The Israelites are driven out of the land.
Exodus 12:31-36 (NIV)
31During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. 32Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me."
33The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!" 34So the people took their dough before the yeast was added and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
INTRODUCTION TO
EXODUS 12:31-36
Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. "Get out!" he ordered. "Leave my people—and take the rest of the Israelites with you! Go and worship the LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you said, and be gone. Go, but bless me as you leave." All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, "We will all die!"
The Israelites took their bread dough before yeast was added. They wrapped their kneading boards in their cloaks and carried them on their shoulders. And the people of Israel did as Moses had instructed; they asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold. The LORD caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth!
COMMENTARY ON
EXODUS 12:31-36 (NIV)
31During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.
The darkness kept the Egyptians in anxiety and horror for three days and nights; now, their rest is interrupted by far more terrible calamity. The plague struck their firstborn, the joy and hope of their families. They had slain the Hebrews' children, and now God slew theirs. It reached from the throne to the dungeon: prince and peasant stand upon the same level before God's judgments. As the messenger of woe, the destroying angel entered every dwelling unmarked with blood. He did his dreadful errand, leaving not a house in which no one was dead. Imagine the cry that rang through the land of Egypt, the long, loud shriek of agony that burst from every dwelling. Thus, in that dreadful hour, the Son of man shall visit sinners with the last judgment. God's sons, his firstborn, were now released. Men had better come to God's terms first, for he will never come to theirs. Now Pharaoh's pride is abased, and he yields. God's word will stand; we get nothing by disputing or delaying to submit. In this terror, the Egyptians would purchase the favor and the speedy departure of Israel. Thus the Lord took care that their hard-earned wages should be paid, and the people provided for their journey.
Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, "Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said.
32Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me."
Also, take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also." Moreover, the Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, "We shall all be dead."
We can imagine that some of the Israelites did not follow God's instruction to get all the leaven out (Exodus 12:15). Now, because of the haste of their departure, they had to do what God had told them because God arranged the circumstances so that they could not use leaven.
Similarly, God sometimes arranges circumstances where obedience is made necessary, even if we would not usually choose it. For example, God may want a man to give up friends that bring a bad influence, and the man finds that his friends leave him first.
33The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!"
Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out of the land in haste… they plundered the Egyptians: The Egyptians also agreed that the Israelites must go, to the extent that they essentially paid the Israelites to leave. Therefore, the children of Israel left in a hurry, so quickly that there was no time to let the bread rise. This is why they had to eat unleavened bread as the LORD had commanded.
The people of Israel; not using force, but strong entreaties, the most powerful arguments, and importunate language they were masters of: that they might send them out of the land in haste: this looks as if it was the people about Pharaoh, his ministers, and courtiers, they were pressing upon to dismiss the Israelites at once and to hasten their departure; or else Moses and Aaron, and the elders of the people, to stir them up to a quick dispatch of their affairs, that they might be soon rid of them; unless the sense is, that they were very solicitous and earnest with the people, that they would get away out of the land as fast as they could: for they had sufficient reason to convince them, that it was purely on their account, and because they had not left to go out of the land, that all the above judgments, and particularly the last, were inflicted on them. They said we are all dead men; for their firstborn being all slain, they expected that they, and the rest of their families, would be struck with death next; and this they feared would be the case in a very little time, if they did not depart:
34So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing.
So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses (35), and they had asked the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing (36). Moreover, the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, granting them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
This urgency of the Egyptians compelled the Israelites to take the dough, which they were probably about to bake for their journey before it was leavened. Their kneading-troughs bound up in their clothes (cloths) upon their shoulders was a large square piece of stuff or cloth, worn above the under-clothes, and could be easily used for tying up different things together. The Israelites had intended to leaven the dough, therefore, as the command to eat unleavened bread for seven days had not been given to them yet. But under the pressure of necessity, they were obliged to content themselves with unleavened bread, or, as it is called in Deuteronomy 16:3, "the bread of affliction," during the first days of their journey. However, as the troubles connected with their departure from Egypt were merely the introduction to the new life of liberty and grace, so according to the counsel of God, the bread of affliction was to become a holy food to Israel; the days of their exodus being exalted by the Lord into a seven days' feast, in which the people of Jehovah were to commemorate to all ages their deliverance from the oppression of Egypt. Because of the pressure of circumstances, the long-continued eating of unleavened bread formed the historical preparation for the seven-day feast of Mazzoth, which was instituted afterward. Hence this circumstance is mentioned here and in Exodus 12:39. In Exodus 12:35 and Exodus 12:36, see Exodus 3:21-22.
35The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.
The people of Israel; did not use force, but strong appeals, the most powerful arguments, and the most persistent and demanding language they were capable of might send them out of the land in haste. This looks as if it was the people of Pharaoh, his ministers, and courtiers who were unrelenting in demanding them to dismiss the Israelites at once and hasten their departure; or else Moses and Aaron and the elders of the people, to stir them up to a quick dispatch of their affairs, that they might be soon rid of them; unless the sense is, that they were very solicitous and earnest with the people, that they would get away out of the land as fast as they could: for they said, we are all dead men; for their firstborn are all slain. They expected that they, and the rest of their families, would be struck with death next; this they feared would be the case in a very little time if they did not depart. They had sufficient reason to convince them that it was purely on their account and because they had not left to go out of the land that all the above judgments, particularly the last, were inflicted on them.
36The LORD had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.
The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, i.e., inclined their hearts to do it willingly and not only out of fear.
So that they lent unto him; Heb. and they lent them, to wit, the jewels or vessel mentioned Exodus 12:35.
They spoiled the Egyptians, to wit, of their ornaments. Did the Israelites unjustly do this, to borrow these jewels they never intended to return?
Answ. No,
1. Because they did nothing in this matter which was not by God's direction (see Exodus 11:1,2); so that if there is any injustice, it must be in God, in whom there neither can be in anything, nor is in this thing, the slightest blot or shadow of injustice, as well because he hath an unquestionable right in and power to dispose of all persons and things, as the Maker, and Giver, and Lord of all; and because there was a great and evident reason both why the Israelites should be recompensed for all their arduous labors and sufferings, and why the Egyptians should be spoiled for their idolatry, luxury, and cruelty to the Israelites, and the great benefits which they had received from Joseph, and the service of the Israelites.
2. The supreme Lord forbade them to restore what they borrowed and gave them the exclusive right and sole propriety therein.
3. Because though there was a form and appearance of borrowing and lending, yet indeed the Israelites did not so much borrow as desire, as the Hebrew word rendered borrow (Exodus 12:35) signifies; and the Egyptians did not reckon these things; as lent, and to be restored, but as given, and never to be expected again; even as Pharaoh and his people rightly judged, that if the Israelites were once permitted to go out of the land with their whole families and estates, they would never return,(Exodus 14:5). And in truth the Egyptians did and might esteem it an excellent bargain to give these things to redeem their lives, and to engage the Israelites to a speedy departure, knowing that otherwise both their persons and all their estates were in hazard.
4. Because, if these jewels were borrowed correctly, yet the Egyptians, by their causeless and hostile after the Israelites with intent to destroy them, did fully discharge them from all obligations to restitution and give them a right not only to keep these goods but to take all other which they could from the Egyptians, according to the known and approved laws of war.
The Israelites Are Given Freedom
Pharaoh does nothing more to hold the Israelites. On the contrary, he and his subjects want to get rid of them as quickly as possible. There is no question of any conversion. He now has more disadvantage from them than advantage. In his request for a blessing, he acknowledges his superiors in Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron did not respond to this question, as they did respond to his request to pray for him. Pharaoh is a finished case.
The time of deliverance has arrived. The people are acting fast. They take the unleavened dough with them. In obedience to the word of Moses, they ask the Egyptians all kinds of things. The LORD works, and it is given to them (cf. Prov. 13:22b; Job 27:16-17). Obedience to the Word always brings blessing.
The Exodus Begins
The people start from Rameses (or Raamses), the place where they experienced their slavery (Exo 1:11), and travel to the first stop: Sukkoth (Num 33:5). Sukkoth means 'huts' and indicates, just like a tent, that the people are pilgrims.
With the people, also "a mixed multitude" goes up. They do not belong to the people of God, but they see some advantage in joining the people of God. They are guided not by faith but by calculation. This "rabble" will later become a source of misery (Num 11:4). Every time a work of God happens, the enemy will try to infiltrate that work. By the inattentiveness of the local church, the enemy succeeds in introducing elements into the service that harm the essential features of the church.
The first food they eat after leaving Egypt is unleavened cakes. That is an excellent start to the journey. They leave so hastily that the dough has no chance to do its job.
People who are radically converted from the world often, without further reflection, immediately put away various things in their lives, such as music, films, and books with sinful content. This direct action is essential. The newly converted Ephesians also act in this way. Only after they have burned their wrong stuff do they calculate the value (Acts 19:19). If they had counted first, they might have regretted it and kept their magic books.
The LORD fulfills His word, which He once spoke to Abraham. God's mills grind slowly but surely. After four hundred and thirty years (1876-1446 B.C.) in Egypt, the night has arrived when the people leave. It is a night that is to the glory of the LORD. The Passover feast should be celebrated as a reminder of that night.
The word "night" appears seven times in this chapter. It is reminiscent of the three hours of darkness in which the Lord Jesus was made sin and carried the sins of all who believe in Him. It is also "in the night when He was betrayed" (1Cor 11:23) that the Lord instituted His Supper.
The Israelites Brought out of Egypt
In the freshness of their freedom, all the Israelites did what the LORD told them through Moses and Aaron. No discord is heard. Families celebrate the Passover, but Egypt is left "by their hosts." This indicates that a battleground is being entered as their wilderness journey begins.
