Exodus 11:4-10

Moses Declares That All The Firstborn In Egypt Will Die And Stalks Out (Exodus 11:4).

a Yahweh says that He will go out into the land of Egypt (Exodus 11:4).

b As a result all the firstborn of Egypt will die from highest to lowest (Exodus 11:5).

c There will be a great cry throughout Egypt such as there has never been nor will be again (Exodus 11:6).

b But against any of the children of Israel not even a dog whet his tongue because Yahweh makes a difference between them and the Egyptians (Exodus 11:7)

a And Moses tells Pharaoh, “All your great grandees will come and bow down to me and say, ‘Get out and all the people who follow you'. And after that I will go out.” And Moses left Pharaoh's presence abruptly in hot anger.

Note again the contrasts thrown up by the sequence. In ‘a' Yahweh will go majestically out into the land of Egypt, while in parallel a cringing Pharaoh will see all his grandees bowing to Moses, while Moses goes out in hot anger. In ‘b' All the firstborn of Egypt will die from the house of Pharaoh to the house of the lowest of all, while in parallel Israel will be so untouched that not even a dog will lick them. And in the midst of all this will be the great cry that goes up throughout the land of Egypt.

Exodus 11:4

‘And Moses said, “Thus says Yahweh, about midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn from the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne, even to the firstborn of the maidservant who is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of cattle, and there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt such as none has been like it, nor shall be like it ever again. But against any of the children of Israel not a dog will whet his tongue against man or beast, that you may know that Yahweh makes a difference between the Egyptians (literally ‘Egypt' as a people) and Israel.” '

This is the first threat which has spoken of inescapable death. Previously death had been escapable but now it would be so no longer. It would be experienced by every family in Egypt. And it would take place during a night in the very near future. And Yahweh Himself would do it. And no one else would have any part in it.

“About midnight.” We must not think of this as being exact. No exact time was recorded in ancient days. Thus it means during the middle of the night. And each night, according to Egyptian teaching, the sun fought and killed the snake Apophis who symbolised the hostile darkness, so that the sun could shine again. But this night it would not be the sun, but it would be Yahweh Who would go forth and he would slay, not the snake Apophis, but all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, including the firstborn of the house of Pharaoh who was himself destined to become an incarnation of the sun. Everything would be turned upside down. The gods of Egypt would be put into disarray.

“All the firstborn.” These were those who were looked on as most favoured, those who were to be heads of families, those who were seen as most important of the future generation.

“The firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne.” The most important of all was the future god Horus, son of Osiris, incarnated in the Pharaoh, although it is possible that Pharaoh's son was away fighting, and that it was therefore his son's son who would die. He too could be called the firstborn of Pharaoh for he was a firstborn in the house of Pharaoh. This would explain why there was no Egyptian record of a firstborn son of Pharaoh dying unusually. However it was the way of the Egyptians not to record anything that told against them. The least important would be the firstborn of the maidservant who was behind the mill. But all would die from highest to lowest.

“The maidservant who is behind the mill.” This is a typical Egyptian phrase not found outside Egypt and is describing the lowest of the low. Her job was to grind the grain daily with the mill, rubbing the top stone against the bottom. This was an arduous and unthankful task and to grind the grain was seen as the lowest occupation an Egyptian woman had to undertake, and was regularly reserved either for destitute women, slaves or for prisoners undergoing penal servitude (Judges 16:21; Isaiah 47:2).

“And all the firstborn of cattle.” Even the cattle would be affected.

“There will be a great cry --.” No day will ever have been like it. Every household would suffer bereavement. Every chief mother would lose a son. It would hit at the heart of Pharaoh and at the heart of Egypt. The whole of Egypt would be in mourning.

“Shall not a dog whet his tongue.” A proverbial expression, see Joshua 10:21. Not even a dog will threaten Israel or point his tongue at them.

“That you may know that Yahweh puts a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.” The whole point at issue has been the honouring of Yahweh as God of the whole earth. Those who honoured Him would be safe (and this would apply even if they were Egyptians if they followed His instructions), those who refused to honour Him would experience His judgment. Note the use of ‘Israel'. What was happening was separating them off as a people. But the contrast was with ‘Egypt' as representing the Egyptians. Thus Israel is an abbreviation here for ‘the children of Israel'.

Exodus 11:8

“And all these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves to me, saying, ‘Get yourself out, and all the people who follow you'. And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.”

“All these your servants.” The scene is awesome. There in the throne room of Pharaoh Moses looked around at all the high officials in Pharaoh's court and indicated them. They were standing there horrified and angry and possibly a little apprehensive at the effrontery of Moses, and totally subservient to Pharaoh. The last thing they had in mind was bowing to Moses. But he pointed out that despite themselves they would shortly ‘come down', that is they would descend from their stately pride, and they would bow to him and would plead with him to leave Egypt along with all his people. And then, once they had done that, he would go.

We can imagine how they must have felt at that moment. They hated this man and what he had done to Egypt, but they were also terrified of him. For they had experienced what power he had. Yet they knew that Pharaoh had endured through it all and was still adamant, and they dared not oppose Pharaoh. What then could he possibly do to change Pharaoh's mind? And yet in their heart of hearts there must have been fear at some unknown that they could not conceive of which might yet strike Egypt. And it was because they were not sure what he could do, that they let him go.

“And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.” It was not only Pharaoh who was angry (Exodus 10:28). The contest was between equals. This was no longer the timid Moses. He was now equal to Pharaoh, no, even above him. And he was angry at all Pharaoh's duplicity. Pharaoh had constantly made promises and then reneged on them. His word could no longer be trusted. Furthermore Moses himself had suffered the humiliation earlier of being hustled out of Pharaoh's presence, no doubt with little ceremony. And that had been a humiliation for Yahweh too, for Moses was His ambassador. And so Moses strode out in hot anger without another word leaving Pharaoh bristling on his throne. But it was the righteous anger of Moses that would prevail.