Exodus 12:37, commentary and pictures

The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth as about six hundred thousand men on foot besides children, together with a mixed multitude and their flocks, herds and possessions. Having gathered in Goshen and been organized into companies under appointed leaders, they set out before morning on the morning after Pharaoh let them go free toward the promised land. Their departure fulfilled the four hundred years foretold to Abraham, for God pitied them in slavery, broke the yoke of their bondage, and brought them out with power and mighty signs and wonders while judging the Egyptians by the plagues. He called them out to separate them from the customs of the world and bring them nearer to Himself, to Sinai to hear His law proclaimed with His own voice and to manifest the principles of His kingdom and His character to the world. That deliverance, with the opening of the Red Sea and the destruction of their foes, proves His power to save and must be remembered with gratitude and firm trust, for forgetting it led Israel to distrust, murmuring and rebellion, a sin His people on the way to the heavenly Canaan must not repeat.

Departure From Egypt

About six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children, journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. During the plagues the people had gathered in Goshen and had been organized into companies under appointed leaders, and as a great moving multitude they set out before morning. They began the journey toward the promised land on the morning after Pharaoh told them they could go free from bondage.

They came out as an exceedingly numerous people with their own possessions, with flocks and herds and very much cattle. Those livestock and goods had been brought into Egypt by Jacob and his sons and had greatly increased during the sojourn, and they had never been sold to Pharaoh so they did not belong to him. God judged the Egyptians by the plagues sent upon them and made them hasten His people out of Egypt with all that they possessed. The departure ended the dwelling in Goshen and the country round about it, where they had lived since Joseph settled his father and his brothers in the best part of Egypt. That district afforded good, well-watered pastures where they could worship God without disturbance from idolatrous ceremonies, and God brought them out from it with power and mighty signs and wonders.

The departing company included a mixed multitude with Israel, some of whom trusted in Israel's God while many others joined chiefly to escape the plagues or from excitement and curiosity, and they became a hindrance and a snare to Israel. Among them were Egyptians who by the signs and wonders shown in Egypt had been led to acknowledge that the God of the Hebrews was the only true God and had been convinced that their own gods were without knowledge and had no power to save or to destroy. On the fearful night when the firstborn were slain they entreated to come with their families into the houses of the Israelites, 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. The Israelites welcomed those believing Egyptians into their houses and into the departing company.

What Deliverance Reveals

The march from Rameses to Succoth of about six hundred thousand men on foot besides children fulfilled the four hundred years foretold to Abraham, that his seed would be afflicted in a foreign land and afterward come out with great substance. It was a bringing out with power and mighty signs and wonders, by which God judged the Egyptians with the plagues sent upon them. They came out as an exceedingly numerous people with their own possessions, flocks, herds, and very much cattle, which had been brought into Egypt by Jacob and his sons and had greatly increased and had never been sold to Pharaoh, and by the plagues God made the Egyptians hasten them out with all that they possessed. That going out ended the dwelling in Goshen and the country round about it, where they had lived since Joseph settled his father and brothers in the best part of Egypt with good, well-watered pastures where they could worship God without disturbance from idolatrous ceremonies.

God pitied the Israelites in their slavery, broke the yoke of their bondage, and placed Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land. That same pity is not indifferent to the suffering of the colored people in the Southern States of America, who in one sense have been freed from slavery yet remain in the slavery of ignorance, living in sin and degradation, and it calls upon those who name His name to take up the neglected work of lifting them. The Lord called His people out of Egypt to bring them to Sinai to hear the proclamation of the law given in Eden. God proclaimed the Ten Commandments to them with His own voice in awful grandeur to make known His majesty and authority as Ruler of the world, to impress the sacredness of His law and the importance of obeying it, and the force and power of that delivery reveals its importance as the faith once delivered to the saints by Christ the Redeemer speaking from Sinai.

God's bringing of Israel out has a continuing purpose for His people today, to separate them from the customs, habits, and practices of the world and to bring them nearer to Himself that He may make known to them His will. It is that in life and character they manifest the principles of His kingdom and reveal His goodness, mercy, justice, and love, giving the world a representation of His character by which even the world will recognize the superiority of those who love and fear and serve God above every other people. The people who thus came out had been victims of lifelong slavery and needed instruction and discipline.

Remembering The Exodus

The deliverance from Egyptian bondage, together with opening the Red Sea before Israel and destroying their pursuing foes, proves God's power to save. It must be remembered with gratitude and firm trust in God, and with firm faith in His leading on the way to the heavenly Canaan. Forgetting it leads to mourning and lamentation, to distrust of God and desperation, and to the sin of murmuring and rebellion. That deliverance should have kept Israel trusting God for victory and for entering the promised land, but when discouraged by the false report of the unfaithful spies Israel forgot it along with the opening of the sea and the destruction of their foes. That ungrateful, rebellious sin must not be repeated.

The grand march from the land of bondage was rehearsed in solemn silence in the paschal service at Jerusalem. There were recalled the night assembly, the men with girded loins and shoes on feet and staff in hand, the hasty meal of lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, the sprinkled blood, and the death-dealing angel. On the journeys to Jerusalem the experiences of the past were recounted to the Hebrew children and the songs that had cheered the wilderness wandering were sung. With the commandments chanted and bound up with the influences of nature and kindly human association, the deliverance was forever fixed in the memory of many a child and youth, stirring the imagination and impressing the heart.

God pitied the Israelites in their slavery in Egypt, broke the yoke of their bondage, and placed Moses at their head to lead them through the wilderness to the promised land. That same pity is not indifferent to the suffering of the colored people in the Southern States of America. In one sense they have been freed from slavery, yet they remain in the slavery of ignorance, living in sin and degradation. It calls upon those who name His name to take up the neglected work of lifting them.