Exodus 12:31, commentary and pictures

At midnight after the Lord smote all the firstborn of Egypt from Pharaoh on the throne to the captive in the dungeon, with a great cry through the land while passing over the houses of Israel, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by night and ordered them and all the children of Israel to rise up, get forth from among his people at once, and go serve the Lord as they had said. Israel had followed God's directions and were ready and waiting in Goshen, gathered in organized companies under appointed leaders with the blood sprinkled, the hasty meal of lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs eaten, and loins girded with shoes and staffs for the journey. The command reversed Pharaoh's proud refusal to let Israel go, for humbled by disaster and horror-stricken with his officers and people lest they all be dead men, he recognized a power greater than his own that could not be resisted and pressed them to leave in haste. By this mighty deliverance God's power was made known as supreme among the Egyptians and to heathen peoples in all future ages, calling His people out of Egypt's idolatry and corrupting influences to bring them nearer to Himself and to Sinai to hear His proclamation of the Ten Commandments given in Eden. The work is to be remembered with gratitude and firm trust on the way to the heavenly Canaan as proof of God's power to give victory in trial, taught to children with recounting and song lest forgetting breed distrust and murmuring like rebellious Israel.

The Night of Release

At midnight the Lord struck all the firstborn of Egypt while the death-dealing angel passed from house to house among the Egyptians, and there was a great cry with death in every house from Pharaoh on the throne to the captive in the dungeon, including the firstborn of cattle, while passing over the homes of Israel. The slaying reached from the heir of Pharaoh to the eldest-born of the captive and the lowliest servant, bringing wailing throughout Egypt. It was on that last night of bondage, after all the firstborn were slain, that the king sent word granting immediate release.

The children of Israel had followed the directions given them of God and were all ready for the journey, waiting for the rebellious king and his great men to bid them go. They had gathered in Goshen and organized themselves into companies under appointed leaders, with faith strengthened and oppressors terrified by the plagues. They were prepared to leave with the sprinkled blood, the hasty meal of lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, girded loins, shoes on feet and staff in hand. The Passover service in solemn silence recalled that night assembly and hasty meal, with the death-dealing angel and the march out of bondage.

Pharaoh rose in the night and called for Moses and Aaron by night, commanding them and all the children of Israel to rise up, get out from among his people, and go serve the Lord as they had said. After the death of the firstborn he summoned them during the night and ordered the Israelites to leave Egypt at once and worship the Lord as they had asked. His order granted immediate release on the last night of bondage.

The command reversed his proud boast that he did not know the Lord and would not let Israel go. Humbled by disaster he recognized a power greater than his own that could not be resisted, and his pride was broken and his surrender was complete. He yielded only under the judgment he had resisted, fearing further deaths.

Horror-stricken by the final plague, Pharaoh and his officers and the Egyptian people united in pressing Israel to leave at once and in haste. They said they were all dead men if Israel stayed longer. They feared the whole land would become a burial ground unless God's curse was removed.

In haste Pharaoh went with his counselors and rulers to Goshen and bowed before Moses and Aaron. He entreated them to be gone quickly and to bless him, thinking a blessing from God's servant would protect him from further effects of the plague. His plea for blessing showed how completely the disaster had broken his pride, even as the deliverance compelled even Egypt's ruler to acknowledge Jehovah's power.

He granted that their flocks and herds should go also as they had requested. The Israelites left with their own flocks, herds and possessions, which had not belonged to Pharaoh. At first he had told Moses and Israel to go as quickly as possible but wanted their flocks and herds left behind. Moses refused and insisted on taking every head of cattle and every sheep along with them, so Pharaoh had to consent, and the departure was hastened only through destruction of the whole of Egypt and its prosperity after the firstborn died.

Protection that night required separation of Israel and their children from the Egyptians into their own houses under the token of blood upon the doorposts, so that not one Hebrew with the token was slain. Any Israelite found in an Egyptian house would fall by the destroying angel, and those who failed to obey the instruction to remain inside would suffer with the Egyptians. Egyptians who acknowledged the God of the Hebrews as the only true God were welcomed into Israelite houses for protection that night. The blood on the doors marked them as God's people.

The command to rise up, get forth from Egypt and go serve the Lord was fulfilled not by Israel alone but by converted Egyptians. They were convinced their gods were without knowledge and had no power to save or destroy. They pledged to choose the God of Israel as their God and decided to leave Egypt and go with the children of Israel to worship Him.

Israel set out that night before morning and went out from Egypt as an independent nation. Their departure ended dwelling round about Goshen and marked deliverance from Egyptian bondage and the beginning of the exodus. The whole people set out together on foot as a long procession of men and women carrying staffs and bundles across open country toward distant hills, for the land God had promised.

Pharaoh's consent was temporary. After the Egyptians buried their dead he regretted releasing Israel. Hardness of heart afterward came upon him and he pursued them on their journey out of Egyptian bondage.

Purpose and Remembrance

The midnight order to leave compelled even Egypt's ruler to acknowledge Jehovah's power as supreme, for after the deliverance he urged departure and service to the Lord and asked for a blessing. By mighty acts the power of Him who rules in the heavens was made known among the Egyptians, and only after the scourging that desolated the whole land and its prosperity did Pharaoh submit to release Israel. That working was to lead God's people in all future ages to magnify His power and look to Him as the supreme Ruler, and to lead heathen peoples to recognize Jehovah as the true God. By that mighty power He delivered His people notwithstanding Pharaoh's opposition, that they might keep the law given in Eden. He called them out of Egypt to bring them to Sinai to hear with awful grandeur His own proclamation of the Ten Commandments with His own voice, demonstrating their importance and sacredness and revealing His majesty and authority as Ruler of the world to impress obedience, the power and glory of the giving showing the law as the faith once delivered to the saints by Christ the Redeemer speaking from Sinai.

He brought Israel forth to separate them from the customs, habits and practices of the world and from Egypt's idolatry and corrupting influences, that they might leave bondage to serve Him and be brought nearer to Himself. His purpose was to make known to them His will and lift them to a higher moral level by knowledge of Himself, and to manifest through them in life and character the principles of His kingdom. By beholding the goodness, mercy, justice and love of God revealed in His church the world has a representation of His character, so that when the law is exemplified in life even the world recognizes the superiority of those who love and fear and serve God above every other people. At that exodus few were prepared to work together with God in training their children, because the parents themselves needed instruction and discipline. Lifelong slavery had left them ignorant, untrained and degraded, with little knowledge of God and little faith in Him, confused by false teaching and corrupted by long contact with heathenism, and many had been content to remain in bondage rather than face the difficulties of the journey until events made them eager to leave.

The same pity that broke Israel's yoke and placed Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land shows He is not indifferent to the suffering of the colored people in America. Though in one sense freed from slavery, they remain in the slavery of ignorance and degradation, and He calls upon those who bear His name to take up the neglected work of lifting them. The mighty work of bringing Israel out through signs and plagues proves His power to bring victory and is to be remembered with gratitude and firm trust in trials on the way to the heavenly Canaan. Forgetting it breeds distrust of God, mourning and lamenting over self, desperation and murmuring, repeating the sin of rebellious Israel under the false report of the unfaithful spies. The Passover service recalled this night of deliverance in solemn silence, with the night assembly of men with girded loins, shoes on feet and staff in hand, the hasty meal of lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel and the march out of bondage. That story was taught to children and youth on the journey by recounting past experiences, songs of the wilderness wandering, chanting of God's commandments, bound up with nature and kindly human association, of a nature to stir the imagination, impress the heart and fix the deliverance forever in memory.

The consent forced that night shows how judgment can compel an oppressor to yield without changing his principles, for after commanding departure and worship of the Lord following the death of the firstborn, Pharaoh regretted releasing Israel once the Egyptians had buried their dead and pursued them. The same applies to slaveholders who might release the enslaved under pressure yet remain committed to oppression. The deliverance then commanded was still being celebrated by the Jews at Passover in the days of Herod Agrippa. At that very time they were transgressing every principle of God's law by persecuting and murdering believers in Christ.