Taking Life to Give Life-Exodus 11
The 10th plague is morally very troubling (Exo 11:5), and understandably so. Who does God think He is to seemingly take “innocent” Egyptian lives? Losing a beloved child must be one of the greatest griefs of people. It’s probably why I could never be a pediatric oncologist. Throughout history, one of the cruelest indignities suffered by slaves was their inability to protect their own children–such as when slave parents in the antebellum south could not protect their own children from being sold to other slave owners. Similarly, under Pharaoh’s edict of death (Exo 1:22), the Israelites could not protect their newborn male babies from being drowned. Now the Egyptians will experience what it is like to be unable to protect their own children.
How do you morally assess God‘s actions? If God is good, God cannot do anything morally wrong or evil. If God does something morally wrong, then God is not good. So those who believe God is good must assume that He has His reasons to do what He did, which we can question, yet as flawed limited people we may not comprehend or even agree with. Why would God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son (Gen 22:2)? Why would the Father abandon and forsake His own Son to die a horrific death (Mt 27:46; Mk 15:34)?
Should one reject God because we disagree or dislike what Scripture says about God? Do we assume that our own judgments, assessments and evaluations are the most correct and beyond reproach? Thus, Paul bluntly says, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” (Rom 9:20). The Bible, including the Torah is the book that furthered human morality more than any other. The Torah contains the 10 Commandments, the first book to command love and protection of the stranger.
A stupid leader. Insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. Pharaoh did the same thing 9 times with a poor outcome. He refused to listen 9 times, and he experienced a plague 9 times, each one worse than the prior one, yet each time he expected a different or better outcome! As a result, the entire nation of Egypt suffered immensely and were the innocent victims of the stupidity of his leadership.
“It worked” before doesn’t mean that it’ll continue to work. Everything Pharaoh had done with his power and authority had always “worked” until he met Moses, and it then it “stopped working.” But he couldn’t change, didn’t change, and refused to change. As a result he brought suffering and distress and eventually death to his entire nation and also to himself.
Exodus 11
- marks the ending of the first 9 plagues (ch. 7-10),
- announces the final plague to Pharaoh and
- introduces the beginning of the exit from Egypt (ch. 11-15).
Driven out. Ex 11:1-2 is a summarizing recapitulation of God’s initial promise to Moses in the Burning Bush episode (Exo 3:8,12,19-20,21-22). God is the one who brings the death (Exo 11:4-5) that leads not only to their exit, but also to being driven out (Exo 11:1; 6:1; 12:39). The Egyptians would want them out.
A hurried exit (Exo 11:2). It’s not so much a “plundering of the Egyptians” (Exo 3:22), because 1st, asking for silver and gold was consistent with the Lord’s requirements, given later at Sinai, that a person bound by debt as a servant should be released after 6 years of labor (Dt 15:12-15). 2nd, the Egyptians will give graciously, being “favorably disposed” toward the Hebrews (Exo 11:3; 3:21-22; 12:35-36). It is the Lord’s “softening of their hearts” cf. the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The irony here is profound as this silver and gold is quite likely the very silver and gold with which the Israelites later built the Golden Calf (Exo 32:2-4).
“The man, Moses, too, was very great in the land of Egypt…” (Exo 11:3). This is one of the rare laudatory descriptions of Moses in the Torah, the most famous being Num 12:3. While the Israelites were viewed favorably by the Egyptians, Moses was particularly highly esteemed, likely because in the world the powerful leader is highly respected. This is good as Moses humbly serves God. At the same time, celebrity is a great temptation and has been the downfall of many a great man.
For the 8th and last time Moses says, “This is what the Lord says [Thus said the Lord]” (Exo 5:1; 7:17; 8:1,20; 9:1,13; 10:3; 11:4), but this time he doesn’t follow with the release formula [“Let my people go [Send off my people] that they may serve me”]. Judgment had come and Pharaoh wouldn’t “let them go,” but “drive them out” (Exo 11:1).
God is directly responsible for death (Exo 11:4-5)–as well as for life. God does all the killing. No Israelite was ordered by God to kill a single Egyptian. This final plague differs from all the others because it was not brought about by anything Moses or Aaron did. Nor, unlike the earlier plagues, was there any way to explain this as having been brought about by natural means. God did not bring a great wind or have Moses and Aaron throw soot to the heavens. Moses did not even lift his rod. Instead, God did everything. So for those who believe the killing of the 1sborn was immoral, it is God alone Who does it. God did not instruct anyone to do something immoral. There is not a hint in the Torah that Jews are to believe they can kill non-believers, let alone that they are directed to do so [though later there will be instructions to kill various Cannanite nations].
Firstborn son. God had instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh: “My son, my firstborn, is Israel. And I said to you, Send off my son that he may worship Me, and you refused to send him off, and, look, I am about to kill your son, your firstborn” (Exo 4:22-23). If Pharoah was a wise and good leader who loves his own people, he should have let Israel go at least after a few plagues, which caused his people loss and suffering, and which clearly displayed that God had the power and authority to request for his people to be released from slavery. For the 12th and final time, the narrator announces Pharaoh’s hard heart (Exo 11:10; 7:13,22; 8:15,19,32; 9:7,12,34-35; 10:20,27). Here the plague cycle formally ends, matching the announcement that began the plagues (Exo 7:3-4). The exit narrative includes a brief report of the dying of the 1stborn (Exo 12:29-30), but focuses mainly on the Passover feast and preparations for their journey out of Egypt.
Reference:
- Leon R. Kass. Founding God’s Nation. Reading Exodus. 2021. Overview of Exodus by Leon Kass.
- James K. Bruckner. Exodus. New International Bible Commentary. 2008.
- John Goldingay. Exodus & Leviticus for Everyone. 2010.
- Robert Alter. The Hebrew Bible. A translation with commentary. The Five Books of Moses. 2019.
- Dennis Prager. Exodus. God, Slavery, and Freedom. The Rational Bible. 2018.
