EXODUS LESSON 23


    We will begin this lesson in Exodus 12:25 "And it shall come to
pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you,
according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service."

    God was reminding these Hebrews, here, that He had not forgotten
His promise to give them the land of promise, but He expected them to
celebrate this Passover, when they arrived in this land.

    Exodus 12:26 "And it shall come to pass, when your children shall
say unto you, What mean ye by this service?" Exodus 12:27 "That ye
shall say, It [is] the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed
over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the
Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and
worshipped."

    God, in this, was reminding these Israelites that it was by His
mighty hand that they were spared their firstborn. God expected His
people to tell their children, and their children's children, on down
through the ages every year that God had the destroyer to pass over
their house and spare their families.  He did not want them to forget.
At each Passover Feast, the story was told again how God saved Israel.
These people were so thankful to God for not only the destroyer passing
over their house, but they knew, now, that their deliverance from this
terrible bondage was here, as well. They bowed their heads and thank God.

    Exodus 12:28 "And the children of Israel went away, and did as the
LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they."

    We need to stop and look at this whole incident, here.  We see in
verse 28, that these children of Israel had finally accepted that this
was God who had intervened in their behalf.  They were no longer
complaining about the heavy load put on them, when Moses first spoke to
Pharaoh for them.  These Israelites were saved by the shed blood of
this lamb. If we really look at the above Scriptures, we see that
they, also, killed the lamb.  We, Christians, fall into this category,
too.  The Lamb of God was slain to deliver us, but we, also, were the
ones who killed the Lamb.  It was all of our sins that nailed Him to
the cross.  It troubles me greatly that so many ministers have stopped
preaching about the blood.  The blood is what saved us.  Without the
shedding of the blood, there is no remission of sin.  (Hebrews 9:22)
If we take the blood out of our belief, we have lost our salvation.

    Exodus 12:29  "And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD
smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of
Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that
[was] in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle."

    We discussed, before, that God struck these cattle, because they
 were objects of worship in Egypt.  God defamed this false god, when
 He killed their firstborn.  With God, there is no difference in the
 Pharaoh and the prisoner.  God is no respecter of persons.  The
 Pharaoh was Pharaoh, because God made him ruler.  Had God spared
 Pharaoh's family, he would, probably, not have been moved to let the
 children of Israel go.  You remember, in an earlier lesson, that
 Pharaoh had no compassion, when his people alone were plagued. Pharaoh
 only took notice when it affected him.  This happening at midnight,
 just made the deaths more terrifying.

    Exodus 12:30 "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and 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."

    This had to be one of the worst crises Egypt had ever faced.  When
 God struck a blow of judgement, such as this, there was nowhere to go
 for comfort.  There was no question where this punishment came from;
 Moses had warned Pharaoh ahead of time.  This "hurt" had been felt by
 every family in Egypt.  We must relate all Scripture to our standing
 with God.  God has warned over and over in the Scriptures of a great
 day of God's wrath that will come upon those who do not accept His
 Son as Saviour.  There is no excuse acceptable for those who do not
 repent, and turn from the world (Egypt).  The wrath of God will fall
 on the worldly people, just as it fell this night on the firstborn of
 Egypt.  God is patient, not willing that one be lost.  ll Peter 3:9,
 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
 slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any
 should perish, but that all should come to repentance."  God has a
 day set, that will be like this tenth plague.  On that day, He will
 say: IT IS ENOUGH, then His wrath will fall.  Don't wait; repent and
 receive Jesus as your Saviour today.

    Exodus 12:31  "And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and
said, Rise up, [and] get you forth from among my people, both ye and
the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said."

    This death of the firstborn was so terrible, that Pharaoh couldn't
 wait until morning.  He wanted to be rid of Moses, Aaron, and the
 children of Israel, who had brought so much sorrow into his home and
 in Egypt.  At this point, I believe, Pharaoh was frightened of Moses'
 God.  Pharaoh was no longer concerned about the money it would cost him,
 to lose this approximately three million people.  When you fear for
 your life, money becomes very unimportant.  It appears, here, at any
 rate, that Pharaoh had completely given up.  The Israelites could even
 take their livestock with them, also, because Pharaoh said "as ye
 have said".  This was not saying, you can go if you want to, but get
 out.  Pharaoh had had enough plagues.

    Exodus 12:32 "Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have
said, and be gone; and bless me also."

    Here, we see a plea of Pharaoh.  He asked Moses to not only leave,
but to stop the plagues.  In his last statement (bless me also),
Pharaoh was finally recognizing Moses' God.  He admited He (God) had the
ability to bless, or curse.

    Exodus 12:33 "And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that
they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We [be]
all dead [men]."

    We see, here, the fear that gripped these Egyptians' hearts.  They
did not believe any would be alive, after one more plague from God.
Each plague got worse, and they knew this tenth plague had affected
every family in Egypt.  Here, we see them saying hurry up and get out
of here, we can't stand anymore.

    Exodus 12:34 "And the people took their dough before it was
leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon
their shoulders."

    I believe this Scripture was just explaining how hastily the
children of Israel left Egypt and, also, to show that they left
nothing behind. They took all their possessions.  Notice, this week of
unleavened bread would be completed, as they went.  (They took their
dough before it was leavened).

    Exodus 12:35 "And the children of Israel did according to the word
of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and
jewels of gold, and raiment:" Exodus 12:36 "And the LORD gave the
people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto
them [such things as they required]. And they spoiled the Egyptians."

    This word translated "borrowed", here, has a number of meanings.
One meaning is request, another is demand.  Some milder words it could
be translated are ask, require, obtain, and wish.  You can see from
all these possibilities of translations, that these Egyptians, probably,
knew that these were not to be returned.  This was, probably, like
back pay these people had not received during their years of servant
toil.  The Egyptians were happy to give them these things, to be rid of
them.  I really believe a certain amount of guilt (for the way they
had treated the Israelites) was present here, and they (Egyptians )
wanted to send them off with no hard feelings.  At any rate, the
Israelites got the goods, and spoiled the Egyptians.  These jewels of
gold and silver would be required of God for the tabernacle in the
wilderness, later.  Note that God sees nothing wrong in silver and
gold.  Only the misuse of silver and gold is wrong. Verse 36 allows us
to see that the Israelites left Egypt not as slaves, but as
conquerors.  Remember, they had not won the battle, but God won
the battle for them.

    Exodus 12:37  "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses
to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot [that were] men, beside
children."

    This 600,000 men causes us to estimate, that when you add the women
and children to this number, it would be approximately three million
people.  Rameses was a main city of Goshen, where the Israelites had
lived, while they stayed in Egypt.  This Succoth was an ancient town in
Palestine.  Here, we see the beginning and the end of this journey,
which should take just a few days, but lasts forty years.

    Exodus 12:38 "And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and
flocks, and herds, [even] very much cattle."

    We are not told exactly who this mixed multitude was.  All we can
 do is suppose.  Perhaps, it was people who had been in servitude to
 the Pharaoh.  The Pharaoh had opened his gates to let the Hebrews
 leave, and in so doing, probably released other nationalities with
 them, in fear that he might not let all the Israelites go.  At any
 rate, they were people who were not the children of Israel (strangers).
 This was undoubtedly a vast amount of humanity and animals leaving
 Egypt.

    Exodus 12:39 "And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which
they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they
were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they
prepared for themselves any victual."

    This is a strange statement (because they were thrust out of
Egypt).  It appears that, the reason the bread was unleavened, was
because God told them to eat unleavened bread.  This could be their
first act of rebellion toward God on their way to the promised land.
They hurriedly baked unleavened bread to eat along the way.
































                          Exodus 23 Questions


1.  God was giving them the promised land, but what must they do?
2.  What question would their children ask in years to come?
3.  What should be their answer?
4.  What did the people do, when Moses told them what they should do?
5.  What was told at every Passover Feast?
6.  What two things were these Israelites thankful for?
7.  When they went away from Moses, what did they do?
8.  Why had these Israelites stopped complaining?
9.  What saved the Israelites?
10. What protects us, Christians, from Satan?
11. Besides being saved by the lamb, what had they done to the lamb?
12. Relate this to the Christians.
13. What did Hebrews 9:22 tell us about blood?
14. Was Pharaoh's family spared in this death of the firstborn?
15. Why did God kill the cattle?
16. Who all in Egypt was affected by the tenth plague?
17. When we do not heed God's warning, what happens?
18. When did he call Moses and Aaron?
19. What restrictions did Pharaoh put on the Israelites?
20. What emotion was Pharaoh feeling, when he called Moses and Aaron?
21. Approximately, how many Israelites would leave Egypt?
22. Where did we get that number?
23. What did Pharaoh ask Moses to do for him?
24. What was he admitting in this request?
25. What did they fear, if the Israelites didn't leave?
26. What tells you of the haste the Israelites left in?
27. How were they to obtain silver and gold?
28. What are some of the meanings for the word that was translated
    "borrowed"?
29. What made this correct to do?
30. What one word shows the Israelites won over the Egyptians?
31. Who had actually won the battle?
32. From where did the Israelites leave?
33. Where was their destination?
34. Who went with them?
35. What might be the first indication of rebellion on the part of the
    Israelites?