Exodus 12:29-36

Exodus 12:29-36

[29] And it came to pass, that at midnight  the LORD  smote  all the firstborn  in the land  of Egypt,  from the firstborn  of Pharaoh  that sat  on his throne  unto the firstborn  of the captive  that was in the dungeon;  and all the firstborn  of cattle.  [30] And Pharaoh  rose up  in the night,  he, and 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.  [31] And he called  for Moses  and Aaron  by night,  and said,  Rise up,  and get you forth  from among  my people,  both ye and the children  of Israel;  serve  the LORD,  as ye have said.  [32] Also take  your flocks  and your herds,  as ye have said,  and bless  [33] were urgent  upon the people,  that they might send  them out of the land  in haste;  for they said,  We be all dead  [34] And the people  took  their dough  before it was leavened,  their kneadingtroughs  being bound up  in their clothes  upon their shoulders.  [35] And the children  of Israel  did  according to the word  of Moses;  and they borrowed  jewels  of silver,  and jewels  of gold,  and raiment:  [36] And the LORD  gave  the people  favour  in the sight  so that they lent  unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled 

What does Exodus 12:29-36 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The angel struck the Egyptians at midnight, the symbolic hour of judgment ( Exodus 12:29; cf. Matthew 25:5-6), when they were asleep "... to startle the king and his subjects out of their sleep of sin." [1] Pharaoh had originally met Moses" demands with contemptuous insult ( Exodus 5:4). Then he tried a series of compromises ( Exodus 8:25; Exodus 8:28; Exodus 10:8-11; Exodus 10:24). All of these maneuvers were unacceptable to God.
There is evidence from Egyptology that the man who succeeded Amenhotep II, the pharaoh of the plagues, was not his first-born son. [2] His successor was Thutmose IV (1425-1417 B.C.), a son of Amenhotep II but evidently not his first-born. Thutmose IV went to some pains to legitimatize his right to the throne. This would not have been necessary if he had been the first-born. So far scholars have found no Egyptian records of the death of Amenhotep II"s first-born son.
"Thutmose IV claimed that when he was still a prince he had a dream in which the sun god promised him the throne; this implies that he was not the one who would be expected to succeed to the throne under normal circumstances." [3]
Remember Joseph"s dreams.
In contrast to the former plagues, this one was not just a heightened and supernaturally directed natural epidemic but a direct act of God Himself (cf. Exodus 12:12-13; Exodus 12:23; Exodus 12:27; Exodus 12:29).We need to understand "no home" in its context ( Exodus 12:30). There was no Egyptian home in which there was a first-born Song of Solomon , who was not a father himself, that escaped God"s judgment of physical death.
"This series of five imperative verbs [4], three meaning "go" (dlh is used twice) and one meaning "take," coupled with five usages of the emphatic particle mg "also" ..., marvelously depicts a Pharaoh whose reserve of pride is gone, who must do everything necessary to have done with Moses and Israel and the Yahweh who wants them for his own." [5]
Pharaoh"s request that Moses would bless him is shocking since the Egyptians regarded Pharaoh as a god ( Exodus 12:32; cf. Genesis 47:7).
The reader sees God in two roles in this section, representing the two parts of Israel"s redemption. He appears as Judge satisfied by the blood of the innocent sin-bearer, and He is the Deliverer of Israel who liberated the nation from its slavery.
Redemption involves the payment of a price. What was the price of Israel"s redemption? It was the lives of the lambs that God provided as the substitutes for Israel"s first-born sons who would have died otherwise (cf. Isaac in Genesis 22 , and Jesus Christ, the only-begotten of the Father). The first-born sons remained God"s special portion ( Numbers 8:17-18). The Egyptian first-born sons died as a punishment on the Egyptians. The Egyptians had enslaved God"s people and had not let them go, and they had executed male Israelite babies ( Exodus 1:15-22) possibly for the last80 years. [6] God owns all life. He just leases it to His creatures. God paid the price of Israel"s redemption to Himself. He purchased the nation to be a special treasure for Himself and for a special purpose ( Exodus 19:5).