Exodus 12:37–39

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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."

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.

"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.

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?

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!

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 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.

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.

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.

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.