Great Bible Stories: Moses, part 4 (Exodus 11 and 12)

When we last left our friend Moses, God was raining plagues down on the Egyptians because the Pharaoh wouldn't let the Israelites leave. So far there has been frogs, gnats, flies, locusts, and other terrible things.

But God has one more left.

The Biggest Plague
"So Moses said, 'Thus says the Lord: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die..." (Exodus 11:4-5a)

This plague will be the biggest, most terrible plague of all. God is planning to kill the firstborn of every Egyptian. Pharaoh's stubborn resistance to God will now end in disaster not only for him, but for all of his people as well.

But so that the Israelites will be passed over in this terrible plague, God tells them to sacrifice a lamb and paint the blood on the doorpost. In this way, the lives of their children will be spared.

This is wonderful foreshadowing to the Lamb of God, the one who will be sacrificed to spare the children of God from death.

The Passover Arrives, and the Israelites Leave
And so, at midnight the Lord passes through and kills all of the firstborn of the Egyptians.

And it works. Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and says, "Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said." (Exodus 12:31)

The Egyptians that did not want the Israelites to go now want them to get out as quickly as possible, afraid that they will all die. So the Israelites leave, free at last.

This is also where Jews get their celebration of Passover; God instituted it after the Israelites left Egypt.

And this concludes the story of Moses that we will be looking at. I hope you enjoyed it!

Lessons Learned

• God will achieve his plan no matter what. He can get past any obstacles to do what He wills in our lives. As we saw last week and continued to see this week, opposing Him is definitely not a good move.
• Your sin can also affect the people around you. Pharaoh's stubbornness in letting the Israelites leave caused not only the death of his child, but much other death as well. Our sin can have a negative affect on the lives of those around us as well as our own.

 What do you think? Do you like this story? Do you agree with the lessons I have drawn from it? What other stories do you think I should do? Tell me in the comments below!