The Demise of the Firstborn

And Moses said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts. Exodus 11:4‭-‬5 KJV

In an earlier post, we had mentioned Israel as being God’s firstborn( Exo.4:22). Pharaoh had given instructions to all Egyptians to kill all male children born to the people of Israel (Exo.1:22). God was about to give the Egyptians a recompense. God won’t take all their male children, but only the firstborn of men, slaves and animals. Be careful what you do. There is a recompense in life. The firstborn is not just a birth order, it is a rank. For Israel, the firstborn possessed a double portion of inheritance apart from the rank of being in leadership. This rank is used in describing Christ as the firstborn of every creature( Col.1:15). That speaks of his sovereignty and power for redemption. This description is used six times in the Bible of Christ. Now we know how dear Israel was to God. These events follow directly after the last verse of chapter ten. It might have taken a few days for preparations, but the utterance was in place. Pharaoh must have waved him off as a braggart, until their firstborn began to die. It is significant that among the Jews, the proverb says: even a dog was not to bark. Hear me, child of God, no dog will bark anymore in your case. Its God’s judgement time.