2024.4.21
The Tenth Plague and the Passover
Exodus chapters 11:1 – 12:36
Good morning, everyone.
How are you all doing?
Last week, Paster Mark McClelland had emergency surgery for a detached retina, and Mr. Mark Busby stepped in and delivered the message in his place. It was a wonderful message and I was touched, too.
On the other hand, Pastor Mark is still recuperating in Japan, and thinking of that breaks my heart.
However, that does not necessarily mean this will all end in disaster. I believe that there is a possibility it could lead to an unexpected blessing.
In fact, my life too, was changed because of a serious illness. When I graduated from college, I was planning to become a businessman. I had been offered a job and was going to be hired by a company after my graduation. However, at the medical checkup before starting the job, they found an abnormality in my liver. It was out of the blue. I thought it was a mistake, and went in for a retest, and it turned out to be chronic hepatitis C. As a result, my job was canceled, and I spent a year recuperating. It took another twenty years for the illness to be cured. However, because of that illness, I took the job exam for Suita City Hall, and had come to work there. And was led to this Suita Bible Gospel Church, became a Christian, and I have been continuing to attend this church ever since, and even became a pastor here now. I feel that the fact that I worked at the city hall where there are no transfers had a lot to do with it.
So, now I’m grateful that my illness was God’s guidance and blessing.
It says as follows in Ecclesiastes 3:11.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Amen. God is faithful. He is gracious. Even if we cannot see into the future, let’s trust in God in our walk of life.
That leads us into today’s passage, and we will be looking at Exodus 11:1 to 12:36 with the title of, “The Tenth Plague and the Passover.”
Up to our previous sermon, we have seen the nine plagues. When Moses and Aaron told God’s command to “Let the people of Israel go,” Pharaoh of Egypt stubbornly refused. So the nine plagues came upon Egypt.
The first plague was the River Nile turning to blood. The second was the plague of many frogs crawling up even into houses, the third was the plague of gnats swarming on people and animals, the fourth was the plague of swarms of flies, the fifth was the plague of livestock dying of disease, the sixth was the plague of festering boils breaking out on people and animals, the seventh was the plague of huge hails striking down people, livestock and plats in the fields, and the eighth was the plague of locusts eating up what greenery that was left, the ninth was the plague of darkness that made it impossible to even stand for three days.
Looking at it in this way, I’m kind of impressed that Egypt did not perish, and for Pharaoh to have been so stubborn. But that stubbornness ended up leading to the tenth plague.
Let’s read 11:4 to 6. Please look in your Bibles. Exodus 11:4 to 6.
4 So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.
This time, the plague was that the firstborn of all things, both people and livestock of Egypt would die. And it came true. Let’s skip ahead a bit and read 12:29 to 30. Please look in your Bibles. 12:29 to 30.
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
Seeing this, Pharaoh finally gave up. He said he would let the people go. Let’s read verses 31 and 32. Please look in your Bible. 12:13 and 32.
13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”
In this way, the Israelite people were liberated from their long long lives of slavery in Egypt. It had been 43 years since they had moved to the land of Egypt.
Let’s read verse 40 and 41. Please look in your Bible. 12:40 and 41.
40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.
First, when Joseph welcomed his father Jacob and his brothers into Egypt, the Egyptian Pharaoh of the time greatly welcomed them, and gave them the land of Goshen that was most suitable for livestock farming in Egypt.
For the first thirty years that Pharaoh had lived, Israel was at peace. However, after the Pharoah died, and as the population of Israel grew, Pharaoh began to oppress Israel and enslaved them. That period of slavery was four hundred years.
Together with those peaceful 30 years and the 400 years of slavery, on the day 430 had passed, God liberated them from Egypt. This is the event known as the “Exodus”. It actually happened around 1446 B.C. How many people were there at the time? Looking at 12:37 and 38, it is written that there were about six hundred thousand men. That would mean counting the women and children, it is said that it would have been an enormous mass of people close to two million. Two million people is about the same as the population of Suita, Toyonaka, Ibaraki, Takatsuki, Settsu, and Nishinomiya all put together. Imagine all the people living in Suita, Toyonaka, Ibaraki, Takatsuki, Settsu, and Nishinomiya facing one way all together at once and started to move, we see how amazing this event of the Exodus was.
However, in realizing this Exodus, God commanded things that were a bit strange. However, the people of Israel followed that command faithfully. As a result, the Exodus was realized.
Today, let’s look focusing on what commands God gave, and how the people of Israel obeyed those commands.
First, let’s read 11:2. Please look in the Bible. Exodus 11:2.
2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”
The first of the strange commands was this. God commanded the Israelites to ask the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold. Why would they need gold and silver when they were setting out to travel in the wilderness? Strange, isn’t it? Was it unpaid wages for the long slave labor they had endured? God actually made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward them, so they received the gold and silver, but the need for them is unknown.
There are no shops or convenience stores in the wilderness, no banks, either. Even if they put them on and dressed up, who would they be showing off to? They would be traveling through the wilderness. What need would they have for gold and silver? We don’t know. It’s a strange command.
The second command was strange, too. It was about a meal for a certain day, but the content of it is strange. Let’s read 12:3 and 4. Please look in your Bibles. Exodus 12:3 and 4.
3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.
They were to prepare a sheep for each household, and in verse 4, where it says if a household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, it means if there aren’t many members of a family and can’t eat a whole sheep themselves, they should eat with a neighboring family. Also, it is stipulated what kind of sheep that sheep must be.
Let’s read the following verse 5. Please look in your Bibles. 12:5.
5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.
Hmmm? A strange thing is written. It says sheep, but then why would goats come up? Actually, this is a problem with translation. The fact is, the word for sheep in Hebrew is “se”, but this word actually includes both sheep and goats. For example, when it comes to dogs, Chihuahuas and bulldogs are included. Birds include both crows and pigeons. In the same way, “se” in Hebrew includes sheep and goats. In Japan, refrigerators and washing machines are referred to as “white household appliances”, and so this word is like, “white livestock animals.” But since there are no such words in English or Japanese, the Hebrew “se” is translated as “sheep” in the Japanese bible. But to be precise, it means “sheep or goats.” So, if we translate this passage precisely as it is in the original language, it would be, “Your sheep or goat must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats,” and that would make sense.
Now, in the following verses 6 and 7, it says as follows. Please look in your bibles. Exodus 12:6 and 7.
6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
It is commanded to smear the blood of the slaughtered animal on the doorframe. Furthermore, how to eat the meat is written in verses 8 to 11. Let’s read Exodus 12:8 to 11.
8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is theLord’s Passover.
We don’t know why, but it is , a strange command to eat it hurriedly while having one’s belt fastened, staff in hand, sandals on feet, and standing. They were told they would leave Egypt after that.
What really impresses me in reading this passage is that the people of Israel trusted God and faithfully carried out this strange command. They didn’t know what it meant. However, of course, God knew what it mean First about the gold and silver, they were necessary at the time of building God’s tabernacle.
Tabernacle is like this.
The tabernacle had curtains covering the outside and an entrance, alter for offering sacrifices, basin for cleansing the body, and a structure called the Holy Place. It was basically made of curtains, pillars, and boards, and every time they moved, they would take it apart, and set it up at the next place. The people of Israel sacrificed offerings and performed ceremonies there. The way to make the tabernacle is written in the Book of Exodus 25:9 on, and looking at 26:6, it says to make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains of the tabernacle together. Also looking at 26:19, it says to make forty silver bases to go under the frames of the tabernacle. In this way, gold and silver were needed to make the tabernacle.
And there was a reason for being dressed and eating in a hurry. It was to be able to leave immediately as soon as God gave the sign to “Leave Egypt now.” It was to make sure no one ate slowly and fall asleep. In this way, each of the seemingly strange commands had meaning. Now about smearing the blood of the slaughtered animal on the door frames, God explained in the following way.
Let’s read 12:12 and 13. Please look in your Bibles. Exodus 12:12 and 13.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
God said that he would strike the firstborns in all of Egypt, but he said that the angel of God bringing judgment would go by the houses, or pass over, the people of Israel having smeared animal blood on their doorframes. This concept of “disaster passing over” became a very important concept for the Israelites, and of course it represents the atonement by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The sheep slaughtered for the Passover represents Jesus Christ, and putting the blood on the doorframes represents believing and accepting the blood shed on the cross of Jesus Christ as one’s substitute, and that the judgment did not fall on the houses with blood on them represents that those who believe Christ will never receive judgement that leads to destruction.
But still, I’m amazed they left. There is no guarantee of what will happen to them at all. They just believed God who was with them and Moses, the leader whom God had appointed. Without knowing anything about the future, they put their full trust in God, and obeyed the command of God faithfully. About that, it says as follows in 12:28. Please look in your Bibles. Exodus 12:28.
28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
It also says as follows in 12:50. Please look in your Bibles. Exodus 12:50.
50 All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.
We can see a pattern here. First, God spoke. The people of Israel listened. Listened and carried it out. They did it, and left the result up to God. Then God faithfully kept his promise. That’s the pattern.
God always uses people. 3,500 years ago, God used the people of Israel to carry out his will, but in this day and age, he is trying to use each of us who are alive today to carry out his will. What becomes a problem then, is not so much that we do not understand God’s will, but that we don’t obey God’s will, isn’t it? Aren’t there many things we can learn from the faith of the Israelites that we saw today? They responded to God in this way.
“God. We will do whatever you say. Even if we don’t know the reason, we will ask for gold and silver, put blood on our doorways, and eat while standing. We will do so because you say so. We don’t know how we will life from tomorrow, but you promised to keep us, so we trust you. We will obey.”
We tend to hesitate about things we don’t understand, we can’t see through ahead. However, if it is God’s will, we have nothing to fear. Even if we do not know what the future holds, let’s make up our mind to do whatever God tells us to. And trusting God who is with us, let’s boldly tell God to show his glory using our lives.
Now let’s pray.
As I just said, let’s boldly say to God, I will do whatever you say, please use my life to show your glory.
The people of Israel lived in Egypt for 430 years, and 400 years of that was hard days as slaves. We cannot even wait for the smallest things, but let’s ask God to help us so that may we learn to have the patience for waiting on God, and even in the midst of suffering, waiting on God.
Heavenly Father God. Today, we saw the passage of the people of Israel liberated from four hundred years of slavery. There, we saw the obedient faith of the people of Israel following you even when they did not understand. We too, have times when we feel like walking in a long tunnel, please lead us to that we may always follow you obediently. We are not good at waiting, but please help us await on you with patience.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
There may be people here who do not understand about the Bible yet, or don’t understand the meaning of Christ’s cross. Let me explain a bit. The Bible teaches that there is God the Creator who created all things in heaven and earth. Human beings were created by God, too. We were created to walk in close relationship with God. However, the first humans, Adam and Eve sinned before God. They ate of the fruit of the tree that they were forbidden to. As a result, they were separated from God. Sin separated humans from God. And all people who are their descendants are born with the nature of sin, and have actually sinned. The Bible teaches that all people have sins, that all people ae sinners. And if we die with sin, we will be judged by God, be eternally separated from God, and receive eternal suffering. That is called everlasting destruction. Solving this problem of sin was impossible for humans with sins. However, God loves us sinners deeply. And prepared a way to solve the problem of our sins, and for us to be reconciled with God. That is the cross of Jesus Christ. Christ was God who came to this earth as a human. He had not a single sin. However, he died on the cross. But that was in our place. Receiving the penalty for our sins in our place, Christ died on the cross. By that sacrificial death, the price for our sins has been paid in full. The problem of sins has been solved.
When we personally accept that with appreciation, God forgives all our sins, reconciles us with God, and gives us eternal life to live with him. Let’s now pray to give thanks for the cross of Christ. I will pray in short segments. You do not need to pray out loud, but please pray after me in your heart.
Let’s pray.
God in heaven. / Before you / I too, have sins. / I heard today that the reason Jesus Christ / went on the cross / was in my place / to forgive me of my sins. / God, I thank you. / I now / believe and accept Christ / to be my Savior. / Amen.
Those of you who prayed with me now have been forgiven of all your sins. You have become Christians. Please continue coming to worship. Let’s worship the wonderful God together.