Exodus 11:4 - Meaning and Application

A warning is now given to Pharaoh about the last and decisive plague that would fall on Egypt. This would be the death of all the firstborn in Egypt at once, a judgment first threatened in Exodus 4:23, where God said, “I will kill your son, your firstborn,” but reserved until the end. Lesser judgments had already been tried, and if those had brought Pharaoh to repentance, this final blow would have been avoided. We see how slow God is to anger, how ready he is to turn from judgment, and how precious human life is to him. If the death of the livestock had humbled them, their children would have been spared. But if people do not learn from God’s gradual warnings, they have only themselves to blame when the worst comes last.

The plague itself is described in detail in Exodus 11:4-6. The time was fixed for about midnight, the very next midnight, in the dead of night. While all were asleep, all their firstborn would fall into the sleep of death. It would not happen so quietly that no one noticed until morning. It would be sudden enough to wake the households at midnight so they could stand by and see death at work. Its reach would be complete, from the heir to the throne, who was not too high to be touched, to the slave at the mill, who was not too low to be noticed. Moses and Aaron were not told to call down this plague. The Lord himself said, “I will go out” (Exodus 11:4). It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. In a sense, what is hell except this?

At the same time, God promised special protection for the children of Israel, and he would make a clear difference between them and the Egyptians. While angels drew their swords against Egypt, not even a dog would bark at any of Israel’s children (Exodus 11:7). This was only a small sign of the greater difference God will make in the last day between his people and his enemies. If people knew what difference God makes, and will make forever, between those who serve him and those who do not, they would not treat religion as something unimportant. They would not live so carelessly in it.

There was also a lesson in the way Pharaoh’s own servants would respond. They would come down and bow before Moses, begging him to leave (Exodus 11:8). The proud enemies of God and his people will be brought low in the end (Revelation 3:9), and they will be shown to be liars to those they once opposed (Deuteronomy 33:29). After delivering this message, Moses went out from Pharaoh in a great anger, though he was the meekest of all men. He likely expected that this threat against the firstborn would finally move Pharaoh, especially since Pharaoh had already given in this far and had seen every earlier warning come true. But Pharaoh’s proud heart would not bend, not even to save all the firstborn in his kingdom.

No wonder people are not turned away from sinful ways by warnings of eternal misery in the world to come, when even the near loss of everything dear to them in this life does not frighten them. Moses was stirred to a holy anger, grieved, as our Lord later was, by the hardness of heart before him (Mark 3:5). It is a deep burden to faithful ministers when people will not listen to fair warnings and keep rushing toward ruin despite every kind effort to stop them. Ezekiel felt this same bitterness in his spirit because God had told him that Israel would not listen to him (Ezekiel 3:14). To be angry only at sin is the way to avoid sinning in anger.

Moses then reflects on the warning God had already given him about this rejection. The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you” (Exodus 11:9). Scripture had also foretold the unbelief of those who would hear the gospel, so that their unbelief would not shock us or trip us up (John 12:37, John 12:38; Romans 10:16). We should never think less of the gospel of Christ because most people treat it lightly, since we were told ahead of time that it would receive a cold welcome.

Moses also repeats what had already been shown before this, that he had done all these wonders in Pharaoh’s presence, and Pharaoh himself had seen them (Exodus 11:10). Yet Pharaoh still could not be moved. This was clear proof that God himself, in righteous judgment, had hardened Pharaoh’s heart. In the same way, the Jews’ rejection of the gospel of Christ was such a serious and foolish act that it could only point to God having given them a spirit of stupor, as Romans 11:8 says.