Hello, this is Father Paul and I'm glad we're taking this journey together to read the Bible in a year.
Yesterday we heard about the ten plagues of Egypt and how after some of the plagues Pharaoh would think maybe I would let the people go but then would harden his heart when the plague is lifted.
And after seven plagues, Pharaoh is still refusing to let the Israelites leave Egypt.
So today we're going to hear about the rest of the ten plagues, the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth, and how Pharaoh reacts after the tenth plague and how God delivers his people from the land of Egypt.
Alright, let's begin. Today's reading is from Exodus 10, 11, and 12.
Chapter 10
Now the Lord said to Moses, Go in, Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.
So Moses and Aaron came into Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go that they may serve me, or else if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory, and they shall cover the face of the earth so that no one will be able to see the earth, and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which is left.
And they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen since the day that they were on the earth to this day.
And he turned and went out from Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long shall this man be as near to us? Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?
So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going? And Moses said, We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.
Then he said to them, The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go. Beware, for evil is ahead of you. Not so. Go now, you who are men and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.
And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, all that the hail has left.
So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night.
When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts, and the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt.
They were very severe. Previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left.
So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste and said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now therefore please forgive my sin only this once and entreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only.
So he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord, and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea.
There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he did not let the children of Israel go.
Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt.
So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the children of Israel had life in their dwellings.
Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, Go, serve the Lord, only let your flocks and your herds be kept back, let your little ones also go with you.
But Moses said, You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us, not a hoof shall be left behind.
For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not let them go. Then Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me, take heed to yourself and see my face no more, for in the day you see my face you shall die.
So Moses said, You have spoken well, I will never see your face again.
Chapter 11
And the Lord said to Moses, I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt.
Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether.
Speak now in the hearing of the people and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor articles of silver and articles of gold.
And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.
Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.
Then Moses said, Thus says the Lord, About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals.
Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.
And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, Get out, and all the people who follow you. After that I will go out.
Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger. But the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not heed you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.
So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.
Chapter 12. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be your beginning of month. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.
And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons. According to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb.
Your lamb shall be without blemish a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door-posts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire, and thus you shall eat it, with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste, it is the Lord's Passover.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the first born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord.
Now the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.
You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them, but that which everyone must eat, that only may be prepared by you. So you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month that evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month that evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
You shall eat nothing leavened, in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.
And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two-door posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two-door posts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as he promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be when your children say to you, What do you mean by this service? That you shall say, It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.
So the people bowed their heads and worshipped. Then the children of Israel went away and did so, just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also.
And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We shall all be dead. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.
Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them whatever they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
Then the children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Sukwoth, about 600,000 men on foot beside children. A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds, a great deal of livestock.
And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was 430 years, and it came to pass at the end of the 430 years, on that very same day, it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover, no foreigner shall eat it. But every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.
A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. In one house it shall be eaten, you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. And he shall be as a native of the land, for no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
One law shall be for the native born, and for the stranger who dwells among you.
Thus all the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. And it came to pass on that very same day that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow to continue on our journey. God bless you and have a great day.