on the Passover night the question was how God could pass over the guilty, even though they were His people. The blood of the lamb sprinkled on Israel's doorposts declared this: even as He carried out judgment, God could not touch those sheltered behind it. In the presence of that blood, His truth and justice were held back and satisfied. The destroyer was kept from entering. Not one Israelite perished within the blood-sprinkled doorframes.
The order to rise and go left them no time to pack food for the journey.
They left in haste. They were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, and they had not prepared any food for themselves. No — they had to depend on God completely. He had separated them from the Egyptians and sheltered them by the blood of the Lamb. Now it was His care to lead them out and to provide their food along the way.
- Blood first. Israel could only be called out because the lamb's blood already stood between them and the judgment on Egypt.
- Command, not favour. What Pharaoh refused for months, he now orders at once. The release is God's doing, not a king's kindness.
- Nothing left behind. The last bargain falls. Children, flocks and herds all go, because God claims His people and all they own.
- Freed to serve. Finishing with Pharaoh was not the goal. They were let go to feast with God.
- Out in haste. They leave with no food packed, depending on God alone to lead them and feed them on the way.
Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and go; and bless me also.
Pharaoh has fought Moses through nine plagues and four attempted bargains. Now, with his own firstborn dead, he gives way on everything at once — the people, the children, the livestock. Then come three strange words: the king who once asked who the LORD was now asks the men he enslaved to bless him.
Every earlier offer had kept something of Israel inside Egypt. The fourth and last one aimed at their property. Here Pharaoh drops it.
Under more pressure, Pharaoh says, "Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back; let your little ones also go with you." That is to say: You may have the children, but leave me the business. To us it would suggest this — you and your family may go to heaven, but meanwhile run your business on worldly lines. This is compromise number four. What does Moses say? "Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind." We are to be for God all round, family and business included. It is worth noticing that when they go at last, Pharaoh gives up this point too. He says, "Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said." The point is this: the devil is determined to contest every inch of ground, and to use any and every means to hinder the work of God in the soul.
The phrase "as you have said" points back to what Moses had insisted on. Moses had refused to leave one animal behind. One writer draws out the principle inside that refusal.
The words of Moses hold a principle of the first importance — that God claims all that we have as well as ourselves. For this reason we must hold everything at His disposal. He gives, and He demands from us... We must not, as the people of God, take from the world, as Abraham refused to let the king of Sodom make him rich (Gen. 14:22-23); nor must we allow the world's claims on what the Lord has given us. Not a hoof must be left behind, or it might be that very hoof the Lord would demand for sacrifice.
The man who had said he did not know the LORD now begs a favour from his own slaves. One writer sets that reversal against Pharaoh's opening words.
"Who is the LORD," said Pharaoh, in the pride and deep ignorance of his heart, "that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go." Such were the words of a mortal creature. But the LORD is known by the judgment which He executes... The proud Pharaoh of the exodus stooped to ask a blessing from Moses and Aaron. They stood for the people he had kept so long in slavery. And all the while his firstborn lay dead in his house.
Another writer marks how short this bowing was.
Pharaoh's stubborn heart was reached, and for the moment bowed before the clear judgment of God... He made no conditions now, but granted everything they had claimed, and even sought a blessing at their hands.
The order to leave and the plea for blessing come in one breath.
Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron... This was not only permission given, but a command that would allow no delay. They were to take their flocks and herds with them, as Moses had demanded. This tenth plague was enough to shock Pharaoh into action, with the fear that something worse could happen. But he curiously adds, "and bless me also." Yet he does not include the people of Egypt in this request.
One night broke him. Death reached every house in the land, Israel's included.
This blow was huge and unheard of. Pharaoh's resistance collapsed, and he gave in to all that Moses had demanded. The Egyptian people were also urgent that the children of Israel should leave. They realised that they were all under the death sentence. There was not one house in which there was not one dead. Death indeed had been universal. In the houses of the Egyptians it was the death of the firstborn. In the houses of the Israelites it was the death of the lamb.
- Judgment breaks him — death in every Egyptian house did what nine plagues could not. His resistance collapsed, and he gave Moses everything he had demanded.
- Surrender is total — he sets no conditions now, and drops the last bargain that would have kept Israel's business in Egypt.
- Possessions belong to God — God may demand any animal for sacrifice, so not a hoof could stay. He claims all that we have as well as ourselves.
- He begs a blessing — the king who once said he did not know the LORD now asks a blessing from the people he had kept in slavery.
- Yet only for himself — all Egypt lies under the same judgment, yet he asks a blessing for himself alone.
And the Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead [men]!
Exodus 12 tells of the night Egypt's firstborn died and the blood on the doorposts kept Israel safe. Verse 33 shows what came next: the nation that had refused to free its slaves now begged them to go.
Pharaoh had always attached conditions before. When the final blow fell, he dropped them all — and his people went further than he did.
Pharaoh's stubborn heart was reached, and for the moment bowed before the clear judgment of God. He "rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians," and sending for Moses and Aaron, told them to leave. He made no conditions now, but granted everything they had asked, and even sought a blessing from them. His people went further, and were urgent to send the children of Israel away; for they said, "We are all dead men."
God had already said this would happen:
The Egyptians, at first so eager to keep them, were at last, after their punishment, just as anxious to be rid of them. "When he lets you go, he will drive you out from here altogether." "They were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait."
The Egyptians' cry is not grief only. It is a verdict they pronounce on themselves — they expect to be next. Yet death had visited every home that night, Israelite homes included, and the difference lay in who died.
This blow was tremendous, beyond anything known before. Pharaoh's resistance collapsed under it, and he conceded everything Moses had demanded. The Egyptian people also were urgent that the children of Israel should leave. They realized that they were all under the death sentence. There was not one house in which there was not one dead. Death indeed had been universal. In the houses of the Egyptians it was the death of the firstborn. In the houses of the Israelites it was the death of the lamb.
Another writer sharpens the point: judgment fell on everyone; the only question was who bore it.
Judgment had been passed on all; the Lamb had borne it for the people of God. Egypt had borne it for themselves. Each was final, and its outcome never changed.
The rush had a side effect. God had told Israel to eat bread without leaven, and Egypt pushed them out too fast for them to get it wrong.
When we come to the actual fact of Israel going out of Egypt that night, we see that they were hurried out with their bread unleavened. There is a wonderful little sidelight here. The bread was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt. I think what God gives us here is this: if they had not been in such a hurry the leaven might have got in. I will help them to start right, says God. And so they were hurried out so fast that they had no time to fail in obedience.
Israel left loaded with silver and gold. Older translations say the Israelite women "borrowed" from their neighbours, and that one word has drawn a charge of theft against God.
The word "borrow" appears in the older Authorised Version where the simple meaning "to ask" is intended, and, true to form, the sceptic has been quick to seize on this word to charge God with telling His people to do something immoral and dishonest. There is not, however, the slightest breach of what is right and proper. The children of Israel had received no payment for the harsh and bitter slavery imposed on them. And at the actual moment when they asked, the Egyptians showed a striking willingness to give… It was an unconditional gift, with something in it of an attempt to appease, in the certain knowledge that they would never see the children of Israel again.
The gifts of that night had a later use:
These facts show how the people came to have such an abundance of materials, and of gold and silver. When the time came in the wilderness, they could build the tabernacle according to the word of the Lord.
Egypt drove Israel out; they did not leave by negotiation. One writer sees the same pattern for believers today.
…the redeemed of today are called to appear as the channels of God's dealings with the conscience of the world. If they are faithful in this, the world of our day will tolerate them as little as the Egyptians of that day tolerated Israel. They carry the testimony of the judgment of death, the sentence under which a guilty world lies, and for that reason they are "thrust out" from its company. Where this faithfulness in following the footsteps of the Master is found, the world's rejection surely follows. He did not hesitate to say, "Now is the judgment of this world."
- Sentence. Death entered every house that night, and Egypt owned that it lay under a sentence it could not escape.
- Shelter. The difference was not merit but the lamb: Egypt bore the judgment itself; for Israel the lamb bore it.
- Speed. The rush left no time for leaven, so God's haste guarded His people's obedience.
- Spoil. Egypt paid at last for years of unpaid work, and that silver and gold later built the tabernacle.
- Separation. A people who carry the testimony of coming judgment should expect the world to want them gone.
And the people took their dough before it was leavened; their kneading-troughs bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
Israel walks out of Egypt with bread that has not risen, and troughs tied up in their clothes on their shoulders. It looks like a small accident of a rushed night. Yet commentators find a searching question in it. Why did God's people first keep the feast of unleavened bread only because Egypt threw them out?
God had told Israel to put leaven away. But the dough left Egypt unleavened because there was no time — not because the people honoured the command. One writer draws an uncomfortable conclusion:
Their obedience to God's command was not, sadly, the fruit of a spirit of obedience. It came from necessity — the fruit of Egypt forcing them out.
Another commentator sees in the same phrase what the people had planned to do — and something to thank God for:
Israel had no trouble now in getting ready to leave. The Egyptians themselves were urging them to go at once. They "took their dough before it was leavened" (v. 34). Clearly they meant to leaven it, despite God's command to put leaven away. Sometimes God in His grace steps in and stops us from carrying out our disobedient purposes.
The speed of the departure was a kindness. It took away the chance to disobey before they could take it:
It was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt… I think God shows us this. If they had not been in such a hurry, the leaven might have got in. I will help them to start right, says God. So He hurried them out so fast that they had no time to fail in obedience. I will help them, at least, to keep My word for once in their history, says God.
They took raw dough and the troughs to work it in — no baked bread, no supplies. And the timing was not set by Egypt's panic:
Israel left Egypt in such haste that they took no supplies for immediate use. All they had was the dough and the kneading troughs, tied on their shoulders with their clothes. So in a special way they depended entirely on the Lord's care. Their haste was not needed only to satisfy the urgency of the Egyptians, who were God's agents in the matter. It also made sure they left at the exact time the Lord had appointed.
Bundles on the shoulder are a traveller's luggage. Egypt had been home for generations. In one night the people became strangers there:
The link with Egypt, two hundred years long, was snapped at once. That very night they marched from Rameses to Succoth. They took their wives, their children, their cattle and all they owned, with the dough still unleavened and the kneading troughs bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. But once they admitted they were strangers in Egypt, they learned what it was to be the Lord's people. They went out, but He went before them. They marched on, because the Lord had brought them out. They were His, and He took on Himself the supply of everything they needed on the way.
The unleavened bread carried out that night is later called the bread of affliction. One writer connects that name directly to the scramble of the escape:
"You came out of the land of Egypt in haste." Pharaoh, that is the devil, was behind them, and they were only just escaping from the judgment. You get out of Egypt in haste. You have to put the dough on your shoulder as fast as you can, so that the judgment does not catch you. That is why you have the seven days of unleavened bread. It is deliverance, but it keeps you taken up with the state you were in when He delivered you. So it is "the bread of affliction."
Commentators apply this to God's people ever since. The Church has kept this feast best when the world made comfort impossible:
When has the Church kept the feast of unleavened bread most truly? Has it not usually been when the world pressed hardest upon her? When the world has forced believers out of it, their brightness and devotion have shone more clearly. Sadly, once the storm eased, how quickly the leaven came back in!
That leaves a question for comfortable, prosperous days:
Is it not a solemn reminder of how little the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth has ever marked any large part of God's people? Are we keeping the passover feast according to the mind of God? Or are we only keeping up what we think is needed for appearances, so that we can fit our way of life in with the spirit and systems of a world that is not ours?
- Haste — The dough left Egypt unleavened for lack of time, not because the people were set on obeying.
- Grace — God's timing removed the chance to fail. He helped them keep His word for once, and He still steps in to block our disobedient plans.
- Empty-handed — They left with no supplies, carrying raw dough and troughs on their shoulders. That left them wholly dependent on the Lord's care.
- Strangers — In one night Egypt stopped being home. They became the Lord's people on the road, and He took charge of supplying the journey.
- Pressure — Believers have kept this feast best when the world pushed them out of it. Ease lets the leaven back in, so comfortable days call for the sharpest self-examination.
And the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked of the Egyptians utensils of silver, and utensils of gold, and clothing.
Israel leaves Egypt the morning after the Passover. Before they go, they turn to their former masters and ask for silver, gold, and clothing. Older translations say they "borrowed." That one word has made this verse a favourite target for critics. Was God telling His people to cheat? And why would He want them loaded with Egypt's wealth at all?
The objection rests on a translation. Once the right word is in place, the picture is not of a loan never repaid but of a total reversal of position:
Unbelievers have seized on the word "borrow" in verse 22, and objected that it presents God as telling the people to practise deceit by pretending to borrow what they never intended to repay. The word occurs again in Exodus 11:2 and Exodus 12:35. But the word really is "ask," and Darby's version translates it that way. The people had been only slaves, working for barely enough to live on. Now the position was to be completely reversed. Their former masters would fear them and give them what they asked. All they could carry out of Egypt would be a mere fraction of what was really due to them.
Israel asked because Moses told them to, and Moses had his orders from God. What they asked for was payment on a debt centuries old:
The word rendered "borrowed" is really to "ask," and the word rendered "lent" means "gave." The concordance will show that it really means "demanded." The children of Israel had served the Egyptians for 400 years, building the treasure cities for Pharaoh (Ex. 1:11). So God had already said to Moses that they were to demand these things as payment for their labours, Ex. 3:21-22. It was not more than they had a right to. The Egyptians seem to have known this, and that is why they met the demand so eagerly. It was "spoil," but spoil they richly deserved.
Israel neither robbed Egypt nor tricked it. The Egyptians had their own reasons for handing the valuables over:
The context shows that because of God's obvious intervention the children of Israel would be in "favour in the sight of the Egyptians." The Egyptians had been made to feel that Israel had suffered wrong at their hands. So they gladly gave them whatever they wanted, perhaps as a kind of appeasement, knowing full well that they would see the Israelites no more. What they gave was therefore an unconditional gift.
God did not mean His people to leave with nothing. One writer then turns the picture round to the world they left behind:
But God does not intend His people to go out of Egypt empty. They are to leave it rather with the spoil of Egypt in their hands; and yet, in taking this, they take only what is their own. Take out of the world today everything that comes from God's saving work. Take out of it everything Scripture has enriched it with. How poor the world would be left!
The same silver and gold turn up twice more in Exodus. What God marked out for one purpose, Israel could put to another:
God had set apart the wealth that Israel took from Egypt for His own service in the Tabernacle. There was a proper use for it. God's claim rested on the wealth that came out of the land with them. The abuse of it comes out clearly in chapter 32, where the golden calf came before the dancing.
The same principle reaches into a person's own past:
Before God called us, we handled much in this world. We have long thought that under God's providence this shaped us as vessels for serving Him in this world. Moses was raised in the house of Pharaoh's daughter. Paul was raised in the teaching of Judaism. Both are examples of this. … So it was with the children of Israel. It was their wages, willingly given to God to form the Tabernacle.
- Asked — the word behind the old "borrowed" means to ask, or to demand; the matching "lent" means gave. The charge of deceit rests on a translation, not on the text.
- Owed — 400 years of unpaid labour stood behind the asking. What Israel carried out was wages, and only a fraction of what was due.
- Given — God gave His people favour in Egypt's eyes. Egypt handed the treasure over gladly, and asked for nothing back.
- Full — God did not mean them to go out empty, and they took only what was already their own.
- Used — God destined the spoil for the tabernacle, Israel's tent of worship; the same gold became a calf in chapter 32. What comes out of the old life either goes back to God or turns into an idol.
And Jehovah had given the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave to them; and they spoiled the Egyptians.
On the night of the Passover, a slave people walked out of Egypt carrying the wealth of the nation that had held them. Two questions follow: was the taking honest, and what was all that silver and gold for?
Older translations say Israel "borrowed" and the Egyptians "lent." That makes the scene look like theft. The original words say something else, and the history behind them shows why the demand was fair.
It may help first to point out that the word translated "borrowed" really means to "ask," and the word translated "lent" means "gave." The concordance will show that it really means "demanded." The children of Israel had served the Egyptians for 400 years, building the treasure cities for Pharaoh (Ex. 1:11). So God had already told Moses that they were to demand these things as payment for their work (Ex. 3:21-22). It was not more than they had a right to, and it seems the Egyptians knew this, so they appeared eager to answer the demand. It was "spoil," but spoil they richly deserved.
Another writer weighs the two possible senses of the word and calls the taking fair payment.
God directs His people not to go out empty after their long unpaid labour. Every woman should (not "borrow," but) ask for jewels of silver and of gold, and so spoil them, since it was righteous repayment. The word "borrow" is only a secondary sense, and here out of place. "Ask" is the direct and primary sense, and therefore should be kept.
The Egyptians did not part with their treasures grudgingly. Something stood behind that generosity.
Israel did not leave Egypt poor. His people had toiled so long without wages. God told them to demand jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing from the Egyptians. And the terror of the Lord made the Egyptians generous. The captive people became loaded with the spoils of their captors. The "night of the Lord" was never to be forgotten.
Israel walks out loaded, and Egypt keeps nothing. One writer turns that picture on the world we live in now.
God does not intend His people to go out of Egypt empty. They are to leave it rather with the spoil of Egypt in their hands; and yet, in taking this, they take only what is their own. Take out of the world today everything that is the fruit of God's work of salvation, or that goes with it. Take out of it all that Scripture has enriched it with. How poor it would be left! This only shows what the world is: God could not take His people out of it without leaving it empty of all true blessing and light.
Why would God let them carry off wealth that later became a golden calf? He had a use for it, and Israel found a different one.
God had set apart the wealth that Israel took from Egypt for His service in the Tabernacle. It had a proper use. God's claim rested on the wealth that came out of the land with them. The abuse of it comes out clearly in chapter 32, where the golden calf came before the dancing.
The gold came out of Egypt. Can a believer offer God anything he gained before God called him? One answer looks at a whole life, not just at metal.
How does this apply to serving the Lord? We have long thought that much of what we handled in this world, before God called us, shaped us. Under God's providence it made us vessels for serving Him in this world. Moses grew up in the house of Pharaoh's daughter. Paul grew up in the teachings of Judaism. Both are examples of this. … So it was with the children of Israel. It was their wages, willingly given to God to make the Tabernacle.
- Wages, not theft. The word is "ask," not "borrow." Four hundred years of unpaid building work stood behind the demand, and the Egyptians seemed to know it.
- Favour, not skill. The Lord gave the people favour. Fear of Him made the Egyptians generous, and the captives walked out carrying their captors' spoils.
- Full, not empty. God did not mean them to leave empty. What they carried was their own, and Egypt lost what had truly enriched it.
- Sanctuary, not calf. God set the silver and gold apart for the Tabernacle, Israel's tent of worship. Chapter 32 shows the same wealth turned into an idol.
- Given, not kept. Wages earned in Egypt became a free gift to God. As with Moses and Paul, a believer can lay a whole past life at God's feet for His service.
And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot [that were] men, besides children.
The day after the Passover, Israel walked out of Egypt as a nation on the move. The verse names a starting point, a first stop, and a number. Each one says something about what God had just done.
Jacob's family arrived in Egypt small enough to list by name. The size of the crowd leaving is the measure of what God had done in between.
We are given a list of sons and grandsons and told their number as 70. Exodus 12:37 shows the great increase that took place while they were in Egypt. It shows how God fulfilled His word about making them a great nation.
The figure here is a round one. A later count is more exact, and gives the size of the whole company.
Exodus 12:37 speaks of there being 600,000 men, besides children, at the exodus. Numbers 1:46 gives the number more exactly as 603,550 from twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war. That works out to a total of about two million men, women, and children, not counting the descendants of Levi.
The two place names are not just map points. Their meanings mark the change of life that redemption brings.
From Rameses (city of the sun), the city of earthly splendour, they went to Succoth, which means "booths." Their character as pilgrims now comes out. The wilderness begins. Redemption by blood makes us pilgrims and strangers, for we are no longer of the world, though we are in it.
Another writer draws out the contrast between the two builders — one a king making a name for himself, the other a people living in tents.
Strikingly the first stage — all that is mentioned yet — is from Rameses to Succoth: from the king's city, built for the glory of his name, to the place of the "booths," or tents, that mark the wilderness.
One line of text covers the emptying of a whole region of Egypt overnight.
An exodus was starting, the like of which had never been known. About 600,000 men, besides women and children, were now on the move. They were leaving the land of Goshen for ever, and changing their condition from slavery to freedom. Then all the flocks and herds of Israel moved too. Not a hoof was left behind. It was a migration unmatched before or since. To the Egyptians, when they woke up to it, what a change had taken place! Goshen was emptied. The taskmaster's job was gone.
The words "on foot" describe people carrying children, not weapons.
As the morning light dawns on Rameses, what do we see? Not a well-disciplined army able to meet its enemies, but six hundred thousand men on foot. They go out with no visible resources, burdened with the care of wives and little ones. May we not say, what a powerless, defenceless, easy prey they are to the wandering tribes of the desert? But no, dear reader; a blood-bought people, truly powerless in themselves, is going out — but not alone. The LORD was among His people.
Moses is named nowhere in this verse, and commentators note that the task was far beyond him.
Picture six hundred thousand men, besides women and children, springing into action to leave the country. The sight must have been astounding! There has been nothing else in all history like it. The responsibility for leading this company of over two million rested on Moses. Did he feel capable of it? Not at all. He felt helpless, but he knew that God's power was enough, and God had spoken clearly: He would deliver Israel.
The same writer, looking back on the full list of Israel's camping places, asks why the crowd held together at all.
It is amazing that God brought so huge a company, with their livestock and other possessions, through that long period of travel by the hand of one chosen leader! Why did they not scatter and go wherever each one pleased, as people normally would? The only answer is the overruling power of God.
- Promise. Seventy people went into Egypt; roughly two million came out. The number in this verse is God keeping His word to make them a great nation.
- Power. Slaves became a moving nation in a single night. Goshen stood empty, and not one animal stayed behind.
- Pilgrimage. They moved from Rameses, a city of earthly splendour, to Succoth, which means "booths." Redemption by blood makes a people strangers in the world they still live in.
- Powerlessness. Six hundred thousand on foot, burdened with wives and children, were an easy target — yet they did not go out alone.
- Preservation. Moses felt helpless before the task. That a company this size held together at all has one explanation — the overruling power of God.
And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks and herds -- very much cattle.
The exodus is a crowd scene: a nation of freed slaves marching out with their animals, and beside them a group who did not belong to the nation at all. That small detail raises a question the Bible keeps asking: who really belongs to the redeemed people, and who is only walking beside them?
The size of the company is itself the proof of God's work over the years of slavery. One writer sets the figures side by side:
Verses 37-39 show us how much God had multiplied the people while they suffered in Egypt. About 600,000 men went out. When Jacob went down to Egypt, the number given in Genesis 46:27 is 70. They went out complete with children, flocks and herds, as verse 38 records. But they also went out with "a mixed multitude," who soon became a source of weakness and trouble.
Commentators differ on where this crowd came from. Some suggest links formed inside Egypt itself:
"A mixed multitude" went with them. Clearly they were not Israelites. They were possibly Egyptians who had married Israelites, or who were linked with them in some other way.
Others picture the plagues loosening Egypt's grip on foreigners it held:
The terrors that came before their departure had broken the chains of many captives from many nations. These people formed the "mixed multitude" that travelled with Israel.
What set this company apart was what they lacked. They shared the road without sharing the redemption:
They had no shelter under the blood, because they did not belong to the nation. They had no real interest in the people themselves, in what Jehovah purposed for them, or in the land the nation was heading for. Their whole position stood in contrast to that of the redeemed company. Yet they threw in their lot among them and "went up with them."
This pattern is not limited to Egypt. It is not only other people's problem:
But right at the start, the "mixed multitude" who go up with them hints at what is coming. Wherever God moves, other motives drive people than the motives the Spirit of God uses to stir a renewed heart. So a crowd attaches itself to those who are led out. The Pharisees and Sadducees come to John's baptism. The flesh and the world will go on pilgrimage too. Here is the seed of much later trouble (see Num. 11:4). Even inside a single believer, other motives can quickly mix in with what is God's work. At first they all seem to join together to carry us forward in the path of faith. Only later do they show their true character.
Nothing showed at first. The damage came later, when this crowd fell into craving and put God's people in danger of tiring of the manna:
"The mixed multitude" is sure to fall into craving, and God's people are in real danger of being pulled away from their proper simplicity, and of growing tired of the heavenly manna — their proper food. What is needed is plain decision for Christ, and wholehearted devotion to Him and to His cause… Satan knew full well what he was doing, when he led the mixed multitude to attach themselves to the congregation of Israel. The effect of this mixture did not show all at once. The people had come out boldly. They had passed through the Red Sea and sung the song of victory on its banks. Everything looked bright and promising. But "the mixed multitude" was still there.
The verse ends with livestock. That detail answers Pharaoh's attempt to keep Israel's cattle in Egypt, and one writer turns the answer into a personal question:
It is a grand truth that when someone is saved, everything that belongs to him comes under a new master. Pharaoh wanted Israel to leave their cattle in Egypt when they left the country, but the magnificent answer is, "Not a hoof shall be left behind." (Ex. 10:26) That is the right way. When you were converted, were your cattle converted, too? Was your business converted, and your bank account?
- Multiplied — Seventy went down into Egypt; about 600,000 men came out. The years of affliction were the years of God's increase.
- Mixed — A crowd travelled with Israel who were not Israelites. Commentators suggest Egyptians linked by marriage, or freed captives of other nations.
- Unsheltered — They went up with the redeemed, but no blood sheltered them. They had no stake in God's purposes and no claim on the land ahead.
- Motives — Every work of God draws people moved by something other than the Spirit. The same mixture can start inside a believer's own heart, and it shows its true character only later.
- Nothing left behind — The livestock came out too. Israel refused to leave one hoof behind: salvation puts everything a person owns under a new master.
And they baked the dough that they brought forth out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for it was not leavened; for they were driven out of Egypt, and could not wait; neither had they prepared for themselves any food.
Israel's first meal outside Egypt was flat bread, and the verse stops to explain why. That small detail raises two large questions: who was driving events that night, and whether Israel kept God's word about leaven from the heart or only from the clock.
Scripture does not credit Israel's unleavened bread to devotion. It gives a plainer reason: they were pushed. One writer presses the point:
It may be true, as Keil suggests, that the command to eat unleavened bread for seven days had not yet been given to the people. But it is no less full of solemn meaning as a picture that they first came to keep the ordinance only because they "were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait." Had the Egyptians pressed them less urgently, they would undoubtedly have put the leaven into the bread!
Commentators differ on how to read that. Some see only the failure. Others see God's kindness in the timing: He rushed them out so they had no chance to disobey.
There is a wonderful little side-light here. It was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt. I think what God gives us here is this: if they had not been in such a hurry, the leaven might have got in. "I will help them to start right," says God. And so they were hurried out so quickly that they had no time to fail in obedience. "I will help them, at least, to keep My word for once in their history," says God.
The phrase "thrust out" marks a full reversal. The nation that had refused to let Israel go now could not get rid of them fast enough, just as God had said.
The Egyptians were at first so eager to keep them. After they had been punished, they were just as anxious to be rid of them. "When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here altogether." "They were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait" (Ex. 11:1; Ex. 12:39). And they did not come out of the land of their bondage empty, but loaded with gifts of gold and jewels from their former captors.
The last clause is the starkest. They left with no food ready for the journey. That left them nothing to fall back on, and it kept them to a timetable they had not set.
Israel left Egypt in such haste that they took no supplies for immediate use. All they had was the dough and the kneading troughs, bound on their shoulders with their clothes. In this way they were, in a special sense, wholly dependent on the Lord's care. Their haste met the urgency of the Egyptians, who were God's agents in the matter. It also made sure they left at the time the Lord had appointed beforehand.
The first keeping of this feast came out of hostility. The same pattern has repeated ever since, and the danger has not been the storm but the calm after it.
Is it not a solemn reminder how little the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth has ever marked any large proportion of the people of God? When the world has forced them out of it, in times of trouble and affliction, how brightly the testimony shone that they were a heavenly people. They kept apart from the world without compromise, passing through it as strangers. But when the storm relaxed, how quickly the leaven came back. What a challenge to the people of God in days of ease and material prosperity.
That first batch of flat bread was the start of something longer. The feast ran seven days, tied to the Passover, and it pictures the believer's whole life.
And let us not forget how long this feast lasts: "Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread" (Ex. 12:15-20). This marks a complete period of time and pictures the whole span of our life here as saints. The feast of unleavened bread began as soon as they had eaten the Passover. Indeed Luke 22:1 calls the two by one name. This picture teaches a truth of deep practical importance. Holiness in thought and in walk is the duty of everyone sheltered by the blood of the Passover Lamb. The true character of saints is to be unleavened. Every trace of the corruption and pride that belonged to our old state was judged in the cross of Christ, and all of it is to be shut out.
- Driven — the bread stayed flat because Israel was thrust out and could not wait. The verse names necessity, not devotion.
- Delivered — the rush itself was mercy: hurried out so fast, they had no time to fail in obedience for once.
- Dispossessed — those who once refused to let them go now pushed them out, and sent them away loaded with gold and jewels.
- Dependent — with no food packed, they had only God's care to lean on, and they left at the time He had fixed.
- Durable — what began under pressure was to run seven days. Holiness marks the whole life of everyone sheltered by the blood of the Lamb.
And the residence of the children of Israel that they resided in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
This verse puts a number on Israel's stay in Egypt: 430 years. Other passages appear to count differently, yet behind the arithmetic stands a God who fixed a term long in advance and kept it to the day.
Placed beside other verses, the number creates a real difficulty. Commentators say so plainly.
A question not easily answered is, How long were the Israelites in Egypt? Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6 seem to state the period as four hundred years. Exodus 12:40 gives four hundred and thirty years for the time the people of Israel lived in Egypt. And Galatians 3:17 declares that God gave the law four hundred and thirty years after the promise to Abraham. But the promise to Abraham came long before Israel went into Egypt, and God gave the law after they came out. So according to this passage, their stay in Egypt must have been much less than four hundred years.
One explanation starts the clock at Abraham's leaving Ur, not at the arrival in Egypt.
Now, from where should we count this period? We know when it ended — at the Exodus — so its beginning is not hard to work out. From the birth of Isaac to the Exodus was to be four hundred years. (Genesis 15:13.) From Abraham's departure out of Haran to the birth of his son was twenty-five years more. (Genesis 12:4; 21:5.) It is likely, then, that he left Ur five years before he left Haran. That accounts for the four hundred and thirty years. They cover the whole time that Israel and the patriarchs lived as strangers in countries they did not own.
Others reach a similar result by treating the 400 years of Genesis 15 as marking where the period ends rather than fencing it at both ends.
It is plain, therefore, that the 430 years are to be taken as from the promise, and that they define the time to which the captivity in Egypt lasted. Thus in Genesis 15 we must read this as meaning that the people should be captives to the Egyptians until 400 years from that time; the captivity is defined by the end of it, instead of what we would at first naturally think, by both ends.
Commentators differ, and some decline to settle it. Darby weighed the same evidence and left the matter open, noting that Paul's aim in Galatians was not to fix a date but to show how long the law came after the promise.
He refers to Exodus 12:40, which was enough for his purpose and is ambiguous. He may refer to patriarchal times as those of promise, and take the Egyptian stay as four hundred and thirty years. The length of the sojourn in Egypt is an unsettled question.
Another approach counts the stay in Egypt itself from the generations listed in Scripture, and reaches a far shorter figure.
A much shorter period is implied in Genesis 15:16, which says of Israel in Egypt that they will come back here in the fourth generation. And if we turn to Exodus 6:16-20 we find exactly four generations: Jacob's son Levi, Levi's son Kohath, Kohath's son Amram, and Amram's son Moses... Israel may have been in Egypt about two hundred and fifteen years, and this is the period now generally supposed.
Some early translations of the Old Testament add extra words here. Others leave them out.
The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek Septuagint add the words "and of their fathers in the land of Canaan." But the Arabic, Syriac and Vulgate versions do not have these words. Someone may therefore have added them to meet the apparent difficulty. It is better to take the four hundred and thirty years as covering the stay of Abraham (after the promise), of Isaac, and of Jacob. Strictly speaking, though, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not "children of Israel."
Whatever the starting point, the passage stresses how exactly the period ended. It also gives the people a new name as they leave.
Verses 40-42 show us the exactness with which God keeps to His own appointed time. He had mentioned 400 years to Abraham, as we see in Genesis 15:13. Scripture does not tell us the exact point from which the 430 years start. But on the very day they ended, the people went out of Egypt. Scripture calls them "the hosts of the Lord," though to all appearance they were only a large crowd of freed slaves.
Egypt had been their home for centuries, yet it was never more than a stay. They saw that on the night they left.
They were now strangers in Egypt — the land that had been their home for so many years... The link with Egypt snapped at once, and that very night they marched from Rameses to Succoth with their wives, their children, their cattle and their goods... Slaves not long before, they were now free: pilgrims and strangers in the only land they had ever known as home.
The sheer length of the stay is itself a lesson for a people still waiting.
Of course this covered many generations. But Israel has now lived scattered among the nations for almost 2000 years, ever since they rejected Christ! Yet God will bring them back in His appointed time.
- Promise — The 430 years are best read as running from God's word to Abraham, not just from the move into Egypt. The clock starts with a promise.
- Puzzle — Genesis 15, Exodus 12 and Galatians 3 count differently. Some trace the stay in Egypt itself to about two hundred and fifteen years. Others call its length an unsettled question.
- Text — The words "and of their fathers in the land of Canaan" appear in some early translations but not others. They may be an effort to ease the difficulty.
- Precision — The period closed on the very day it was due; God keeps exactly to His own appointed time.
- Patience — Centuries in Egypt did not cancel the promise. Israel's long scattering today will not cancel it either.
And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on that same day it came to pass that all the hosts of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt.
Israel left Egypt on a date God had already fixed. Two questions follow: when did the 430 years start, and why is a crowd of slaves called "the hosts of the LORD"?
The point of the wording is not the length of the wait but its accuracy.
Verses 40-42 show us the exactness with which God keeps to His own appointed time. He had mentioned 400 years to Abraham, as we see in Genesis 15:13. We are not told the exact point from which the 430 years are counted. But on the very day it ended the people went out of Egypt. They are called "the hosts of the Lord," though to all appearance they were only a large crowd of freed slaves. Verse 51 says again that it was the "same day" God had purposed.
The exodus is one of several dates God set long in advance and kept.
If He fixes a time, He keeps to it. He fixed with Himself the limit of His patience with the old world (Gen. 6:3), at the end of which the flood came. He fixed the date of the Exodus long before Jacob entered Egypt (Gen. 15:16), and it took place (Ex. 12:41). He set the length of the captivity in Babylon (Jer. 25:11; 27:7; 29:10), after which Cyrus set them free.
Commentators differ on when the count begins. One reading stretches the period back over the whole family line, since Genesis speaks of a land not theirs, not of Egypt.
Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6 say nothing about Egypt: "your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs." God said this to Abraham, and it may cover the whole period from the birth of Isaac to the Exodus... It is better to take the 430 years as covering the stay of Abraham (after the promise), and of Isaac, and of Jacob — though, strictly speaking, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not "children of Israel."
Others leave the question open rather than force the figures.
At first sight Galatians 3:17 appears to settle the question. Looked at closely, though, I do not think it has to. The apostle refers to Exodus 12:40, which was enough for his purpose and is ambiguous. He may refer to the patriarchal times as the times of promise, and take the Egyptian stay as four hundred and thirty years. The length of the stay in Egypt is an unsettled question.
The same 430 years appear again in the New Testament, this time as the gap between God's promise to Abraham and the giving of the law.
God took care that, between the promise given to Abraham and Isaac and the law, a period of more than four centuries should pass. Had He given the law a short time after, they might have said it was all one and the same thing. But how could anyone think that, with 430 years in between? The promise has its own special object, and the law its design also; and we are not to mix the two things together.
The exodus had a shape as well as a date.
And in what way were the slaves to be brought out? As escaped slaves? No, "by their hosts" (Exodus 6:26), with all the dignity of the host of the Lord.
Three things moved the same crowd out of Egypt that night.
In verses 39-42 we have three very striking marks of the truly redeemed... First, as those whom the Egyptians could no longer put up with... so "they were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, we are all dead men." Second, they felt the weight of the cruel slavery they had been in, and now the door of escape lay wide open before them. So they "went out" of their own free will in glad liberty. Third, their hearts were bowed before Jehovah because of this wonderful act of grace on their behalf. On that night "to be much observed to the Lord," they feel His grace and power directly in "bringing them out from the land of Egypt."
One long wait for Israel ended on time. Another is still running.
Of course this covered many generations. But Israel's scattering among the nations since they rejected Christ has now lasted almost 2000 years! Yet God will bring them back at His appointed time.
- Promise. Where the 430 years begin is unsettled — from the promise to Abraham, or from the years in Egypt alone. Either way, God gave His word long before the day arrived.
- Precision. The years ran out and the people walked out on the same day. God keeps every date He fixes — the flood, the exodus, the return from Babylon.
- Distance. The long gap between promise and law was deliberate, so no one could treat promise and law as one and the same thing.
- Dignity. Pharaoh's slaves marched out in ranks as the hosts of the Lord, though they looked like nothing more than freed labourers.
- Pattern. Israel's scattering has already outlasted the years in Egypt. The God who ended that wait on time will end this one too.
It is a night of observance to Jehovah, because of their being brought out from the land of Egypt that same night is an observance to Jehovah for all the children of Israel in their generations.
The night Israel left Egypt was more than the end of their slavery. God had fixed the date long before, and He told them to keep it forever. So the verse shows one night from two sides: what God did in it, and why every generation after them had to remember it.
God acted in two ways at once that night. One writer names them, and adds what the night settled about Egypt's gods.
God in judgment and God providing deliverance — in these two characters He showed Himself that night; a night never to be forgotten by Israel. … In this, the first open controversy with idols, He showed Himself to be the true God. People in Egypt claimed there were many gods. There can be only one true God. No idol in all the land of Egypt had sheltered its worshippers, or had matched His might.
Just before this verse we read that Israel's stay in Egypt lasted 430 years and ended on that very day. God was working to a schedule He set with Abraham centuries earlier.
Verses 40-42 show us the exactness with which God keeps to His own appointed time. He had mentioned 400 years to Abraham, as we see in Genesis 15:13. We are not told the exact point from which the count of the 430 years starts. But on the very day it ended, the people went out of Egypt. They are called "the hosts of the Lord," though to all appearance they were only a large crowd of freed slaves.
The name "the hosts of the LORD" is new here. One writer traces it to the blood that sheltered them.
The blood that shelters them from God as judge establishes their relationship with God on the ground of accomplished redemption. From that moment they are regarded and called, for the first time, "the hosts of the Lord." How much better to be among His redeemed hosts than to be the slave of sin and Satan!
The verse credits God with bringing them out. One writer finds three marks of the redeemed people in verses 39-42. Here are the second and third.
Secondly, they felt the weight of the cruel slavery they had been in. The door of escape now lay wide open before them, and they "went out" of their own will in glad liberty. Thirdly, their hearts were bowed before the Lord because of this wonderful act of grace on their behalf. On that night "to be much observed to the Lord," they feel His grace and power directly in "bringing them out from the land of Egypt."
The verse says this night was kept to the LORD. It was not kept for its own sake; the Lord Himself was its object. One writer sees the same pattern in the memorial Jesus left His followers. (Older translations read "a night to be much observed unto the LORD" — the wording used in the quotes.)
Notice that they were to keep it to the Lord. It would bring before their minds, again and again, the source of that delivering grace and power which had brought them out of Egypt. It is the same now, in another way. On the night the Lord Jesus was betrayed He took bread and gave thanks. He set up for His people the precious memorial of His death. So as often as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we might proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
Long after, people back from exile kept the Passover. One writer says nothing showed more clearly where their hearts stood.
Nothing could show more clearly that these people back from captivity had the mind of the Lord at that moment than their keeping of the Passover. Passing by the glories of the kingdom, they travelled back until they reached the charter of all they had, whether in title or in prospect, and there confessed God as the God of their salvation. So they built on what God was for them on the ground of the blood of the Passover Lamb. There they found, as individual souls always find, a rock which is both unchangeable and immovable.
- Two characters. That night God judged Egypt and delivered Israel in the same hours. He also showed Himself the one true God against Egypt's idols.
- Exact timing. The 430 years ended on the very night they marched out. God keeps to the schedule He set with Abraham.
- New name. The blood sheltered them, and that night a crowd of freed slaves first carried the name "the hosts of the LORD." Redemption gives the title, not appearance.
- Kept to Him. The night points away from the people to the source of the grace and power that brought them out. The Lord's Supper does the same now.
- Firm rock. Generations later, exiles came home and reached back past kingdom glories to this night. It was the charter of all they had — a rock that does not move.