Exodus 11:6, commentary and pictures

The verse is Moses' fearless warning spoken face to face to Pharaoh himself, declaring the word of the Lord while leaning for support on a mightier arm than any earthly monarch and faithfully portraying the nature and effects of the coming judgment. It was spoken just before Moses left Pharaoh's presence for the last time, after Pharaoh had threatened him with death. Moses went out from Pharaoh in great anger, and the king became exceedingly angry because he could not intimidate Moses or make him tremble before kingly and royal authority.

The verse foretells the effect of the last dreadful plague, the midnight death of the firstborn throughout all Egypt, which would bring a great wailing over the whole land such as there was none like it before nor shall be like it afterward. That judgment would come about midnight, when God himself would go out into Egypt. It would strike the firstborn in every part of the land, from Pharaoh's heir on the throne to the child of the maidservant behind the mill and the lowliest servant woman, as well as the firstborn of beasts and of the animals.

This last blow followed Egypt's stubborn refusal to release Israel after earlier warnings and plagues, and it would be more dreadful than any plague yet sent upon Egypt. Against the children of Israel neither man nor beast would be harmed in the slightest, not so much as by a dog's tongue, so that all would know that the Lord puts a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. The plague would compel Pharaoh's servants to come down and bow down before Moses and entreat him and his people to leave. As part of the final plague, the verse shows a judgment by which Jehovah demonstrates his supremacy and that he executes judgment on the earth.