God then sent a series of devastating plagues upon the Egyptians. These plagues demonstrated the power and holiness of ADONAI, while bringing Pharaoh, his people, and his "gods", to their knees. Now, in Exodus 12, ADONAIinforms Moses of a 10th, and most cataclysmic, plague. After informing Moses that this coming event will change the calendar and mark a seachange in the history of Israel, He tells him that every household is to select a 1-year old male lamb or kid, keep it for 3 days, then kill it on the 14th day, splash its blood onto the doorframe, roast it and eat it. The residents of the home were to eat it with matzah (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs, generally horseradish, while standing, dressed to travel, in expectation of the day of release. This was to happen at twilight. Nothing of the lamb was to be leftover till morning; anything leftover was to be completely burned up.
Exodus 12:12 states, "For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am ADONAI,". The Lord was now going to carry out the judgments that He had promised to Avram in Genesis 15. He uses the hiphil stem of "nacah", "to be struck down", "hikkeyti", in this text. All the 10 plagues, and, in particular, this 10th one, are not random occurrences of nature, but, specific action on the part of God. Though He hates to do it, ADONAI does punish sin, and, He was doing so with Egypt's sins.
Then, in verse 13, God goes on to say, "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. So, there will be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." In Hebrew, God states, "Raiti et-hadam, uphsachti aleychem", "I will see the blood and I will pass over you." "Raiti" is the perfect tense of the verb, seeing the action as very concise and definite. Where there is the commanded and required blood on the doorposts, He will not miss it, but, will definitely notice and respond.
Israel believed and was spared; Egypt did not believe and suffered greatly.
How important it is that our children know the truth about God's judgement of sin and the loving and divine remedy of His provided blood atonement!
Rabbi Jeffrey A. Adler comes from a family with five generations of Messianic Jews. A native of Cincinnati, he has a Master of Divinity degree and has led Messianic synagogues in Cincinnati and Indianapolis since 1978. He is currently Rabbi of Congregation Sha'arey Yeshua in Indianapolis.