History of Israel: The Final Plague and Aftermath

The final plague hits Egypt and Pharaoh finally relents. In this episode of Bible Backdrop, we look at the 10th and final plague...the death of the firstborn. We examine some of the details in the story along with a look into what the aftermath would be for Egypt and Israel. 

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Transcript

The Egyptian looked over the mass grave, trying to memorize the spot where his only son would be buried. There were thousands of corpses all being buried in this desert wasteland. There were so many people here, stretched out as far as the eye could see. Coming to see the final resting place of their loved ones.

It was too much to bear. He had already lost his wife that day the sky darkened and hail came raining down. Not just small pieces of ice, but chunks as large as a mans hand. He had never seen such a storm. His wife had been out in the field that day, but he had been home still recovering from the boils he had suffered. When the hail came down, she had no chance. One piece hit her on the side of the head and it was all over.

Now...this. His oldest son had died with all the others two nights prior. He had heard the Hebrew, Moses, give warnings that this was going to happen. That he asked Pharaoh to let the Hebrew people go and worship their God...but Pharaoh had steadily refused. Now their nation was in ruins. The crops had been practically wiped out; many people were still sick from diseases left behind from the frogs, lice and boils; and there wasn’t any livestock to be found anywhere.

Why? Why had this happened? He had been a faithful follower of all the gods. Brought sacrifices even if it meant his family would have to go without meat. Why didn’t they help? And where was Pharaoh? Wasn’t he a god on earth? Why didn’t he stop it?

Anger rose up in the man. Indeed, why hadn’t Pharaoh stopped it? He and his magicians. The only man who seemed to care had been Moses. He gave warnings of what was going to happen if Pharaoh didn’t yield. But Pharaoh remained obstinate and the country was ruined as a result. 

The man looked around at all the faces. He saw the same questions there, wondering why Pharaoh and their gods didn’t come to help. Maybe their gods weren’t all that powerful. Maybe the Hebrew God was greater than they. 

He turned to go home. He was still overwhelmed with grief and these thoughts led nowhere. He was tired and drained. He would give himself this day to mourn and then start to get his life back together.

Hello again everyone and welcome to this episode of Bible Backdrop. Today, we look at the 10th and final plague of Egypt and the immediate aftermath. This is the one that most people identify when they think about the Biblical plagues: The death of the firstborn.

We’ve seen in the last two episodes how Pharaoh was obstinate in his refusal to let Israel go even in the face of so much death and destruction. Now we get some more insight into how the people felt about the way things were going. Exodus 11 says: “Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.” Moses, the one raised in the Pharaoh’s court, driven out from Egypt, forced to raise sheep in the wilderness is now the most respected man in all Egypt. Even Pharaoh’s servants, who were probably counseling him early on to hold onto their slaves, now respected Moses and considered him great. Moses, however, did not see himself that way. He was still a humble man and he knew what was coming next. My guess is he grieved for the Egyptians.

As the final plague, there is a warning and a prophetic utterance. Since this is so important, I’ll read all five verses of Exodus 11:4-8: “Then Moses said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the LORD does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.”

Let’s break this down a little bit. First, God tells Pharaoh, through Moses, exactly what is going to happen. This is so Pharaoh understands that it is due to his sin and his refusal that this is all happening. Again, this would not be a natural occurrence. And the evidence would show in that Israel would be separated from the plague. Things would be so tranquil with the Israelites that a dog would not even need to bark. Not only would Pharaoh understand, but his people would too. The blame would lie squarely on Pharaoh’s shoulders. Not a good place to be for a ruler. It would also affect everyone in Egypt...from Pharaoh to the lowest servant. Later we see that it affected the people who were in the prison. At the end of the verse, Moses prophesies that Pharaoh’s servants would humbly come to Moses and command them to go. They wouldn’t ask them to go...they would tell them to get out.

The last part of verse 8 was confusing to me. It says that Moses left Pharaoh’s presence in great anger. Other translations say he was hot with anger. Now we know that Moses had a temper but he has kept it suppressed this whole time when facing Pharaoh. Now we see his anger come out here, but why? Again, I think he cared about the Egyptian people and didn’t wish them harm. He was angry at Pharaoh’s constant refusal in the face of plague after plague and his sin in going back on his word. He knew what was coming and he knew it could have all been avoided.

At the end of the chapter, God reminds Moses that Pharaoh will not heed him so that God’s wonders would be multiplied in the land of Egypt. The word of these plagues had to be getting out to other countries and the city-states of Canaan. When Israel moves, they are going to be keenly aware.

Chapter 12 then goes on to talk about God giving instructions to Moses for the Passover. If you are interested in learning more about this, you can listen to episode 36 where I go into further details about the preparation of Passover. The one thing I found interesting is that God gives Moses a long description about how the Passover is to be celebrated in the future...not just for that night. This seems odd given what’s about to happen, but I think the clue to this is in verse 2: “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.” This event will be so important that God is using it to remake the Israelite year. This is why the explanation is so deep in this chapter. If He waits to establish it later, it might lose significance. Because all His instructions are given on the night of the actual Passover, it will become deeply ingrained in the minds of the Israelites. 

Two other notes before moving on. First, the Israelites used hyssop branches to spread the blood. Hyssop is a plant native to the Middle East and is known for it’s medicinal qualities. We later see hyssop used by the priests in cleansing rituals and described by David in Psalm 51, asking God to cleanse him with hyssop. So we have a link to hyssop being a plant used for cleansing. The symbolism here is that the house, though it has blood on it, is clean and marked for Passover. The last time we see hyssop being used is when Jesus is on the cross and the Romans use a hyssop plant to push a sponge of sour wine to him. 

Second, the blood had to be visible for quite some time afterwards. Imagine being in Egypt, going through the plagues and then seeing the empty houses of the former slaves with the blood on the lintels. What were they thinking? Did it make them think about what happened and about the God of the Hebrews? And about how little their gods had done? In Israel, the Passover was done year after year and the blood remained in front of them whenever they walked into their house. While just one night, Passover would be a year long reminder of God’s faithfulness and mercy.

Back to the story. Moses passes along the instructions to the elders who then tell the rest of the Israelites. In obedience, they follow the commands to sacrifice the lamb and put the blood on the lintels. And then they eat the meal...and wait.

When the plague hits, the Bible puts it in very simple terms. “And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.” This plague was against the god Osiris, who was the giver of life, and also against the believed deity of Pharaoh as even he lost his oldest son. The result of this plague is chilling: “So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” Reports had to come flooding into the palace and the cries were obviously loud enough to be heard across a distance. 

Pharaoh is now broken. He knows that his sin and his refusal to let Israel go has led to this moment. He has no other choice. He summons Moses and Aaron that very night: “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. Also, take your flocks and your hers, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.” That last line says a lot. Pharaoh has come to the realization that the God of the Hebrews is greater than himself and any of their pantheon of gods. Unfortunately, he comes to this realization too late and after he is completely broken. 

And it wasn’t just Pharaoh who was telling them to leave: “And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, ‘We shall all be dead.’” Everyone in Egypt wanted the Israelites gone because they knew that the destruction of the entire population might be next. But there’s one more thing left to do: “Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus, they plundered the Egyptians.” Without fighting a battle, they were able to plunder the richest empire on the face of the earth. This may have been back pay for hundreds of years of slavery. This gold and silver will be put to good use later with the building of the Tabernacle and the ark of the covenant. 

So now the children of Israel are free...but there will be one final hurdle to overcome before they can bid farewell to Egypt forever. And I’ll cover that on the next episode. Before finishing up here, I wanted to talk about the affect all these plagues had on nation of Egypt and the surrounding areas. First, put yourself in the shoes of the Egyptian man whose story we’ve been following. Of course, this story is fiction, but we can picture how this could happen. When the Nile turns to blood, water likely needs to be rationed for him and his family. Then the frogs come and get into his food, possibly causing spoilage and then causing disease when they all die. Then the plague of lice followed by a plague of biting flies stopped commerce, their sacrificial system, and maybe even caused widespread panic. The man and his family were probably scared, exhausted from lack of sleep, and completely on edge. Plus, they were probably having to ration food if commerce stopped. Then, when the livestock died, even though he was a worker of the fields, he and his family probably bought goat milk and meat from other farmers. He’s now having to pay a lot more for these items or he’s having to go without. So now besides rationing, he can no longer afford other staples. Then they are hit with the plague of boils and we can add intense pain to everything else. Now the man and his family are weak from hunger, exhausted since there seems to be no relief, and are near the breaking point. They hope each one is the last. Then the plague of hail hits and we see in the last episode what happened there. The man’s wife is out in the field and killed by a huge hail stone. He’s distraught, angry, weakened and demoralized. He’d probably pay to send the Israelites out of the land. But he believes that Pharaoh is a god and questioning that authority may make things worse. He’s probably hoping things will start getting better. Then the locusts hit and destroy whatever remaining crops he has. Now he has no way to make a living for him and his son. The grief and misery had to be overwhelming. At which point, the land is plunged into darkness for three days. The fact that this man did not go absolutely out of his mind is a miracle. He had no way to eat or talk to people...maybe not even his own son. Like I mentioned in the previous episode, this may have been an introduction to hell. Completely alone, separated from everyone, unable to satisfy any need, doing nothing but thinking about what has gone wrong with his life. Then the sun suddenly returns and he thinks they’ve turned a corner...until that fateful night. He was awakened by a shriek from the house next door and he jumped out of bed. The shriek was followed by a loud wail from across the dirt road. He ran to wake up his son and then he understood why the loud cries were happening. He found the cold, lifeless body of his son staring at the ceiling. He shook him multiple times and cried out to the god Osiris, the giver of life. All to no avail. His son, like so many others, had perished. Now he is completely alone, in a weakened state, demoralized and psychologically scarred, questioning everything he’s been taught about the Egyptian gods and about Pharaoh. He soon hears that Pharaoh has finally relented and released the Israelites, but it’s all too late. His worldview, his community, everything he’s known is now shattered and he is left to pick up the pieces.

Now let’s zoom out from here and look at the nation as a whole. Pharaoh is in a really bad spot now. The economy is in ruins as they have no agriculture to feed themselves, much less for trade. The Israelites have taken much of their wealth in precious metals. With such little food, their military is going to be non-existent, so they are no longer a global power. The stories of the plagues will have gotten out to other countries who are probably looking to step into the void to take over any Egyptian vassals. With the death of the first born, they not only have mental trauma to their remaining population but they lose almost an entire generation of workers and military men. Basically, it will take Egypt many decades to reverse what happened with the plagues. Oddly enough, there may also be some positives after the plagues. Similar to what would happen when the bubonic plague hit Europe, it caused widespread death and destruction, but the survivors found opportunities. In this case, all of the slave labor disappeared overnight. Plus, there was a sudden drop in available manpower after the night of Passover. This would normally mean that their would be a labor shortage and people like the Egyptian in our story could command a higher price for his work since he would be in such high demand with his knowledge of agriculture. He would almost certainly marry again and have more children, especially as he was able to make a better living. 

For the Israelites, this all means freedom from tyranny and the ability to follow God to found them as a nation and chart their path. They will be able to build themselves as a nation more easily since they will have a mostly secure southern flank since Egypt is going to be shattered for many years to come. In fact, the main enemies for Israel in their early history comes not from the Egyptians but from their neighbors, the Philistines. 

On that note, we’ll wrap up this episode here. In the next episode, Israel still needs to face a final hurdle before they are truly free from Egyptian bondage. If you are enjoying Bible Backdrop, please subscribe and leave a 5 star rating and review. If you want to get in touch with the show, you can e-mail me at BibleBackdrop@gmail.com. Word of mouth is still the best way for this show to get around, so tell a friend and have them subscribe. You can find Bible Backdrop on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere podcasts are found. Thank you again for listening and have a great week!