The Israelites are driven out of the land. part 1

by John Thomas Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

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.