July 21, 2026
Tuesday, July 21
There are a couple of unusual things about the tenth and final plague that God inflicted upon Egypt. First is the incongruity of a God who—in the form of Jesus—clearly loved children and often pointed to them as more ready for the Kingdom of God than adults, but who in Exodus sent His angel to kill thousands of them. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.
The other strange part of this story is that, before the plague even occurs, God goes to great lengths in Exodus 12 to instruct the people on how to remember this event in the future. Here’s how the chapter starts:
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
Interesting, isn’t it? Right at the cusp of their long-awaited liberation, God is commanding them to change their annual calendar.
He then shifts from the future to the present. On the 10th day of the month, every Israelite family should find a male lamb, one year old, spotless, and bring it into their home. Then on the 14th. they should slaughter that lamb precisely at midnight, and use some hyssop to spread the blood on the door of their house. Then, roast and eat it all. Let none of it be left over until morning. That’s the night the death angel is coming. V. 13 says, “The blood will be a sign for you, on the houses where you are.”
Then in v. 14, He shifts back to the future:
This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
He goes on to talk in great detail about what this new ritual will look like. Every year, on the 14th day of the new year (March or April for us today), they should kill and roast a lamb. That will be the beginning of a week of observance, as they eat bread made without yeast. In fact, God is very specific: There shouldn’t even be any yeast in your home for those seven days each year.
I can’t tell you what Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel thought when they heard these instructions. As for me, I am sure that I would have been fixated on the idea that the death angel was coming, and I needed to make sure every Israelite home (especially mine) had a year-old spotless lamb and knew all the instructions. I might wonder why God was spending so much time telling us about a celebration we would have at some undetermined time in the future. Can’t we discuss that later?
Whatever those men were thinking, they went out and led the people well. When the 14th came, the Israelites were ready. In the years to come, they would learn that, in the words of Isaiah, God’s thoughts are higher than ours. We think only of the immediate, the urgent. God has a longer-range plan for our lives, and for the world. Aren’t you glad He does? Isn’t it good to know He isn’t reacting to problems in the moment, but working toward an end goal that is glorious in every way?
“Lord, my job is not to understand everything that happens. It’s to trust and obey you. Increase my faith and obedience, but I pray also that I would have spiritual eyes to see the way you’ve worked in my life in the past, so that I might tell your stories. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Conroe
More from Pastor Jeff at his website: jeffbergerwriting.com
