THE LAST PLAGUE ANNOUNCED.
Exo 11:1-10.
The eleventh chapter is, strictly speaking, a supplement to the
tenth: the first verses speak, as if in parenthesis, of a revelation
made before the ninth plague, but held over to be mentioned in
connection with the last, which it now announces; and the
conversation with Pharaoh is a continuation of the same in which
they mutually resolved to see each other's face no more. To account
for the confidence of Moses, we are now told that God had revealed
to him the close approach of the final blow, so long foreseen. In
spite of seeming delays, the hour of the promise had arrived; in
spite of his long reluctance, the king should even thrust them out;
and then the order and discipline of their retreat would exhibit the
advantages gained by expectation, by promises ofttimes disappointed,
but always, like a false alarm which tries the readiness of a
garrison, exhibiting the weak points in their organisation, and
carrying their preparations farther.
The command given already to the women (Exo 3:22) is now extended
to them all--that they should ask of the terror-stricken people such
portable things as, however precious, poorly requited their
generations of unpaid and cruel toil. (It has been already shown
that the word absurdly rendered "borrow" means to ask; and is the
same as when Sisera asked water and Jael gave him milk, and
when Solomon asked wisdom, and did not ask long life,
neither asked riches, neither asked the life of his
enemies.) They were now to claim such wages as they could carry off,
and thus the pride of Egypt was presently dedicated to construct and
beautify the tabernacle of Jehovah. We read that the people found
favour with the Egyptians, who were doubtless overjoyed to come to
any sort of terms with them; "moreover the man Moses was very great
in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the
sight of the people." This is no unbecoming vaunt: it speaks only of
the high place he held, as God's deputy and herald; and this tone of
keen appreciation of the rank conceded him, compared with the utter
absence of any insistence upon any action of his own, is evidence
much rather of the authenticity of the work than the reverse.
By these demands expectation and faith were intensified; while
the tidings of such confidence on one side, and such tame submission
on the other, goes far to explain the suspicions and the rage of
Pharaoh.
With this the narrative is resumed. Moses had said, "Thou shalt
see my face no more." Now he adds, "Thus saith Jehovah, About
midnight" (but not on that same night, since four days of
preparation for the passover were yet to come) "I will go out into
the midst of Egypt." This, then, was the meaning of his ready
consent to be seen no more: Jehovah Himself, Who had dealt so
dreadfully with them through other hands, was now Himself to come.
"And all the firstborn of Egypt shall die," from the firstborn and
viceroy of the king to the firstborn of the meanest of women, and
even of the cattle in their stalls. (It is surely a remarkable
coincidence that Menephtah's heroic son did actually sit upon his
throne, that inscriptions engraven during his life exhibit his name
in the royal cartouche, but that he perished early, and long before
his father.) And the wail of demonstrative Oriental agony should be
such as never was heard before. But the children of Israel should be
distinguished and protected by their God. And all these courtiers
should come and bow down before Moses (who even then has the good
feeling not to include the king himself in this abasement), and
instead of Pharaoh's insulting "Get thee from me--see my face no
more," they should pray him saying, "Go hence, thou and thy people
that follow thee." And remembering the abject entreaties, the
infatuated treacheries, and now this crowning insult, he went out
from Pharaoh in hot anger. He was angry and sinned not.
The ninth and tenth verses are a kind of summary: the appeals to
Pharaoh are all over, and henceforth we shall find Moses preparing
his own followers for their exodus. "And the Lord (had) said unto
Moses, Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, that My wonders may be
multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these
wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord made strong Pharaoh's heart,
and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land."
In the Gospel of St. John there comes just such a period. The
record of miracle and controversy is at an end, and Jesus withdraws
into the bosom of His intimate circle. It is scarcely possible that
the evangelist was unconscious of the influence of this passage when
he wrote: "But though He had done so many signs before them, yet
they believed not on Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might
be fulfilled which he spoke, Lord, who hath believed our report?...
For this cause they could not believe, because that Isaiah said
again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest
they should see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and
should turn, and I should heal them" (Joh 12:37-40).
This is the tragedy of Egypt repeated in Israel; and the fact
that the chosen seed is now the reprobate suffices, if any doubt
remain, to prove that reprobation itself was not caprice, but
retribution.