A Second Look at the Sprinkling of the Blood on the Doorposts – What if the Egyptians had done it? - (Repeating) Exodus 12:12-13

“For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments – I am the Lord.  And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”
 

Someone read the material I had provided earlier on Exodus 12:12-13 and asked this question:  “What if the Egyptians had got hold of the instructions and did likewise, that is, they sprinkled blood on their doorposts – would the angel of darkness have passed over their house?”  Excellent question.  It is even more significant if we deem that this whole scene is representative of how Christ’s shed blood saves us.

Viewpoints on this very question are few and far between.  I saw one reference to the fact that indeed the protection that made the difference on that night was the “sprinkled blood” and not the race of the people doing the sprinkling, implying, but not directly claiming, that Egyptians could have done this successfully and further implying that salvation through Christ is for all nations.  I think, as a minimum, we all would agree with the latter implication.  The more I think about this question, the more I realize that it is also possible, but not likely to have happened often, that some of the Israelites had become close to some of the Egyptians, as people become regardless of race or circumstances, and the Hebrews themselves could have also encouraged some Egyptians to do place blood on their doorposts.  But again these are all assumptions and we can draw great parallels to this story and the salvation available to all through Christ’s blood in discussing them or studying them.

On the other hand, the sprinkled blood was the last step of a series of instructions to the Israelites.  You remember there was the selection of a special lamb, the keeping of it for a number of days in the household, how it was to be cooked, how it was to be eaten, and so on.  And then its blood was to be sprinkled.  As such, one could argue that, as we see elsewhere later in Scripture, the entire instructional chain had to be observed for the miracle to have worked.  And since they likely did not follow all of the steps, the Egyptians would not have been saved from the loss of their first-born.  The problem with that is that would make Christ’s death insufficient for salvation, something that is not easy for many of us to accept either.  It would also mean the thief on the cross would not have been saved as all he could do was accept Christ’s death for his sins.  And yet Jesus says he was.

Indeed a difficult question.  It is one that requires more insights of others as they search the Scriptures.  I honestly, for one, do not know the answer to the question.  But I do know that it is not the central point of this story and event and thus it should not keep us from accepting the power of God to bring salvation to His people through the spilled blood of Jesus Christ and our acceptance of His sacrifice for us.  Many people go through the motions of accepting the gift of God as a ritual not unlike how host dignitaries receive gifts from visiting dignitaries, only to ridicule them or discard them later.

Which takes me to my position. I believe that what really matters in this case, as in our cases, is the sincerity of the heart.  That is a theme throughout all Scripture.  I tend to believe (but am willing to be surprised otherwise) that had an Egyptian family sprinkled blood on its doorposts and done it with true belief in God, the God of the Hebrews, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – they may well have been saved from losing their first-born that night.

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