Now the Lord said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely. Speak now in the hearing of the people that each man ask from his neighbor and each woman from here neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold.” And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Furthermore, the man Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.
Please remember that these verses are an account of what
God was telling Moses. The words he is
told to say to Pharaoh are not actually delivered until later in the chapter. This is important to try and understand the
timing of these verses and beyond.
I do not know how one would describe the feelings and the
thoughts that must have been going through Moses’ heart and head respectively
as God uttered those words to him, “One more plague . . . and . . . he will let
you go from here.” The end was in
sight. All would not have been in
vain. It would have been easy for Moses
to say or think, “Yeah, right. I’ll
believe it when I see it, Lord.” But he
knew God could be trusted fully. He knew
there was not going to be a way out for Pharaoh or a further change of mind in
God.
I do not know about you, but I also find a special “Bible
gem” in the simple phrase at the end of that first statement of God’s in these
verses – “from here.” God did not say
to Moses “from there” or “from Egypt” – He said, “from here” implying “from
where I too am”. That is the gift in
that gem. In the midst of our lives, in
the midst of our predicaments, in our bondage and difficulties, God is “from
here” – He’s right here with us. He is
not calling out to us from His ivory palaces, but as He stands right beside
us. That’s our God.
In fact, God says, “Moses, Pharaoh will be so ticked at
you, that he’ll actually drive you out for good, never to have you return. I’ll see to that.” What a feeling of great anticipation that
must have brought to Moses – the fact that this master-slave relationship for
his people was about to end. I can only
compare it perhaps to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, or the destruction
of the Iron Curtain, or the signing of peace treaties of WWI and WWII. And what a relief it is for anyone who has
been in the bondage of sin (any sin), held tightly by the Devil, to know that
release and salvation is around the corner – God will save “from here”!
God then tells Moses exactly how he and the people are to
prepare for this great day. He wants
them involved, for they too have a role to play in this. They were to ask their neighbors and other
Egyptian friends for articles of jewelry – gold and silver items of adornment
or perhaps even small idols, we do not know.
Clearly God had a purpose for that even though it is not revealed to the
reader of Exodus at this point in the account.
(Later, for those of us who know the story of the children of Israel and
their disobedience in the wilderness, we may well wonder how different things
might have been, had God not asked this of them.) Nevertheless, for now, God would see to it
that the people found “favor in the eyes of the Egyptians” and they would get
all they asked for. While some
translations may refer to what the Israelites did was to “borrow” things from
the Egyptians, a better translation is “to ask for” with no indication of this
being a request for a temporary use of the items. These people had served the Egyptians for so
long as slaves that this request was well received and people were glad to
oblige. Some commentators also suggest
that the Egyptians did this because they were eager to see them leave Egypt for
they wanted no more plagues on their land and their families.
And interestingly enough, God allowed Moses himself to be
greatly “esteemed” in Egypt, like Joseph many years before him. And the text says not only was he thought
greatly of by the people but also by Pharaoh’s servants or fellow ruling
subordinates, his governmental ministers.
The word “people” here may refer to both the Israelites who were now
starting to look up to him as they sensed the crescendo that was building up
with the various plagues would indeed lead to their release from Egyptian
slavery, but also to the common Egyptians.
As we close our examination of this portion of scripture,
let us not miss the fact as Matthew Henry pointed out in his commentary on this
text, that even though people suffered as much as they had under all the
plagues to date, God was about to apply “one more plague”. And Henry makes the point that it is so for
all mankind – that though evil man has suffered so much, because he has ignored
his opportunities to come to a loving God and Savior – thus, one more “plague”
must come upon him – one final act of judgment by the Almighty. There would be one more act of God that would
totally and completely humble the world before Him. Have you bent your knee to the Lord? Have you sincerely in your heart humbled
yourself before Him? Have you avoided
that last “one more plague” that will befall you
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