Exodus 12:29 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the Egyptians’ sons, even their firstborn, struck down (Exodus 12:29, Exodus 12:30). If Pharaoh had listened to the warning about this plague and let Israel go, how many precious lives could have been spared? But stubborn unbelief brings ruin on people. The lesson is plain: when God warns, it is dangerous to resist him.

Notice when this blow came. It came at midnight, which made it even more fearful. The three nights before had already been made terrible by the darkness that could be felt, and it had surely unsettled their rest. Then, just when they hoped for one quiet night, the alarm came at midnight. When the destroying angel drew his sword against Jerusalem, it happened in the daytime (2 Samuel 24:15), so it was less frightening. But Egypt’s destruction came like a deadly sickness moving in the dark (Psalm 91:6). There will also one day be a startling cry at midnight, “Look, the bridegroom is coming.”

The plague fell on their firstborn, the joy and hope of each household. The Egyptians had killed the Hebrew children, and now God struck their own. In this way he visited the fathers’ sin on the children, and he is not unjust when he takes vengeance. This was a just answer to their cruelty.

The judgment reached from the throne to the prison. Prince and peasant stand on the same level before God’s judgments, because he shows no favoritism; see Job 34:19, Job 34:20. The slain of the Lord were many. A great crowd fell in that valley of decision, when the quarrel between God and Pharaoh was settled.

What a cry rose up in Egypt. There was universal mourning, with many families weeping over their only son, and all over their firstborn. If someone is suddenly ill in the night, we usually call for neighbors. But the Egyptians could get no help and no comfort from one another, because all were struck by the same disaster. From this we should learn to tremble before God and fear his judgments (Psalm 119:120). Who can stand before him, or dare oppose him? We should also thank God daily for preserving us and our families. Since we live so exposed to danger, we have reason to say that it is by the Lord’s mercy that we are not destroyed.

Here we also see God’s sons, his firstborn, set free. This judgment broke Pharaoh’s pride and forced him to surrender at once, without bargaining. It is better to yield to God’s terms at the beginning, because he will never come down to ours, no matter how much we argue. Pharaoh’s pride was finally crushed, and he agreed to all that Moses had asked: “Serve the Lord as you have said” (Exodus 12:31), and “Take your flocks as you have said” (Exodus 12:32). God’s word will stand, and we gain nothing by arguing with it or putting off obedience.

Until now the Israelites had not been allowed to leave, but now matters had reached the breaking point. So they were ordered to depart: “Rise up, get out” (Exodus 12:31). Pharaoh had once told Moses that he would see his face no more, but now he sent for him. Those who once defied God will often seek him early in their trouble. Pharaoh was now so frightened that he gave orders by night for their release, fearing that if he waited any longer, he himself would be next. And the fact that he sent them out, not as hated captives as some pagan writers claimed, but as feared people, is clear from his humble request: “Bless me also” (Exodus 12:32). He wanted their prayers so that he would not be plagued for what he had done once they were gone. Those who make themselves enemies of God’s church make themselves enemies of their own souls, and sooner or later they will see it.

The Egyptians also urged the Israelites to leave. They cried, “We are all dead men” (Exodus 12:33). When death enters our homes, it is a fitting time to remember our own mortality. If our relatives have died, it is easy to see that we too are dying, and in a sense are already dead men. This fear made the Egyptians eager for the Israelites to go, and it gave the Israelites an advantage when they asked for their jewelry (Exodus 12:35, Exodus 12:36). Since the Egyptians were urging them out, the Israelites could rightly say that the Egyptians had kept them poor, and that they could not travel with empty hands. If the Egyptians would provide what they needed for the journey, then they would go. Providence brought things to this point on purpose, so that the Israelites, now made fearsome to the Egyptians, might have whatever they asked. God also moved the Egyptians’ hearts to give them what they wanted, likely in hopes of making amends and stopping the plagues, just as the Philistines later sent a gift back with the ark as a guilt offering, looking to this earlier example (1 Samuel 6:3, 1 Samuel 6:6).

The Israelites could rightly receive and keep what they borrowed, or rather demanded, from the Egyptians. It was as rightful as servants receiving wages for their work, and suing for them if they were withheld. It was also as rightful as conquerors taking the goods of enemies they had defeated, since Pharaoh was rebelling against the God of the Hebrews, and therefore all he had was forfeited. It was as rightful as subjects receiving estates granted by their king. God is the true owner of the earth and everything in it, and if he gives to one and takes from another, no one may say to him, “What are you doing?” The Israelites acted under God’s special command, and that was enough to justify them. But what they did does not give anyone else permission to do the same, because no one else can claim such a command. Let us remember this: the King of kings can do no wrong, and he will do right for those whom men injure (Psalm 146:7). For that reason, the wealth of sinners often ends up stored for the righteous (Proverbs 13:22; Job 27:16, Job 27:17).