Day 43
Exodus 11:1-12:51
(11 | 12)
The LORD tells Moses of the final plague he will bring against Egypt; the plague on the firstborn. Moses reports to Pharaoh that unless the Israelites are allowed to leave, the LORD will go throughout the land at midnight, and every single firstborn son throughout Egypt - from the firstborn son of the Pharaoh to the firstborn of the cattle - will die. However, the LORD will distinguish between Egyptians and Israelites. No one will be harmed amongst the Israelites.
God warns Moses that Pharaoh will not listen to him. He also tells Moses that once the effects of the plague are felt, the Egyptians will practically beg the Israelites to leave. At that point, the Israelites are to ask their Egyptian neighbours for gold, silver and clothing.
The LORD tells the people of Israel how to avoid the plague falling on their houses; they are to mark the top and both sides of their door frame with the blood of a lamb. If they mark their doors with this sign, the LORD will send his destroyer past their houses.
The LORD also passes down instructions for how and when this event is to be celebrated in the future; I suggest you read the passage for yourself to get the full instructions. But basically, the Israelites are to mark the actual day of the LORD passing over the Israelites' houses by slaughtering a choice lamb, marking the top and both sides of their door frame with its blood, and cooking the lamb and eating it. Starting from that day and for the next week, everyone is to eat unleavened bread - or bread without yeast. In fact, they are to eat nothing containing yeast. The whole festival is to be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. At the end of the chapter, the LORD also lays down rules for foreigners at the time Passover is to be celebrated.
So the plague arrives, and is as destructive as Moses warned. Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and finally allows them to take the whole nation of Israel up out of Egypt - man, woman, child and livestock are all now allowed to leave. So the nation of Israel gets up and leaves Egypt that very night. They're forced to leave before adding yeast to the bread they were baking.
The nation of Israel spent a grand total of 430 years in Egypt before God brought them out.
Matthew 27:11-44
(27:11-44)
Jesus is taken before Pontius Pilate, the governor. There, charges are levelled against him, but short of confirming his claim to being the King of the Jews, he refuses to answer any of the charges.
Pilate realises that the charges levelled against Jesus were borne out of envy. So he decides to put Jesus' fate up to the people. Now, this was all happening at the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was Pilate's custom to release one prisoner to the people during the feast. So he asks them who they want to be released; Jesus, or a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. At the prompting of the priests and elders, the crowd ask for Barrabas to be released, and for Jesus to be executed.
So Pilate washes his hands of Jesus' blood before the crowd, and has him flogged. A Roman flogging was brutal - some people died from that alone. However, Jesus survives the flogging, and is handed over to be crucified. Before the journey to the crucifixion site, Jesus is mocked by the whole company of the governor's soldiers. Once he has been crucified, the soldiers fight over the division of his clothing, and passers-by begin to hurl abuse at him too. Two thieves crucified alongside Jesus also hurled abuse at Jesus.
It can be quite easy to gloss over the crucifixion as this thing that just... happened. It can be easy to forget just how brutal and terrible Roman crucifixions were. There's probably a part of us that doesn't really want to understand or consider just what Jesus went through for us. But that just makes it all the more incredible. Jesus went through unimaginable suffering in order to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He did it for us. That's just... wow. I hope I can never get my head round that.
Psalm 21:1-7
(21:1-7)
In the first part of this psalm, David rejoices in the victories the LORD has granted him. He praises God for the way he granted his requests. The most important line of the passage comes in verse 7: "For the king trusts in the LORD; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken."
Exodus 11:1-12:51
(11 | 12)
The LORD tells Moses of the final plague he will bring against Egypt; the plague on the firstborn. Moses reports to Pharaoh that unless the Israelites are allowed to leave, the LORD will go throughout the land at midnight, and every single firstborn son throughout Egypt - from the firstborn son of the Pharaoh to the firstborn of the cattle - will die. However, the LORD will distinguish between Egyptians and Israelites. No one will be harmed amongst the Israelites.
God warns Moses that Pharaoh will not listen to him. He also tells Moses that once the effects of the plague are felt, the Egyptians will practically beg the Israelites to leave. At that point, the Israelites are to ask their Egyptian neighbours for gold, silver and clothing.
The LORD tells the people of Israel how to avoid the plague falling on their houses; they are to mark the top and both sides of their door frame with the blood of a lamb. If they mark their doors with this sign, the LORD will send his destroyer past their houses.
The LORD also passes down instructions for how and when this event is to be celebrated in the future; I suggest you read the passage for yourself to get the full instructions. But basically, the Israelites are to mark the actual day of the LORD passing over the Israelites' houses by slaughtering a choice lamb, marking the top and both sides of their door frame with its blood, and cooking the lamb and eating it. Starting from that day and for the next week, everyone is to eat unleavened bread - or bread without yeast. In fact, they are to eat nothing containing yeast. The whole festival is to be called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. At the end of the chapter, the LORD also lays down rules for foreigners at the time Passover is to be celebrated.
So the plague arrives, and is as destructive as Moses warned. Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and finally allows them to take the whole nation of Israel up out of Egypt - man, woman, child and livestock are all now allowed to leave. So the nation of Israel gets up and leaves Egypt that very night. They're forced to leave before adding yeast to the bread they were baking.
The nation of Israel spent a grand total of 430 years in Egypt before God brought them out.
Matthew 27:11-44
(27:11-44)
Jesus is taken before Pontius Pilate, the governor. There, charges are levelled against him, but short of confirming his claim to being the King of the Jews, he refuses to answer any of the charges.
Pilate realises that the charges levelled against Jesus were borne out of envy. So he decides to put Jesus' fate up to the people. Now, this was all happening at the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was Pilate's custom to release one prisoner to the people during the feast. So he asks them who they want to be released; Jesus, or a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. At the prompting of the priests and elders, the crowd ask for Barrabas to be released, and for Jesus to be executed.
So Pilate washes his hands of Jesus' blood before the crowd, and has him flogged. A Roman flogging was brutal - some people died from that alone. However, Jesus survives the flogging, and is handed over to be crucified. Before the journey to the crucifixion site, Jesus is mocked by the whole company of the governor's soldiers. Once he has been crucified, the soldiers fight over the division of his clothing, and passers-by begin to hurl abuse at him too. Two thieves crucified alongside Jesus also hurled abuse at Jesus.
It can be quite easy to gloss over the crucifixion as this thing that just... happened. It can be easy to forget just how brutal and terrible Roman crucifixions were. There's probably a part of us that doesn't really want to understand or consider just what Jesus went through for us. But that just makes it all the more incredible. Jesus went through unimaginable suffering in order to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He did it for us. That's just... wow. I hope I can never get my head round that.
Psalm 21:1-7
(21:1-7)
In the first part of this psalm, David rejoices in the victories the LORD has granted him. He praises God for the way he granted his requests. The most important line of the passage comes in verse 7: "For the king trusts in the LORD; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken."
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