January 19, 2024 - Exodus 9-12

The plagues continue:  diseased livestock, boils, thunder and hail, locusts, darkness, and then, the final plague, the death of the Egyptian first-borns.  Before that last plague, “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.  Afterward he will let you go from here.  When he lets you go, he will drive you away completely’” (11:1).  Catch that word from the Lord (emphasis mine)?  “Afterward he WILL let you go from here.”  This is the pharaoh who thought he was in control, who fought the Lord and Moses, and who gradually compromised his position until he DID let the people go.  See the progression.  We knew it was coming.

Pharaoh declared, “I will not let Israel go” (5:2).  Then, he said he would allow the people to go sacrifice to the Lord (8:8) but only within the land of Egypt (8:25).  Then, he would permit them to offer their sacrifices in the wilderness, only not very far away (8:28).  Then, he allowed that the men only could go anywhere they wished and serve the Lord but the men only (10:11).  Then, he broadened his permission to include the children but leaving flocks and herds behind (10:24).  Ultimately, Pharaoh demanded, “Get away from me; take care never to see my face again” (10:28) and “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel” (12:31).  Anyone surprised?  God had told Moses that he would deliver the people from Egypt.  The book of Exodus tells us that the confrontation between Moses and the Pharaoh is actually a struggle between the true God, Yahweh, and the false gods of Egypt (12:12).  Who did anyone think would win that contest?

When Israel was in Egypt’s land,

Let my people go,

oppressed so hard they could not stand,

Let my people go.

Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt's land,

tell old Pharaoh: Let my people go.

The Lord told Moses what to do,

Let my people go,

to lead the Hebrew children through,

Let my people go.

Go down, Moses, way down in Egypt’s land,

tell old Pharaoh: Let my people go.   –African-American spiritual (1883)

And Pharaoh let the people go!