The reading for Thursday, January 19, 2023 , is Exodus 11 - 13

Exodus 11 - 13

Plague of the firstborn: the cattle as well. Where did these cattle come from? I thought the animals/livestock were all killed in a previous plague? Still, I think the plaque of hail said the animals would be saved if they were inside a shelter. 

Now Moses leaves Pharaoh. This is after Pharaoh tells Moses to never appear before him again. So it seems that Pharaoh seeks relief from the plague of darkness and hears of the plague of the firstborn in the same meeting. 

Now for the plague of the firstborn, the Israelites must put the blood of the lamb on their doorframes. Previously, certain plagues didn't happen in Goshen where the Israelites lived. I see this a a foreshadowing of the blood of the Messiah who saves us from separation from God. (My definition of sin is that which separates us from God.)  As I write this, I have been thinking of C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. In it there is a Grey Town where people get further and further apart. I see this happening as individualism gets carried out to the nth degree. There's nothing wrong with some individualism, but we need community, too. I don't mean went groups say this community or that community. Such as Disability Community or LGBTQ+ community, etc. To me, those are groups with similarities.  The community I'm talking about is fellowship with a group of people. Community requires people we know. People we care about. I think the Israelites had that.  

I have just realized the the Israelites ate one of the 1st born lambs or goats from their flocks/herds. 

As I had thought, this passage is instructions for a ceremony to remember this event, not a recounting of the actual event. 

Pharaoh tells Moses and Aaron and the people to go! Finally! But he also tells Moses and Aaron to bless him?! Really? What brazenness!!

The Israelites plunder the Egyptians by asking for gold, silver and clothing. There was someone dead in every Egyptian household. It seems to me that all that grieving might have contributed to an attitude of: sure take anything ya want, just leave us to grieve and get out of here before anything else happens to us. 

And Moses takes Joseph's bones with him 430 years later. 

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