Estimated reading time: about 19-21 minutes
Exodus 11:1 Adonai said to Moshe, “I’m going to bring still one more plague on Pharaoh and Egypt, and after that he will let you leave here. When he does let you go, he will throw you out completely! 2 Now tell the people that every man is to ask his neighbor and every woman her neighbor for gold and silver jewelry.” 3 Adonai made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people. Moreover, Moshe was regarded by Pharaoh’s servants and the people as a very great man in the land of Egypt.
4 Moshe said, “Here is what Adonai says: ‘About midnight I will go out into Egypt, 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the slave-girl at the handmill, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 6 There will be a horrendous wailing throughout all the land of Egypt — there has never been another like it, and there never will be again. 7 But not even a dog’s growl will be heard against any of the people of Isra’el, neither against people nor against animals. In this way you will realize that Adonai distinguishes between Egyptians and Isra’el. 8 All your servants will come down to me, prostrate themselves before me and say, “Get out! — you and all the people who follow you!” and after that, I will go out!’ ” And he went out from Pharaoh in the heat of anger. 9 Adonai said to Moshe, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that still more of my wonders will be shown in the land of Egypt.”
10 Moshe and Aharon did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but Adonai had made Pharaoh hardhearted, and he didn’t let the people of Isra’el leave his land.
So here we are.
An entire kingdom has been brought to its knees. Cripled, broken, burning. Pharaoh has completely failed the people of Egypt.
Lives have been impacted in a way no one had ever seen at any point in Egypt’s history. And with what’s about to happen, the wailing will reach the greatest of heights. A sad and troublesome moment is literally sitting at each family’s doorstep.
A decision will need to be made.
With the Egyptian kingdom torn at every seam, a point has been reached where every home must stand on its own. No more counting on those in power to protect and rescue, but instead an overt claim of submission into life or defiance unto death must be made.
I had always assumed it was primarily the children of Israel that exited Egypt on that fateful night but the more I read the more I’m convinced the scales may have been a little more balanced.
Go back and look at verse 3: Adonai made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people. Moreover, Moshe was regarded by Pharaoh’s servants and the people as a very great man in the land of Egypt.
Lives under Pharaoh’s leadership were destroyed and the once devout Egyptian people had ultimately abandoned the pantheon of impotent gods that should have protected them through it all. The spirits people had trusted for so long have now forsaken them in a monumental way. It was devastating. No more gods of the past and no real understanding of what may come from the God in the present.
But in the midst of these people losing the lives they knew and loved so well, they were presented with a life they never could have imagined -- even if they don’t know it. A desolate land covered in ash was clearly no place to live, so instead of living in a place they knew was broken, they opted for a place they didn’t know because it’s got to be better than this. Greener grass, right?
The trouble with running from trouble is that you assume trouble isn’t in front of you -- perhaps in even greater measure. The fact is, our problems are rarely external. It’s usually something within us that has created the life and environment in which we live. The punchline? No matter where you are, there you are.
Put yourself in their position, though. You are literally caught in the mixing of your old life and a life you know nothing about. If we take a little peak forward to Exodus 12.
Exodus 12:37 The people of Isra’el traveled from Rameses to Sukkot, some six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting children. 38 A mixed crowd also went up with them, as well as livestock in large numbers, both flocks and herds.
That “mixed crowd” (Hebrew: עֵרֶב רַב / erev rav, literally “great mixture” or “mixed multitude”) refers to non-Israelites who joined Israel in the exodus, Egyptians and possibly others who had been living among them.
This was no small group that joined the Children of Israel on the journey out. While likely smaller in number than their Israelite counterpart, their percentage was not insignificant.
This is reminiscent of what we see at the end of the Age, as well:
Revelation 7:1 After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the land, on the sea or on any tree. 2 I saw another angel coming up from the east with a seal from the living God, and he shouted to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea, 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads!” 4 I heard how many were sealed — 144,000 from every tribe of the people of Isra’el:
5 From the tribe of Y’hudah 12,000 were sealed
from the tribe of Re’uven 12,000
from the tribe of Gad, 12,000
6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000
from the tribe of Naftali 12,000
from the tribe of M’nasheh 12,000
7 from the tribe of Shim‘on 12,000
from the tribe of Levi 12,000
from the tribe of Yissakhar 12,000
8 from the tribe of Z’vulun 12,000
from the tribe of Yosef 12,000
from the tribe of Binyamin 12,000
9 After this, I looked; and there before me was a huge crowd, too large for anyone to count, from every nation, tribe, people and language. They were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands; 10 and they shouted,
“Victory to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb!”
A census is taken of Israel with specific numbering, but included alongside them are the “great mixture”. This time the percentages have tipped in the other direction.
The point here is that a very large number of former idolaters chose to abandon the comfort of their earlier lives in favor of what they believed to now be true.
They are now submitting to this mystery God. One in whom the people have never known.
(Looking forward, we do see the influence of these old ways reappear in the grumbling over food and the golden calf, but for now, they have chosen the path of deliverance.)
Imagine you fully submitted every ounce of your life to serving a powerful being. Your body is given over, your thoughts align fully, and every decision you make is weighed through the grid of that being's expectations. Sounds very spiritual, huh?
But it isn’t just spiritual folks that live like this. This is precisely how every person alive lives their life. We all bend our knee to something, some powerful being that dictates our happiness, gives us fulfillment, and shapes how we treat others.
The question is: Who is that powerful being?
Is it YHVH? Allah? Work? Church? The Republican party? CNN? Some combination of these? Something else?
For most believers, this is a very tough question. We like to think it is 100% YHVH and we’re even so bold as to tell other people exactly this (unless, of course it’s those folks at work who are telling dirty jokes or mocking the boss). If we’re honest with ourselves, though, it’s our politics, denomination, career, etc that heavily influence our expression of faith. Combine this with the fact that we have our own opinions, desires, judgments, wounds, needs, etc, and you can see how we have a perfect recipe for a deeply conflicted person.
If only someone could warn us when we have placed these other things ahead of God Himself.
I’m not sure if you remember but Pharaoh was warned of this exact outcome before a finger was lifted against him.
Exodus 4:18 Moshe left, returned to Yitro his father-in-law and said to him, “I beg you to let me go and return to my kinsmen in Egypt, to see if they are still alive.” Yitro said to Moshe, “Go in peace.” 19 Adonai said to Moshe in Midyan, “Go on back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moshe took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and started out for Egypt. Moshe took God’s staff in his hand. 21 Adonai said to Moshe, “When you get back to Egypt, make sure that you do before Pharaoh every one of the wonders I have enabled you to do. Nevertheless, I am going to make him hardhearted, and he will refuse to let the people go. 22 Then you are to tell Pharaoh: ‘Adonai says, “Isra’el is my firstborn son. 23 I have told you to let my son go in order to worship me, but you have refused to let him go. Well, then, I will kill your firstborn son!”’”
Think about this on the front end, then think about it again on the back. What if it were you being spoken to?
Confronted with the truth of your misguided worship and a request for you to repent for your actions, actions that have an oppressive and negative impact on others -- how do you respond? Any believer worth their salt would hands-down would give up every ounce of their entire being in order to be obedient to their God in Heaven. You would. I would, too.
Except for the part where we won’t. It’s in this moment the battle rages. On the one hand, we know what we should do. But on the other, we begin the count of what all we would lose.
If you know your work is destroying your life and causing you to make excuses along the way, you know you should simply walk away. But of course, you can’t -- or won’t.
If your political party is getting you to question care and service for others and presenting an “us vs them” allegiance, you know you should turn away. But you don’t -- because the other side might win.
If your church says you don’t need to worry about doing what God says but then you read accounts that seem to speak otherwise, you know you should question the position you’ve believed your entire life, but you can’t -- because everyone you know and love would then question you.
It’s these undercurrents that come for every single one of us. Why? Because they work. The Egyptian Pantheon wasn’t just a fairy tale. It was literally life. Question it and you get questioned. Fight it and you die. The weight of a culture is more than most people can bear, and the best way to remain at peace is to flow right along with it.
Even today, we spend countless hours counseling and correcting our children on resisting this exact thing, and yet…
It seems like this all powerful god is greater than anything we’ve ever encountered, and you’re 100% correct.
Before we confront this final god, let’s take a moment and see exactly how far we’ve come to break free (or be broken free) of the weight of this culture.
God struck Hapi (spirit of the Nile), Khnum (guardian of its source), and Osiris (the Nile as his bloodstream) . Egypt’s lifeline was turned to death. Today, this strikes at our false sources of security: money, resources, or institutions we trust to sustain us.
The call is to resist the spirit of self-sufficiency and return to the only true Source of life.
The goddess Heket, who embodied fertility and life, was exposed when frogs multiplied to the point of stench . What Egypt revered became revolting. Our “frogs” today are idols of ambition, entertainment, or pleasure that overrun our lives.
The call is to resist the spirit of idolatry that promises blessing but brings bondage .
From the dust, God raised swarms that humiliated Geb, the earth god . Even Egypt’s priests, obsessed with ritual purity, were covered in filth. Today we worship comfort, control, and security, but God shows that dust without His Spirit is lifeless torment .
The call is to resist the spirit of self-reliance and submit our foundations to Him.
This plague challenged Khepri, the scarab-headed god of rebirth, and Uatchit, the fly goddess . Instead of renewal and persistence, insects brought corruption and ruin . In our day, we idolize productivity and relentless hustle, but these swarms only devour.
The call is to resist the spirit of endless striving and rest in God’s timing.
Apis, the bull god of strength, and Hathor, the cow goddess of love and protection, were struck down. Wealth, food, and sacrifice all collapsed in a day . Today, money and possessions are fragile gods that vanish quickly.
The call is to resist the spirit of materialism and embrace eternal wealth in God’s Kingdom.
Ash became boils, silencing Sekhmet (goddess of plagues), Imhotep (god of medicine), and Isis (goddess of healing) . Health, the most prized possession, was humbled. Today, we idolize health and beauty, yet pain exposes our hearts.
The call is to resist the spirit of pride in the flesh and seek healing only from YHVH.
Hail and fire fell, challenging Nut (sky goddess), Shu (air god), and Isis (agriculture) . Egypt’s sky and crops were shattered despite their worship. Today, we place our hope in technology, science, or “control” over nature, but creation itself answers to God.
The call is to resist the spirit of arrogance against heaven’s warnings and bow to the Creator.
Seth, god of storms and disorder, and Neper, god of grain, were humiliated when locusts devoured what little remained . Food, harvest, and economy collapsed. Today, we worship productivity, career, and success but locusts of burnout and futility consume them.
The call is to resist the spirit of endless consumption and trust God as Provider.
Ra, the sun god, and Horus, god of kingship and protection, were silenced by three days of felt darkness. Pharaoh himself, “son of Ra,” was exposed as powerless. Today, we worship power, leadership, and influence, but when light fails, only YHVH remains.
The call is to resist the spirit of false light and cling to the true Light of the world.
---
And now, as we make this final turn into full repentance, we must face the most powerful god of all: us.
Of all the things man has to face in their lives, their own reflection and fallen state is certianly the most challenging. The final plague strikes at the heart of Egypt, but when we reflect more deeply, it also exposes the heart of man. Pharaoh was not the only one plagued with a hardened heart, we all are. The god we most often serve, the one that subtly governs our choices, is self. Every other idol we’ve named -- money, power, pleasure, politics, productivity -- only exists because self demanded them.
The story of this trouble begins in the Garden of Eden.
Adam and Chavah (Eve) had everything: food, companionship, beauty, and unbroken fellowship with God. But when the serpent whispered, “You will be like God,” it was selfishness that reached for the fruit. They chose their will above God’s will, their knowledge above His wisdom, their satisfaction above His command. That moment introduced death into the world, not only physical death, but the death of self-control, harmony, and trust. Ever since, selfishness has been the hidden current under every sin.
We see it play out in nearly everything we think, say, and do. In our thoughts, selfishness frames even good actions with questions like:
How will this benefit me?
Will others notice me?
What do I gain from this?
In our speech, selfishness shapes conversations. We interrupt, exaggerate, and spin stories to place ourselves at the center. Even in silence, selfishness broods with envy or self-pity. In our actions, selfishness steers us toward comfort and control: we choose convenience over sacrifice, reputation over righteousness, indulgence over obedience.
“You will be like God.”
What makes selfishness so insidious is that it hides behind pseudo-noble disguises. We call it ambition, self-care, confidence, or even “just being true to myself.” But left unchecked, it corrodes relationships, families, communities, and nations. It is the unseen Pharaoh ruling from within, demanding loyalty at the expense of everything else.
“You will be like God.”
In this sense, the final plague is a mirror. The death of the firstborn in Egypt was a judgment on pride, inheritance, and legacy -- everything selfishness clings to most tightly. And when we encounter this plague today, we are confronted with the reality that self must die if true life is to begin. Yeshua calls us to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow Him. Only by laying down the god of self do we escape the judgment that falls on Egypt, and step into the freedom God designed from the very beginning.
Want to know the irony is all of this? “You WILL be like God.” -- if you submit.
This is the true call upon your life right now: become like Yeshua. We aren’t supposed to become the god we want to be, we are supposed to be like the God we are called to be. It’s this loss of focus that consumed Adam and Eve.
In the wake of that fateful hour, this first couple had only one thing they needed to do to go back to the way things were. They needed to die. But this creates a dilemma. If they die, their legacy dies along with them. It eliminates all of mankind. It eliminates you. It eliminates me.
So there was an alternative presented: spill the blood of an animal and wear these skins as a cover for their newly exposed nakedness. This would provide a temporary cover for that dreadful mistake, and for every mistake after, they must again spill the blood again. And again. And again. So it carries on through every person throughout all of history.
All until such a time as the Perfect Sacrifice came along to cover it all for good. The model of the blood for atonement has always been in play for a fallen world. And it will be all the way through the return of YHVH back to this earth.
For this we should shout with great praise! In Abba’s mercy, He doesn’t eliminate you from the earth the moment you deserve it.
But if you fail to apply the Blood, your lineage will be consumed.
Throughout all of this, it would make perfect sense if Pharaoh’s final punishment was simply death. This would bring to closure the issue of a prideful and unrepentant man, and his willful defiance to God Himself. But, true to Biblical form, that is not what we see.
Apparently, there exists a consequence far greater than death. And that’s the death of those that carry your name. You, being full of yourself and invoking your own name as though it carries eternal weight, end up reaping the exact opposite effect. Instead of your name being great, it is made low. In fact, it disappears. The only thing that remains is the one true Name under Heaven.
In the wake of building a name for yourself, it all crumbles before your own eyes.
All the days of your life you get to sit and reflect back on what got you to where you are. Knowing that it was your decision that removed all hope for your firstborn to have a life that would then bring forth even more life. No family trips without the thought of what’s missing, no cookouts in the backyard with everyone present, no grandkids that carry on the mantle of the first born of your own life. All gone in an instant.
And it’s all because of you. YOU refused to apply the blood. As we know from the Book of Hebrews, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins.
Exodus 12:11 …It is Adonai’s Pesach [Passover]. 12 For that night, I will pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both men and animals; and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt; I am Adonai. 13 The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over you — when I strike the land of Egypt, the death blow will not strike you.
The message to every home in the land is this: If the blood is not shed and applied, the death blow is coming.
The Blood of Yeshua isn’t just language for good musical lyrics. It also isn’t just to serve as a billboard to get passers-by to repent. Good things, for sure, but this is not its limit. And it most certainly is not its full expression.
The Blood that gets applied to your door posts is an eternal marker that your home has been set apart for life, and your legacy will continue on in the earth -- even if it's just one more generation. This carries until such a time that the decision is then handed off to those in your family line. A decision then rests on their doorstep.
Every person on earth has this decision to make. Your salvation is not simply your own. It literally affects hundreds, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. It touches not only those in your family line, but the lives of everyone you encounter here on this earth. It touches even me.
Let loose of the old man that clings to the anchors of darkness. Those gods full of empty promises are just that -- empty. Better to voluntarily learn that instead of having tragedy appear at every turn.
As the smoke cleared in the land of Egypt, only one God remained. And that God is YHVH.
I guarantee that if you blow the smoke out of your own land, you will see the exact same thing.