Exodus 11

Exodus 11: The plague on the firstborn

Synopsis

This is the final plague sent to the Egyptians by the LORD.

Just as with the previous plagues, God sends Moses to the Pharaoh to warn him that it’s coming, and the Pharaoh refuses to let them go, so God sends the plague. It is, however, the most serious one yet: Every firstborn son in Egypt will die—“from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well” (verse 5). In the previous chapter, Moses had said that Pharaoh would never see him again, but that didn’t turn out to be true, because after delivering his pronouncement, Moses leaves Pharaoh, “hot with anger” (verse 8).

Thoughts

This chapter mentions something very interesting, in verse 3: Although all of these plagues have been sent to the Egyptians, the Egyptian people are “favourably disposed” toward the Hebrews, and “Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people”. Apparently the Egyptian people have the right perspective on this: This issue is between the LORD and Pharaoh.