Day 1066: Satan plundered - Exodus 12 vs 29 - 36.

29-30 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 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 someone was not dead. 31-33 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

33-34 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35-36 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewellery and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. Exodus 12:29-36 English Standard Version

God's judgment on the Egyptians who had enslaved His people for many years reached it's peak in the death of all their firstborn of man and beast. Verses 29-30 describe the terror that swept through the land. As I said in a previous post, many people might say this was cruel, and ask “why would God do such a thing?” But we need to remember that the Egyptians had made the Hebrew people slaves, reduced them to poverty, and even tried to force them to kill their male children. So God's judgment was appropriate to the crime. Remember too that all the earlier plagues had been an opportunity for the Egyptians to obey God's command to set the Israelites free.

The really amazing part of this event, and what shows that it wasn't a 'sudden act of anger' by God, is how it was a fulfilment of the promise He made to a man named Abram more than 400 years earlier. His name was changed later to Abraham. God had called him away from where he had been living to a land He would show him. And in Genesis 15:1 we read that “the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: 'Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.'”

God promised Abram that he would have an heir, and that his descendants would be as many as the stars of heaven. Later that day, we're told that “as the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, 'Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgement on the nation that they serve, and afterwards they shall come out with great possessions.'” (Genesis 15:12-14)

What happened in the time of Moses was not some chance event, or an accident of history. It was the outworking of God's purpose in establishing a nation through whom the Messiah would come, and who would bring freedom to the world from the bondage of sin. Years later the writer of a Psalm recapped the journey of Israel from the days of Abraham, and said: “God brought Israel out with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled. Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.” (Psalm 105:37-38) And so it was that Israel plundered the Egyptians.

But there's a greater plundering than the plunder of the Egyptians that day. When Jesus was in the world He cast demons out of people's lives. Some Pharisees said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” To which Jesus replied: “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.” (Matthew 12:29) Throughout the ages Jesus has plundered Satan's kingdom. Every man, woman, and child who believes on Christ is part of that plunder. And of them Christ can truly say: “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” (Hebrews 2:13)