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The descendants of Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, settled in Egypt. They were enslaved by the Egyptians as their numbers increased. God sent Moses to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to demand their freedom. Each time Pharaoh rejected God’s demands, He sent disasters as punishments upon Egypt. This happened ten times. The final punishment was for God to kill all of the firstborn sons and firstborn cattle throughout the land.
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.
12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.
28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
There was only one way to avoid this catastrophe. Only those who obeyed God’s requirement would be saved. God commanded Abraham’s children to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and put its blood on their doorposts. There was weeping throughout the land of Egypt as the firstborn sons and cattle of each family died. God mercifully passed over those who had sacrificed a lamb, and they were saved. With this final punishment, Pharaoh allowed the people to go free from Egypt.
After they left Egypt, God also gave The Law to the people so that man could understand the kind of life God required from them. The Day of Atonement was God’s provision for man so that relationship with Him can be restored.
Read Hebrews 9:22: “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.”
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