Exodus 11:1-10

Exodus: Israel becomes a nation

The *Israelites leave Egypt

Exodus Chapter s 1 to 18

Hilda Bright and Kitty Pride

Chapter 11

*Plague number 10: The oldest son in each *Egyptian family dies – 11:1-8; 12:1-13 and 12:29-30

The *LORD announces the *plague on the oldest sons of the *Egyptians – verses 1-10

v1 The *LORD told Moses. ‘I will bring one more *plague on *Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you and your people go away from here. And he will force you away completely. v2 Tell all the *Israelite men and women to ask their *Egyptian neighbours for silver and gold objects.’ v3 Then the *LORD caused the *Egyptians to be kind to the *Israelites. *Pharaoh’s officials and his people respected Moses as an important leader.

v4 So Moses spoke to the king once more. ‘This is what the *LORD says to you. “At midnight I will go through the whole country called Egypt. v5 Every *Egyptian’s oldest son will die.” You are the king who sits on the royal seat. But your oldest son will die. And the female slave, who makes wheat into flour, her oldest son will die too. And all your male animals that were born first to their mothers will die. v6 Everyone will cry. They will make a very loud noise everywhere in Egypt. They will weep more than ever before. And nothing like this will ever happen again. v7 But it will be quiet among the *Israelites. You will not even hear a domestic animal bark at any man or at any other animal. Then you will know that the *LORD makes a difference between the *Egyptians and the *Israelites. v8 All your officials will come to me. They will show that they respect me. “Go and take your people with you”, they will say to me. “Go with all the people who follow you!” And after that I will leave.’

Moses was very angry as he left *Pharaoh.

v9 The *LORD had told Moses. ‘*Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you. So I will increase my wonderful acts in Egypt.’ v10 Moses and Aaron had done all these wonderful *signs in front of *Pharaoh. But the *LORD caused *Pharaoh to be very proud. So he did not listen and he would not give in. He would not let the *Israelites go away from his country.

Verses 1-2 *Plague number 10 would be the final wonderful act. Afterwards, *Pharaoh wanted the *Israelites to leave his country. But they would not go as poor people. God had told the *Israelites to ask their *Egyptian neighbours for gold and silver objects. And the *Egyptians were glad to see the *Israelites go away. So they gave to the *Israelites the things for which they had asked (Exodus 12:33). Later, the *Israelites used some of these things in both good ways and bad ways. They gave some things to Aaron to make the young *bull from gold (Exodus 32:2-4). They gave more things to Moses to make things for God’s special tent (Exodus 25:1-3).

Verses 4-5 Verse 4 continues the account about how Moses warned *Pharaoh for the last time. Verses 1-3 interrupt that account. Everybody’s oldest sons would die. That *plague would affect everyone from *Pharaoh, the king, to the least important female slave. Those female slaves did the very humble work. They turned the stones to make the wheat into flour. Every male animal that was born first to the *Egyptians’ animals would die also. The *Egyptians *worshipped a great many false gods that had the shape of an animal. But those false gods had no power to protect the *Egyptians’ own animals.

Verse 6 The *Israelites had called to the *LORD because of their troubles. And he heard their cry (Exodus 2:23-24). Now the *Egyptians cried out. But they did not cry to the real God. The *Egyptians were afraid in the night because Ra, their Sun god, had left them. So they thought that they were without protection. They cried because their sons had died. There would be no oldest son to continue with the name of the family.

Verse 7 ‘quiet among the *Israelites…not hear a domestic animal bark’. The *Israelites had no reason to be afraid. Not one of the *Israelites or their animals would die. The *LORD would act to punish the *Egyptians. But he would act to rescue his people, the *Israelites.

Verses 9-10 The 9 previous *plagues had happened after Moses and Aaron had reached up with Moses’ stick. Or Moses had reached up his hand as a *sign. But for the final *plague, God himself would go all through Egypt (Exodus 11:4; Exodus 12:12). God had given to *Pharaoh many opportunities to change his decision. God gives to all people the opportunity to change their behaviour. But nobody can refuse to obey God for all time. God is the judge. And he must punish anyone who has refused to obey him. The time had come for God to punish *Pharaoh and his people.

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
plague ~ a terrible disease or trouble.
Egyptian ~ someone from the country called Egypt; anything with a relationship with Egypt.
LORD ~ God gave this special name to himself. It translates the word ‘Yahweh’ in the Hebrew language. It links to the words ‘I am’; it means that God has been here always.

Lord ~ a name for God. It translates the Hebrew word ‘Adonai’, which means ‘my ruler’. The word ‘lord’ (without a capital letter) means an ordinary ruler.

Hebrew ~ the language that the Israelites spoke. A Hebrew is a Jewish person or an Israelite

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

Jewish ~ a word that describes a Jew or anything that belongs to the Jews.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
plague ~ a terrible disease or trouble.
Pharaoh ~ the Egyptian ruler or king.

Egyptian ~ someone from the country called Egypt; anything with a relationship with Egypt.
sign ~ a signal; a mark to show that something is special; a powerful act.
bull ~ male farm animal; (the female is called a cow). The Israelites made a metal image of a bull, which they worshipped as an *idol

Israelite ~ a person from the nation called Israel. Israelite is another name for the Jews. Anything that has a relationship with Israel.

worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a gift to God.

Israel ~ the nation of people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the name of the country that God gave to that nation.

Jew ~ a person who is from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children.
worship ~ when people show honour to God, or to a false god. People may sing or pray. Or they may kneel down or give a gift to God.