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One more plague stands between Israel and freedom. Exodus 11 announces the death of the firstborn before chapter 12 gives the Passover instructions. The warning reaches from Pharaoh’s throne to the servant’s mill, so the reader cannot treat it as a victory without grief. God hears the enslaved, confronts the ruler who will not release them, and prepares a deliverance His people must receive as mercy.
Gifts for the departure (Exodus 11:1-3; Greek/Brenton 11:1-3)
A note on numbering. This study follows NKJV chapter and verse numbering and prints Brenton’s English Septuagint with its own verse labels. Moses’ departure in anger is at the end of NKJV 11:8 but at the beginning of Brenton 11:9; both editions include it in the final reading below, with a different verse division.
1: And the Lord said to Moses, I will yet bring one plague upon Pharao and upon Egypt, and after that he will send you forth thence; and whenever he sends you forth with every thing, he will indeed drive you out. 2: Speak therefore secretly in the ears of the people, and let every one ask of his neighbour jewels of silver and gold, and raiment. 3: And the Lord gave his people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, and they lent to them; and the man Moses was very great before the Egyptians, and before Pharao, and before his servants.
Pharaoh will finally drive out the people he has refused to release. The departure also fulfills the promise to Abraham that his descendants would leave their affliction with possessions (Genesis 15:13-14). Wisdom 10:17 (Septuagint) interprets the same reversal: Wisdom gave the holy people the reward of their labors. Silver, gold, and clothing therefore belong to the story of restored freedom, not to a lesson in exploiting a neighbor.
Brenton says the Egyptians “lent to them,” while the Lord gave Israel favor. That is the wording of this translation; the passage never describes a private promise of repayment on which to base its moral explanation. The wealth will have to be used faithfully. Some gold will be offered for the tabernacle; some will be surrendered to the golden calf. Leaving bondage does not automatically teach the heart what to love.
Gems from the Fathers: Gifts for the departure
St. Irenaeus addresses this very objection in Against Heresies IV.30. He argues that the Egyptians had benefited from Israel’s long and bitter servitude, so the departing people’s possessions were a small recompense, not evidence that God approved dishonesty. He asks: “In what way, then, did [the Israelites] act unjustly, if out of many things they took a few, they who might have possessed much property had they not served them, and might have gone forth wealthy, while, in fact, by receiving only a very insignificant recompense for their heavy servitude, they went away poor?”1 His argument continues toward almsgiving: Christians must put the goods they possess to the Lord’s service (IV.30.3-4). The question for us is how freely we return our own possessions to God through worship and care for someone in need.
The midnight warning (Exodus 11:4-7; Greek/Brenton 11:4-7)
4: And Moses said, These things saith the Lord, About midnight I go forth into the midst of Egypt. 5: And every first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharao that sits on the throne, even to the first-born of the woman-servant that is by the mill, and to the first-born of all cattle. 6: And there shall be a great cry through all the land of Egypt, such as has not been, and such shall not be repeated any more. 7: But among all the children of Israel shall not a dog snarl with his tongue, either at man or beast; that thou mayest know how wide a distinction the Lord will make between the Egyptians and Israel.
“I go forth into the midst of Egypt.” The Lord names His own action; this is neither a rival deity’s victory nor a calamity outside His knowledge. Exodus 12:23 will speak of the destroyer whom the Lord prevents from entering the blood-marked houses. Hebrews 11:28 remembers both the Passover and the sprinkling of blood so that the destroyer would not touch Israel’s firstborn. These passages hold divine judgment and appointed protection together without describing a second independent power.
The firstborn warning was already given in Exodus 4:22-23: Israel is the Lord’s firstborn son, and Pharaoh must release him for worship. Pharaoh’s earlier command against Hebrew boys belongs to this history of violence (Exodus 1:22). Wisdom 18:5 (Septuagint) also recalls the threatened infants, and 18:10-12 describes mourning that reaches masters and servants alike. Yet the connection does not make every dead child personally responsible for Pharaoh’s cruelty. The woman at the mill is not Pharaoh. The text gives us no permission to celebrate her bereavement, blame grieving parents, or identify a present-day family’s loss as divine punishment.
Wisdom 18:14-16 (Septuagint) portrays God’s almighty word descending at midnight like a warrior, bearing His command as a sword. In that passage the image explains judgment upon Egypt. Its force here is that Pharaoh cannot barricade himself against God’s word; it is not a description of the birth at Bethlehem. The Christian reading must pass through the whole Gospel, where the eternal Son enters our suffering freely and conquers death by His own death.
The promised quiet among Israel’s households contrasts with Egypt’s cry. It is a gift of protection, not proof of ethnic superiority. The next chapter will place Israel under the commanded sign of blood. The redeemed live by what the Lord provides.
The name “firstborn” also opens beyond this night. Luke 2:7 names Jesus as Mary’s firstborn, and Luke 2:23 places His presentation within the law of the consecrated firstborn. Colossians 1:15-18 speaks of His supremacy over creation and of Him as firstborn from the dead; it does not make the eternal Son a creature. Hebrews 1:6 calls the angels to worship Him, while Hebrews 12:23 speaks of the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven. In Christ, sonship becomes a received inheritance, and the future Pharaoh could not secure becomes resurrection life.
Christ is not an unwilling victim. He willingly obeys the Father and lays down His life, with authority to take it again (John 10:17-18). The child caught in Egypt’s judgment and the Son who freely enters death must not be collapsed into the same role. The Cross reveals the Lord sharing our mortal condition and opening life to those He saves.
Pharaoh still refuses (Exodus 11:8-10; Greek/Brenton 11:8-10)
8: And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and do me reverence, saying, Go forth, thou and all the people over whom thou presidest, and afterwards I will go forth. 9: And Moses went forth from Pharao with wrath. And the Lord said to Moses, Pharao will not hearken to you, that I may greatly multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 10: And Moses and Aaron wrought all these signs and wonders in the land of Egypt before Pharao; and the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao, and he did not hearken to send forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
The servants will bow before Moses and plead for departure. A ruler who demanded submission has brought his people to the point of begging the enslaved to leave. Moses goes out in anger. His response belongs to a confrontation with entrenched injustice, but it cannot be borrowed as a warrant for our humiliating someone in God’s name. Anger must answer to truth and protect the vulnerable rather than make them pay for wounded pride.
The final summary says Pharaoh would not listen. Signs have multiplied, but obedience has not followed. The terrible consequence of hardened authority is visible in the households placed at risk by his refusal. A parent, priest, servant, or employer should hear the warning personally: other people must not bear the cost of my refusal to be corrected.
Source-shape note: the departure in anger is in Exodus 11:8 in Hebrew-based numbering; the preserved Brenton display begins verse 9 with it. The whole Exodus 11:8-10 unit is retained here, so neither the event nor the following warning is lost.
The Church’s Voice in Worship: Pharaoh still refuses
Exodus 11:1-10 is included with Exodus 10:1-29 in the prophecy readings for Wednesday of the sixth week of Coptic Great Lent. Approaching Pascha, the Church hears the final warning before the blood-marked night of deliverance. That placement can train us to receive correction before consequences make surrender unavoidable. Repentance is an opening to mercy, not an attempt to earn superiority over the Egyptians.
Spiritual Fruit
Receive correction before the final warning. When someone names a real wrong, resist the urge to defend every detail. Acknowledge one concrete failure, bring it honestly to confession, and repair what you can without waiting for humiliation to force your hand.
Put restored freedom to good use. The silver and gold raise a question about our own possessions. Choose a specific gift of money, time, or hospitality for someone whose labor or need is easily overlooked. Thanksgiving becomes visible when what we have serves God and our neighbor.
Keep compassion beside judgment. Pray for grieving families without trying to explain their suffering from this chapter. The Lord who hears Israel’s cry has not taught His people to enjoy another household’s tears. Bring your fear of death to Christ, the Son who freely entered it and rose.
Teaching Notes
Keep the tone sober, especially with children. Do not dramatize bereavement or press students to disclose a loss. Acknowledge the hard question without claiming to settle every mystery of divine judgment.
Discuss: Gifts for the departure (Exodus 11:1-3; Greek/Brenton 11:1-3)
- Ask: How do Genesis 15:14, Wisdom 10:17 (Septuagint), and Irenaeus help explain the departing people’s possessions?
- Watch for: Treating the episode as permission to take whatever we believe someone owes us.
Discuss: The midnight warning (Exodus 11:4-7; Greek/Brenton 11:4-7)
- Ask: How do the Lord’s warning, Israel’s protection, and Christ’s voluntary self-offering belong together without making them identical?
- Watch for: Blaming dead children or grieving families, ethnic boasting, or turning Wisdom’s judgment imagery into an unqualified Nativity description.
Discuss: Pharaoh still refuses (Exodus 11:8-10; Greek/Brenton 11:8-10)
- Ask: What does Pharaoh’s refusal show about the responsibilities of someone whose decisions affect other people?
- Watch for: Using Moses’ anger to justify our own rage; note the Brenton verse-boundary difference before locating the sentence.
Sources
Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX).
Exodus 11, preserved in full: 🔗. The departure in anger starts the preserved display’s verse 9, while Hebrew-based Exodus 11:8 includes it: 🔗.
Genesis 15:13-14: 🔗; Wisdom 10:17 (Septuagint): 🔗; Wisdom 18:5-19 (Septuagint), especially the contextual judgment imagery in 18:14-16: 🔗.
The New Testament references in the exposition distinguish Christ’s eternal supremacy, voluntary Passion, and resurrection from the death of Egypt’s firstborn.
The Katameros of the Holy Lent, Wednesday of the sixth week, Matins prophecy reading, printed pp. 401-405 (PDF pp. 523-527), and the Coptic Great Lent cycle’s Exodus 10:1-29 and 11:1-10 prophecy sequence: 🔗. This guide does not claim a separate Holy Week appointment for Exodus 11. Coptic Reader, Coptic Orthodox Metropolis of the Southern United States, official app: Readings > Matins > Prophecies, printed Exodus 10:1-11:10. The app link does not select a service; follow the named menu path. The selected date was March 25, 2026, with the stated Great Fast occasions confirmed.
No visual is selected for this study; images of the death of the firstborn would not add to its sober treatment.