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Exodus 10:1-13:16

This week is one of the most well known Torah portions of the year. It is the narrative of the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. Every year, Jewish people around the world gather at the dinner table to celebrate Passover with a special meal called a Seder (pronounced Say-der). While there are numerous lessons to learn from the Passover story, we will focus on one lesson: there is safety in community.

A careful reading of chapter 11 tells us that the 10^th plague, like the others, was directed at the Egyptians. "Thus says the LORD, 'About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, ⁵ and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ⁶ 'Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again. ⁷ 'But against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark, whether against man or beast, that you may understand how the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.'(11:4-7). He is saying that because of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God is bringing the Jewish people out of Egypt in order to serve him. One gets the impression from these verses that there is no responsibility on the part of the Jewish people in this action. In other words, they will be spared because they are Jewish. There are many people today who would say that this is indeed the case and this passage shows that Jewish people have a covenant relationship with God apart from the nations.

But when Moses relates this message to the people, he says something a little different. In chapter 12, Moses gives explicit instructions as to what the Jewish people are to do to prepare for this night of terror. They had to kill a lamb and put the blood in the doorway as a sign, so that the judgment of God would pass over their houses. Therefore, the place of safety was in the house. The reason it was a place of safety was because the blood of the lamb was on the door. If a firstborn was not in a house with the blood on the door, he would die. There was safety in the house that had blood on the door. This idea is also pictured in the Tabernacle and Temple. Inside was “sacred space”. Illness and sin kept people out of the sacred space. Inside was a place of purity; a place of drawing close to God. Therefore it was a place of protection. When Yeshua came, he told the Samaritan woman that now people would worship in Spirit and truth and that the holy place was no longer confined to the Temple. Now, with the coming of Messiah, the holy place was in the hearts of believers – protected by the blood of the lamb. Today, the community of believers is the holy place. I am not referring to the building but to the people. We are exhorted not to forsake the assembling together of believers (Heb. 10:24-25). In these verses the author of Hebrews says that we find encouragement and the challenge of spirituality in the community because the blood of the lamb is present. Within the “house” we find accountability and strength because the blood of the lamb is there. Within the community should be a slice of kingdom living. Outside of the community is sin, temptation and the deeds of the flesh. So the picture in Exodus 12 of being in the house protected by the blood of the lamb is true for us today. But simply being present for a service or having a friend who is a believer is not good enough. Remember, we are not talking about a physical building, we are talking about the fellowship of believers. Therefore, the only way into the place of safety is through Yeshua the Messiah. When we believe that he is the Messiah, the blood the lamb is on our heart and we have the assurance that the wrath of God “passes over” us, and we enter the safety of the community. Let us not deceive ourselves. Just as there was a specific action that had to be taken in order for the firstborn to be spared death, so we as believers need to take specific steps to live within the protection of the community. It means being accountable for our actions; it means reaching out to others in the community; it means coming to events and services; it means walking with the Lord. In this way there is safety in the community.