Escape - Finally

Exodus 12:31-50

³³The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. ³⁵The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ³⁶And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. ³⁷And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. ⁴⁰The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴²It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.  ⁴³And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, ⁴⁴but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. ⁴⁶It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. ⁴⁷All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. ⁴⁹There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” ⁵⁰All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

After weeks of watching God deal with their slaves masters the Hebrews finally exit Egypt. They don’t run away they are sent out of the country by the Pharaoh who finally realizes God isn’t kidding. The final plague of the death of the firstborn and the subsequent wailing of his own people is enough to motivate Pharaoh to relent and send the Hebrews out into the desert.

Israel left Egypt on sudden notice, freely, rapidly, and comparatively wealthy. In this section of the narrative Moses helps the reader understand four things: the suddenness of the exodus; why Pharaoh and the Egyptians finally gave full and even eager permission for the exodus; why the Passover observance so strongly emphasizes eating unyeasted bread; and how the Israelites financed their forty years in the wilderness, a fact that explains their eventual ability to contribute and/or purchase precious metals and other valuable materials for the tabernacle.

Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2, p. 293). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Not only does Pharaoh tell the Hebrews to go, he actually asks for God to bless him. The last Pharaoh to make such a request was Egypt’s leader during the time of Joseph 430 years earlier. Temporarily, this Pharaoh has acquiesced the fact that Yahweh was the greater God and worthy of obedience. Not only are the Children of Israel sent out of the country, they are allowed to plunder the Egyptians on their way out as they ask their captors for gold, silver, and clothing. These requests are granted because predisposes the Egyptians to react favorably to those they have enslaved for years. This “plunder” could be comparable to the spoils of war. God has won this war. This plunder will be used later to help sustain them during 40 years of wandering and to supply the building of the Tabernacle.

Verse 38 (A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds) is significant because we are allowed to see that God has always been inclusive of all nationalities. The “multitude” probably included Egyptians who were convinced of the glory of God as well as other nomadic people who witnessed God’s power in the events of the plague. As long as these “outsiders” were willing to comply with God’s laws and demands they were considered a part of His people and allowed to experience His blessings as such. This verse confirms that the Israelites of the exodus (and thereafter) were actually a mixed people ethnically.

Several verses are dedicated to the fact that the people left in a hurry. They take up the food that is left-over from their Passover meal wrapped up in cloth, their animals, the plunder the Egyptians handed them, and all of their people and go – quickly. That left over unleavened bread becomes almost like “hard tack” so that they would have food for the journey. They also appear to leave the same day as the last plague takes place. When the Pharaoh finally realizes the death of the first born sons has occurred he’s anxious to be rid of these people. When He says “go” they do exactly that.

There are many different ways to look at the number of people who actually left in the Exodus. The NIV, ESV, and numerous other translations say there were 600,000 men on foot not including women and children. I’m a literalist so for me that puts the number of those leaving Egypt well over 1,000,000. There are commentators out there who don’t agree with that number and put it at more like 30,000 (an how they arrive at that number is rather convoluted and I believe reflects more of an inability to believe the number could be so high as to exceed 1,000,000.) Either way, God’s provision is miraculous.

There are things in my own life that would be considerably smaller miracles if I would only hand them over to God with sincere trust that He is completely able to provide for my need. I guess if He can take care of freeing over 1,000,000 slaves from Egypt He can handle my puny requests.