Exodus 11.1-15.21
Exodus 11.1-15.21; Psalm 77
In the narrative of Exodus, the final plague is set off by a formal introduction: “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here…he will drive you out of here” (11.1). The prelude to the tenth plague catches the reader up to speed on Egyptian-Israelite relations: “The LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And the man Moses was feared in the land of Egypt, by Pharaoh’s officials and the people” (v. 3). This was in accord with the word of the LORD to Abraham in Gen 15: “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be strangers in a land that does not belong to them; they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterwards they will go out with many possessions” (vv. 13-14; cf. Ex 12.35).
The bulk of Ex 11-15 is God’s instruction for ceremonies that Israel was to faithfully observe so that the tenth plague of Egypt would be remembered from generation-to-generation, as Moses instructed:
“Keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to observe this ritual. When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean to you?’ you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and spared our homes’” (12.24-27a).
Thus God was not interested in simply freeing an oppressed people; rather the exodus was a significant event in ‘nation building.’ While midway through ch 12 the text abruptly shifts from ceremonial instruction to the description of the tenth plague, “Now at midnight the LORD struck every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock” (v. 29), the end of the chapter returns again to the ceremonial description, “This same night is in honor of the LORD, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations,” (v. 42). The final paragraph of ch 12 and most of ch 13 contain ceremonial instructions for how Israelites were to remember the Passover.
After the firstborn in Egypt had been struck by the plague and Israel had received instruction for remembering their redemption, it seems that God placed an exclamation point on the Exodus (ch 14); God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to pursue Israel (v. 4). This naturally led to fright amongst the Hebrews (vv. 10-12), and further displays of God’s glory. There was a ‘secondary deliverance’ through the parting of the waters (vv. 13-22; cf. Ps 77.19-20) followed by the destruction of Pharaoh and his army (vv. 23-30). The vision of the perishing Egyptians was no doubt a comfort for Israel—Pharaoh could never harm them again! It is no wonder that Moses records a song of praise for all that God had done (ch. 15).
The Passover ceremony instituted in these chapters is paradigmatic for the storyline of Scripture —especially the institution of the Lord’s Supper. On the night Jesus was betrayed, He celebrated the Passover with His disciples, and said:
“When the hour came, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. Then He said to them, ‘I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves. For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’
And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’
In the same way He also took the cup after supper and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant established by My blood; it is shed for you’” (cf. Lk 22.14-20).
There are thus points of continuity between the Passover of Israel and the Lord’s Supper. But the discontinuity between the two is no small matter. Believers under the New Covenant can appreciate God’s sovereignty in redemption, but our redemption is from the dominion of Satan, of sin, death, and Law (cf. Rom 5.12-21; Col 1.13-22)—not Pharaoh and his taskmasters. Thus our ceremonies are different. We don’t partake of unleavened bread in specific garb; rather we recall the broken body of Christ, His shed blood, and His resurrection. Perhaps the most striking difference between Israel’s Passover and the celebration of the Lord’s Super is that the latter includes an additional aspect of devotion that was not mandated in the ceremonies of Israel. That is, nowhere in Exodus 11-15 were the children of Israel commanded to remember one another for community edification—the very matter which became the point of emphasis for the Apostle Paul when he applied the Lord’s Supper to the community of the church. To the Corinthians—a church steeped in selfishness—he wrote:
“Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy way will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. So a man should examine himself; in this way he should eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body (i.e., Christ’s physical body, and the body of the church), eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Cor 11.27-29).
*For a complete list of references, please see scripturestoryline.com