God Treats His People Better (Exodus 11:1-10) Series

The last few weeks, I've found myself struggling with the relentless nature of God's plagues. I don't really even have words to explain how working through this has affected me. But when you find yourself thinking about the plagues off and on during the day while you work, and then studying them in the mornings, it becomes really heavy. I don't know how else to put it. That's part of why we've studied other things for a couple weeks-- I needed a break. And if it's that bad for us, I can't imagine what it'd be like to be Pharaoh, or the Egyptians, and suffering these things.

I think it's like when you have a bad winter, with never ending blizzards. And you think, spring will never come. I will drive on bad, scary roads 12 hours a day forever. That's what it's like to be Pharaoh, or an Egyptian. Will there be an end? Will God forever strengthen Pharaoh's resolve? Will God forever punish?

Exodus 11:1-3:

(1) And Yahweh said to Moses,

"Still one [more] plague, I am bringing upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.

After this, he will release you from this.

At the time he releases you, [while] completely destroyed, he shall surely drive you out from here.

(2) Speak, please, in the ears of the people,

and let each man ask from his neighbor,

while the woman from her (female) neighbor, for things of silver and things of gold,

(3) and Yahweh has given favor of the people in the eyes of the Egyptians.

Also/What's more, the man Moses [is] very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of the people,"

What we see here, is that the end is in sight. There is one more plague that Yahweh is planning. And at this point, when Egypt is truly, completely destroyed (Exodus 10:7), the Israelites won't simply be released. They'll be driven out.

And when they leave, verse 2, they will leave as a filthy rich people. God will give the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they can ask for anything, and it will be given to them. And so God tells them, very nicely, to make sure you ask. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If this was an infomercial, God would tell them to knock on their neighbor's door now, while supplies last.

Why does God do this for his people?

You could answer this two ways. I think they are both right. I'll talk about the first one here, and only hint at the second one a little later.

The first reason God did this for his people, has to do with how God intended slavery to work in the OT.

When we think about slavery, we think about it in the context of white slave owners, possessing and sometimes mistreating black slaves. American slavery had no end. There was no real way out, except running away. It was oppressive, and it's rightfully remembered as oppressive.

Where we go wrong, is that we tend to take this understanding of slavery, and read it back into the OT. And that simply doesn't work. It's unfair to the Bible. It's unfair to how God wanted this to work (for the kernel for what follows, see Brueggemann, Exodus, in The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary series, 1:770, who himself bases it on David Daube, The Exodus Pattern in the Bible, 55-61).

Let's turn to Deuteronomy 15:1-18 (use the NRSV?, but I'll keep my translation here). As we read this, think about yourselves as someone who God has blessed. You have money in the bank, because God gave it to you. You have food in your pantry, because God gave it to you. Read this, as people who have more than you need-- who have a surplus. And read this as a people who are surrounded by needy people. To some, you've lent money. To others, you've maybe refused to lend:

(1) At the end of seven years, you shall make remission [=release from what is owed],

and this is how remission will work: [he shall] remit-- every owner of the loan of his hand that he carries against his neighbor.

He shall not require payment from his neighbor and his brother because it is called a remission to Yahweh.

(3) [From] the foreigner you may/shall require payment,

while whatever will be yours from/with your brother, your hand shall not require payment.

(4) However, there shall not be among you a poor person,

because Yahweh will surely bless you in the land

that Yahweh your God is giving you [as] an inheritance to take possession of it.

(5) Only, if you actually/surely heed the voice of Yahweh your God to keep to do all these commandments that I am commanding you today,