The Passover

Previous: Let My People Go!

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This is Day 14 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

God had sent Moses and Aaron into Egypt to demand Pharaoh let the Israelites go. When Pharaoh refused, God sent nine plagues on the land. But still Pharaoh refused to release his slaves. In fact, he began treating the Israelites even more harshly. So the Lord sent a final plague into Egypt.

Moses told Pharaoh that at midnight the Lord would go across Egypt and kill all of the first-born males, from the first-born of Pharaoh to the first born of the lowest maid servant. Even the first-born of the cattle would be killed. But that the sons of Israel would not lose their first-born. Yet Pharaoh would not listen and still refused to let the Israelites go.

The Lord told Moses to have the Israelites eat a special meal. Each household would slaughter a year old, male, spotless lamb and take some of the blood and cover the doorposts of their homes with it. Then that night they were to roast and eat the lamb.

So the Lord went into Egypt and killed the first-born of all of the Egyptians. But any whose homes were covered by the blood of the lamb were safe. The Lord would "passover" the houses covered by the blood of the lamb. This was a pre-figuring of Christ who would be the final sacrificial lamb to die for all of us. Anyone who is covered by the blood of Christ shall not die, but have eternal life.

Pharaoh awoke in the night as did all the others in Egypt and found their first-born dead. And he finally relented and told Moses to take his people and go. The Egyptians were desperate to get the Israelites out of Egypt as quickly as possible and so the Israelites went, taking the dough from their bowls before the bread had even been leavened, and left Egypt. And God told Moses that the Israelites should celebrate this Passover annually with the feasts of unleavened bread where for seven days they would eat unleavened bread to remember how God lead them out of Egypt. And God told Moses that from then on, all first-born males would be consecrated to the Lord.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelites fled Egypt that night with their cattle and flocks, and taking the bones of Joseph with them. God lead them into the wilderness toward the Red Sea as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

But after the Israelites left, Pharaoh changed his mind and led his army after them. And when they came to the Red Sea, Pharaoh thought they would be trapped. When the Israelites, who were encamped because the sea, saw the Egyptian chariots coming they panicked because they had no faith in the Lord. And they screamed at Moses, "What have you done to us? You brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Were there not enough graves in Egypt?" But Moses told them not to fear, for the Lord would save them.

God told Moses to lift up his rod and stretch out his hand and divide the sea. And when he did so, the Israelites were able to cross on dry ground with the water like walls on either side of them. But when Pharaoh's chariots pursued them, the waters crashed back down, drowning them.

Then the Israelites sang to the Lord: "I will sing this song to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song and has become my salvation."

And the Lord led the Israelites toward the Promised Land.

Next: The People Grumble Against Moses.

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!