16-17 “Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ 18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’”

19-20 “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. 21-22 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbour, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewellery, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” Exodus 3:16-22 English Standard Version

Durign his encounter with God at the burning bush, Moses was told to take God's promise of salvation to the leaders of the Hebrew people who were in great bondage in Egypt. It's a bit like the gospel message the apostles were sent into the world with over 1000 years later. But Moses and the Hebrews would face two big obstacles. What was the first one? (vs 19-20)

They would be strongly resisted by the King of Egypt! But how do vs 19-20 say this obstacle would be overcome?

God would powerfully do mighty wonders in Egypt which would would overcome the King's resistance. The other obstacle they'd face would be when they came to the land inhabited by the nations and tribes described in vs 16-17. These were strong nations where Satan held sway. Idol worship, child sacrifice and many other terrible things were common. In this matter the Hebrews would have to cling to God's promise that He would give them land.

Verses 21-22 introduce an unexpected addition to all this where God says that they would not leave Egypt as people who are poor and destitute, but they would ask the Egyptians for silver, gold and clothing, and the Egyptians would be only to willing to give them all they asked for. In this way they would plunder the Egyptians. It made me think of an incident in the gospels that ties in with what we read here in Exodus.

We read in Matthew 12 that Jesus healed a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute so that the man spoke and saw. Matthew tells us that “when the Pharisees heard it, they said, 'It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.'” Jesus answered them by saying: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.” (From Matthew 12:22-29)

Jesus spoke there of someone stronger than Satan who could bind the powers of darkness and plunder his kingdom. We have a picture of that in Exodus when God would enable the Hebrews to plunder the Egyptians. Remember, the Egyptians had impoverished the Hebrews by using them as slaves, but they were now obliged to give them the wages they were owed. The apostle Paul spoke of even greater riches when he prayed for Christians that God would give us “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that we may know what is the hope to which He has called us, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.” (Ephesians 1: 17-18)