Friday 19 July 2024
Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians; and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. (v. 30)
Background
There is a great deal to explore in today’s passage. There is much to celebrate – after 430 years in Egypt, many of them spent as slaves, hundreds of thousands of Israelites finally made their way out of Egypt and took their first steps towards the land promised to their ancestors.
However, there is also a great deal that is disturbing and challenging. Like tomorrow’s passage, this is one that causes many to question whether the God of the Old Testament can be the same loving, compassionate God whom we encounter in Jesus. The final plague, the death of the firstborn, is horrific, affecting every Egyptian household, "from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon" (v. 29). A great many Egyptian families were not directly responsible for the oppression of the Israelites, or for the Pharoah’s decision to refuse to let them go. They were passively complicit – perhaps not giving much thought to the working conditions of the people who made their bricks, in the same way that many of us fail to consider the lives of those who manufacture our clothes for pennies in factories in Bangladesh.
Some scholars see the final plague as an inversion of Pharoah’s policy to murder all the male Israelite babies in Exodus chapter 1. Verse 30 in today’s passage describes ‘a loud cry’ that went up across Egypt, "for there was not a house without someone dead." Arguably, this is echoed in the story of the massacre of the infants by Herod in Matthew 2:16-18. After Herod ordered the death of all the children in Bethlehem aged two or under, Matthew quotes the prophet Jeremiah, who says: "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children." There was the same widespread, senseless death – the loud cry – and yet, in today’s passage from Exodus, the plague is brought about not by an evil tyrant, but by God.
There is no simple answer that takes away the challenge contained in this passage. However, I found it helpful to discover that, in the Jewish Passover liturgy, wine is spilt as a reminder that the Israelites' liberation from Egypt came at a price. "We have poured a bit of our glasses, since we cannot be completely joyful, our cups cannot be completely full, when the Egyptians, God’s creatures like ourselves, had to suffer." There is no triumph – only sadness at the Egyptians’ loss.
To Ponder:
- When you look at media reports of wars and other atrocities, is there a tendency to portray one side as universally evil, and another as universally good? Or is there a recognition that all human suffering is a tragedy? How is this reflected in prayers in churches?
- Are there systems of oppression in which you might be unthinkingly complicit? Is there something you could do to change this? For instance, could you change your buying habits to ensure your clothes aren’t made in sweatshops? See this article for some interesting suggestions.
Bible notes author: The Revd Naomi Oates
Naomi is a Methodist minister, currently serving in four churches in the North Kent Circuit. When not being rugby-tackled by her two toddlers, she enjoys cycling, baking and reading Golden Age detective fiction (although not all at the same time).