Moses & The 10 plagues (Part 2) : Book of Exodus (Part 6)

The clash between the Lord God Yahweh's power and the Pharaoh of Egypt's stubbornness continues, intensifying as Pharaoh leaves the warnings of the Lord unheeded, dooming the land of Egypt to suffer under divine wrath. At the Lord's command, Moses and Aaron again approached Pharaoh, steadfast in their mission, and with a voice imbued with both warning and inevitability, Moses said to Pharaoh, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before the Lord? Let the people of Israel go, so that they may worship the Lord our God. Refuse, and the next plague will descend upon the land of Egypt tomorrow. Having witnessed and suffered from the previous plagues, Pharaoh's officials pleaded with Pharaoh, saying, How long will this man be a snare to us? Let his people go, so that they may worship the Lord, their God. Have you not realized yet that Egypt is in ruins? And even at this, Pharaoh would not give in, but he could not deny the signs that his kingdom was being punished by a mighty hand. And so he summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, Go, worship the Lord your God, but tell me who exactly will be going? And Moses answered, We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we are to hold a feast unto the Lord. Understanding that his slaves the Israelites were seeking freedom, Pharaoh said to Moses, May the Lord be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones. Clearly you are bent on evil. You shall not have what you seek. Only the men may go and worship the Lord, since that is what you have been requesting. And with this, Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh's presence. Seven plagues had already struck the land of Egypt, and alas, three more were still to come. For the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of They shall devour everything that the hail and storm left behind. And so Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord sent an east wind that blew across the land throughout that day and night. And by morning the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts swarmed across and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again shall there be. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail, the fruit on the trees, and everything growing in the fields. Nothing green remained on a tree or plant in all the land of Egypt. Thus, Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more, and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me. And Moses left Pharaoh's presence and appealed to the Lord. And the Lord changed the wind to a mighty west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea, and not a single locust remained in Egypt. But as soon as the locusts vanished, Pharaoh again hardened his heart and would not let the Israelites go. And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt, a darkness so intense that they can feel it. And it was done. For Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered the land of Egypt for three days. For three days the land of Egypt did not see the light of the sun. For three days no one in Egypt could see their neighbor, and for three days no one left their place. Yet in the land of Goshen, the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. And the Lord revealed to Moses his final plague upon Egypt, which was to come. For he said to him, After the darkness has passed, one more plague shall I bring upon Pharaoh in Egypt. And when that plague has come, know for certain that Pharaoh will allow you and my people to leave this place. He will drive you out completely. As the eerie darkness continued, and even though Pharaoh would not yield, his resilience had begun to break bit by bit. For he summoned Moses and said to him, Go, worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with you. Only leave your flocks and herds behind. But Moses answered, The herds are of good use. You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. Our livestock must go with us, and not a single hoof will be left behind, for we will need some of them to worship the Lord our God, and we will not know how we are to worship the Lord until we get there. When he heard the words of Moses, Pharaoh became bitter and again hardened his heart, and was no longer willing to let the people of Israel go. For he said to Moses, Get out of my sight. Make sure you do not appear before me again. The day you see my face, you will die. And Moses, hot with anger, replied, It will be as you say. I will never see your face again. But I bring you a final warning from the Lord. For the Lord says that at about midnight, he will go throughout Egypt, and every firstborn son in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the servant girl behind the hand mill, and to the firstborn of all the cattle and livestock. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt, worse than there has ever been, and worse than there will ever be. But among the Israelites, not even a dog shall bark at any person or animal. Then you will know that the Lord is God. When he had said this, Moses left Pharaoh's presence. Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, one for each household. And if any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor. You shall determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be one-year-old males without blemish and without defects, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of Israel shall kill the lambs at twilight. Then they must take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorposts of the houses in which they eat and sleep. That same night, they are to eat the meat of the lambs roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. Take care that they do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire with the head, legs, and internal organs. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning, you shall burn. You shall eat the meat with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste, for it is the Lord's Passover. I shall pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike all the firstborn in the land, both man and beast, and I shall strike all the gods of Egypt. But the blood on your doorposts shall serve as a sign, marking the houses where you stay. For when I see the blood, I shall pass over you, and this plague of death shall not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. Bread without yeast you shall eat for seven days, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. On the first day you shall remove yeast from your houses, and eat nothing made with yeast wherever you live. For whosoever eats on those seven days, whatever has been made with yeast, that person shall be cut off from the children of Israel. For those seven days hold a holy assembly on the first day, and again on the seventh. No work shall be done on those days, but whatsoever anyone needs to eat, that alone they may prepare. And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever. As the Lord had commanded, Moses summoned all the elders of Israel at the appointed time and said to them, Go at once, select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony, and when your children ask you, What does this ceremony mean to you? You shall tell them, It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians. When the people heard this, they bowed down and worshipped. Then they set out and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. Alas, that night at midnight the Lord passed over the land of Egypt and struck down every firstborn son in the land, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon, and to all the firstborn among the livestock. When Pharaoh and his people rose up in the night, there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Thus Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron that night and said, Get up and go. Go away from my people, both you and the people of Israel. Go and serve the Lord as you have said. Take your flocks and herds as you have said, and go, but bless me also. When morning came, and in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the Israelites, saying, Hurry up and go, otherwise we are all going to die. So the people of Israel took their dough before yeast was added, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing. Then the Lord said to Moses, Speak now in the hearing of the people, that every man and woman of Israel may ask their Egyptian neighbors for articles of silver and gold. And Moses did as the Lord bade, and the Lord gave the Israelites favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Even Moses himself was highly regarded by Pharaoh's officials and by the people, and so they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth. Then the people of Israel began their journey from Ramesses to Sukkoth, with about 600,000 men on foot, aside women and children. And a mixed multitude of non-Israelites also went up with them, and lots of livestock, both flocks and herds. The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years, and it was on the last day of the 430th year that all the Lord's people left the land.