Exodus 12:30, commentary and pictures

At midnight the Lord struck every firstborn in Egypt, from Pharaoh on the throne to the captive in the dungeon, with the firstborn of cattle also dying by one destroying angel passing from house to house. Pharaoh with his servants and all the Egyptians rose in the night to find not a house without one dead, and a great cry of wailing went up through the whole land in the most dreadful of the plagues. While wrath fell on the Egyptians the destroyer passed over the homes of Israel gathered behind doorposts sprinkled with the blood of the slain lamb, so that obedient faith proved by works delivered them. The calamity broke Pharaoh's haughty pride, and he with his officers and people bowed and implored Israel to depart in haste with all their possessions lest all Egypt die. The blood on the doors stands as the blood of Christ sheltering the believing sinner from wrath to come, while Pharaoh's ruin shows that God destroys no one but every one destroyed destroys himself by sowing unbelief and reaping obstinacy.

Midnight Judgment on Egypt

At midnight the Lord struck every firstborn in Egypt, from Pharaoh on the throne to the captive in the dungeon, and the firstborn of cattle also died. The stroke fell on the heir of Pharaoh and on the eldest-born of the captive alike, with none escaping, and the slaying extended from the king's household to the captive's and to the beasts. One destroying angel passed from house to house among the Egyptians to slay the firstborn of man and beast, which was God's commanded judgment in the Passover events. That single angel's work brought mourning throughout the land, for God permitted the destroying power to act.

Pharaoh, his servants, and all the Egyptians rose up in the night, and there was a great cry and wailing throughout Egypt because there was not a house without one dead. Grief spread through every level of Egyptian society, from Pharaoh and his servants to the lowliest people, and from the king's household down to the lowliest servant. Every Egyptian household had a death, and the universal wailing filled all the land. This was the most dreadful plague, coming closer and more severe than all before it, after repeated warnings and Pharaoh's continued doubt, hardened refusal, long resistance, and persistent refusal to let Israel go. It was the last of the plagues sent because he persisted in refusing to let Israel go.

The calamity humbled Egypt's pride; Pharaoh's haughty pride was broken and he remembered his proud boast that he did not know the Lord and would not obey Him to let Israel go. The proud king who had been exceedingly angry and would not humble himself had his defiance turned into submission by the universal death. Pharaoh faced his devastated land with the dead body of his own firstborn, with the firstborn dead in his whole household and in every family of his kingdom.

Israel Spared and Released

While the destroying angel was moving from house to house among the Egyptians, the children of Israel had followed the directions God had given them and were all ready for their journey, waiting to be told to go. They were gathered with their families inside their own dwellings behind doorposts sprinkled with the blood of the slain lamb, having separated themselves and their children from the Egyptians. The angel of death passed over the homes of the children of Israel and did not enter there, so the destroyer did not enter the blood-marked houses. Israel was delivered while wrath fell in death upon the Egyptians, the blood on the doorposts marking their homes as protected and making clear whose people God favored.

Safety required faith proved by works, for the blood marked them as God's people and protected them from the destroyer. An Israelite who failed to obey and mark the door would suffer the same fate as the Egyptians, and any Israelite found that night in an Egyptian house would fall by the hand of the destroying angel like the Egyptians. Quite a number of Egyptians were led by the signs and wonders to acknowledge that the God of the Hebrews was the only true God and that their own gods were without knowledge and had no power to save or destroy. They entreated permission to come with their families into Israelite houses that night, pledging henceforth to choose the God of Israel as their God, and they were welcomed in and preserved and decided to leave Egypt to worship Him.

That night Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron before him and ordered them to depart without delay and to serve the Lord with flocks and herds as requested. He humbled himself and went in haste with his counselors and rulers to Goshen and bowed before them, telling them to go and serve their God. He asked their blessing in hope it would protect him from further effects of the plague, thinking a blessing from God's servant would shield him. Pharaoh's officers and people joined in urging and imploring Israel to go out in haste, saying they were all dead men. Horror-stricken, they feared that unless God's curse was removed all Egypt would die and the land would become a vast burial ground.

The Israelites were released from bondage that same night and went out from Egypt as an independent nation. They were driven out with all their possessions, including their flocks and herds, which were theirs and had not been sold to Pharaoh. The night is kept yearly as the Passover memorial and feast ordinance, commanded to be told from generation to generation. The story of the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel, and the departure from bondage was rehearsed in solemn assembly, in solemn silence in the night assembly of the paschal service, with men with girded loins, shoes on feet and staff in hand eating the hasty meal of lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Parents were to relate to inquiring children their wonderful preservation when the firstborn were slain, to fix it forever in memory, to call minds from worldly cares and temporal anxieties, to stir the imagination and impress the heart, and to increase love and reverence for God and trust in Him in all trials.

Doctrines and Lasting Lessons

The night of death was the final judgment that proved Jehovah to be the true God who executes judgment on the earth, exposing the powerlessness of Egypt's idols, affirming His supremacy, insisting on Israel's deliverance, and making clear whose people He favored. While the firstborn died throughout Egypt and Israel was spared, Pharaoh's repeated rejection of warnings and evidence brought judgment upon his own household and nation. That judgment came through one destroying angel passing from house to house, illustrating the destructive power holy angels exercise when God commands them. It was the devastating result of God permitting the destroying power to act, so that death entered every house and a great cry arose.

God delivered His people from Egypt by His mighty power notwithstanding Pharaoh's opposition, in order that they might keep the law given in Eden. He brought them to Sinai to hear its proclamation, speaking the Ten Commandments with His own voice in awful grandeur to demonstrate their importance. By that power and glory He made known His majesty and authority as Ruler of the world, to impress the people with the sacredness of His law and the importance of obeying it as the faith once delivered to the saints by Christ the Redeemer speaking from Sinai. God did not compel Pharaoh to disbelieve, and God destroys no one; everyone destroyed destroys himself by stifling conscience, fulfilling the law that whatsoever a man sows that he also reaps, which warns men to be careful what seed they sow. That destruction was not God destroying man but man destroying himself, and at that point God could say to Israel, I gave Egypt for thee.

By rejecting the first warning Pharaoh himself put unbelief and obstinacy as seed into the soil and reaped obstinacy as harvest. Though strong and convincing light making known the great I AM compelled him to yield, as soon as pressure was removed his unbelief returned and counteracted the light. Left to its natural course with no need for God by some new power to interfere with its growth, any more than with growing corn, the seed germinated and brought forth fruit after its kind. He hardened his heart and went from step to step of unbelief until no working of God's power would convince him, and the firstborn, the pride of every household, were laid low throughout the vast realm of Egypt as the harvest left to germinate, with his resistance continuing until the sea closed over his horses, chariots and soldiers.

The slain lamb is a symbol of the death of the Son of God, to be associated by those celebrating it with His future death. The blood marking the doorposts is a symbol of the blood of Christ, which is efficacious for the believing sinner to cleanse from sin and shelter from the wrath to come upon the impenitent and unbelieving world, as wrath fell in death upon the Egyptians while Israel was delivered. None could be benefited by this provision for salvation unless by acts manifesting faith they did the work left them to do. The saving of those who gathered their children into their homes behind marked doorposts applies as a lesson to protect children from influences that weaken faith and to recognize the lasting importance of home teaching. Though Israel's children were spared that night of death and great cry, the Israelites later forgot this deliverance and the divine power that had freed them from Egypt.

After this last plague Pharaoh consented to let the Israelites start on their journey. It was the last of the plagues sent because he persisted in refusing to let Israel go. Yet hardness of heart afterward came upon him, and he hurried with his army after a people delivered by the arm of Omnipotence, fighting against a Power greater than any human power, until with his host he perished in the waters of the Red Sea.