Exodus 4:23, commentary and pictures

God claims Israel as His own son, even His firstborn, singled out above all peoples to keep His law and remain pure among idolatrous nations, and He commands Pharaoh to release them so they may serve Him, warning that refusal will cost Pharaoh his own firstborn son. He calls them His son and firstborn while they are still degraded, downtrodden slaves suffering cruel bondage in Egypt, before they win freedom or stand in triumph on the Red Sea shore. They cannot serve Him in Egypt, where captivity has led them to lose knowledge of God and neglect His Sabbath, so He delivers them to bring them to Sinai to receive His law and keep His statutes. The warning is fulfilled in the final plague, when the destroying angel slays the firstborn of man and beast in every Egyptian household from the king's house to the lowliest, while the homes of obedient Israelites who put the lamb's blood on the doorposts are passed over and spared. That sparing blood and the memorial law of the firstborn prefigure a greater deliverance through God's only-begotten Son, given in due time to be slain as the lamb was slain, whose blood alone can save believers from sin and everlasting death. In defending an enslaved and despised people whose suffering does not lessen their worth before Him, God measures His care for oppressed souls to be won to serve Him, including the souls of the African race as much as white people's souls, laying a great obligation to labor for them and lift up those harmed by slavery.

Son Called to Serve

Israel is called God's son, even His firstborn, because He singled the people out from all peoples to be keepers of His law, that obedience might keep them pure among idolatrous nations. The title means He gave them the special privileges, honor, pre-eminence among the nations, and entrusted law generally given to a firstborn son. He called them His son and firstborn while they were still oppressed, degraded, downtrodden slaves in Egypt. They were suffering cruel oppression under taskmasters and all that Egyptian power and invention could impose to make their lives bitter and destroy them, before they went forth and stood in triumph on the Red Sea shore, so their standing as His people did not depend on first winning freedom.

The commission came at the burning bush near Horeb, the mountain of God, where He appeared in flame in a bush with branches, foliage and trunk all burning yet not consumed and called Moses by name. It came when the time for deliverance had come, after He heard Israel's groaning and crying by reason of bondage and remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and looked upon them and had respect unto them. Its purpose was to pour contempt on human pride by sending the deliverer forth as a humble shepherd with only a rod in his hand that God would make the symbol of His power. The Speaker was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, He who as the Angel of the covenant had revealed Himself to the fathers in ages past, before whom Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God. The ground was holy, requiring Moses to put off his shoes and to stand in humility and reverence, not with presumptuous boldness as before an equal, but bowing as before Him whom seraphim adore, for God dwells in light unapproachable and is greatly to be reverenced, though in the name of Jesus men may come before Him with confidence.

The verse commands Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let Israel go so they may serve God, and was God's direction to Moses to speak to Pharaoh while Israel was in bondage to the Egyptians. Deliverance was necessary because they could not serve God in Egypt, for captivity had led them to lose knowledge of God and neglect His Sabbath. Their deliverance brought them to Sinai to receive His law and keep His statutes and laws, especially the Sabbath. The demand to let God's son go was spoken in no uncertain manner and would not return void but would accomplish what God sent it to do. This stood despite Pharaoh's contempt for an enslaved people despised by even the lowest Egyptians and his answer that he cared not for their God and would not let them go.

Threatened and Fulfilled Judgment

The warning is that if Pharaoh refuses to release Israel to serve God, God will slay Pharaoh's son, even his firstborn. It was announced early, before the plagues had run their course, and it followed Pharaoh's stubborn resistance to God's message and plagues. After Egypt resisted despite earlier warnings, that threatened judgment became the final plague.

Moses delivered the message, Pharaoh refused to obey, and God then acted for His people with signs and wonders and terrible judgments. At last the destroying angel was sent to slay the firstborn of man and beast among the Egyptians. The stroke fell on every Egyptian household, from the king's house to the lowliest in the land, and it led to Israel's deliverance.

The homes of Israelites who obeyed God's directions were spared. Every Israelite family killed a lamb and put its blood on the doorposts as a sign for the angel of death to pass over their houses and destroy only the Egyptians. That judgment and that protection by lamb's blood made the firstborn law a memorial of their deliverance. It prefigured a greater deliverance through God's only-begotten Son. The blood on the doorposts and of the Passover represented Christ's blood, God's dear Son given in due time to be slain as the lamb was slain, which alone can save the world, so that all who believe in Him might be saved from sin and everlasting death and redeemed by His blood through faith. The bringing of each eldest son to the temple kept in memory both how Israel's children had been saved from the plague and how all might be saved from sin and eternal death.

Defender of the Oppressed

God took up the cause of an oppressed people and undertook for them, commanding their oppressor to release them so that they might serve Him. He claimed Israel as His son, even His firstborn, and defended them while they were still degraded, downtrodden slaves suffering cruel oppression under taskmasters and enduring all that Egyptian power and invention could impose to make their lives bitter and destroy them. Their standing as His people did not depend on first winning freedom, for He called them His own before they went forth and stood in triumph on the shore of the Red Sea. His declaration defended an enslaved people whom their oppressors despised, even despised by the lowest Egyptians, showing that their suffering did not lessen their standing or worth before Him. The demand to let His son go was spoken in no uncertain manner and would not return void but would accomplish what He sent it to do, despite Pharaoh's contempt and his answer that he cared not for their God and would not let them go.

His care for Israel under oppression measures His care for the souls of the African race that might be won to serve Him, for they have souls to save as well as white people. That care supports an obligation to carry the truth to Black people and to work to lift up those harmed by slavery and its abuses. Because of that care He requires far more missionary work among the people of the South of all classes, and especially among the colored race. There is even greater obligation to labor for the colored people than for those who have been more highly favored.

After so great a wrong, earnest effort must be made to lift them up by carrying the truth to them, for so much is due to them from those who wronged and degraded them. White people held them in servitude, kept them in ignorance, and debased and brutalized them. They forced them to disregard the law of marriage and broke up the family relation by tearing wife from husband and husband from wife. They made them degraded and repulsive in habits and manners.