Numbers 33:3-4

New International Version (NIV)

The Israelites set out from Rameses … [and] marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them.

For Meditation

The Israelites were now emboldened. At midnight, the Lord had struck down all Egypt’s firstborns—humans and livestoc—including Pharaoh’s firstborn (Ex. 12:29-30). God had dealt a fatal blow to Pharaoh’s defiance, and his last call for Moses and Aaron was to order the Israelites out of Egypt (31-32). He even asked Moses to bless him. But it was too late!

A gripping scene played out on the fifteenth day of the first month on the Jewish calendar—a day after the Passover. As “the Israelites marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians,” the Egyptians “were burying all their firstborn” (Nu. 33:3-4). There were dead bodies and wailing in every Egyptian home. Humiliation and dread had settled on Egypt, and the people hurried to bury their dead. But in Goshen, the blood of the lamb had covered God’s people, and the Israelites recorded no death in their homes. While death and burial occupied one side of Egypt, resurrection and life boldly marched out of it on the other — a perfect picture of redemption.

When we come to Christ, His blood washes our sins away, and we move from death to life. God rescues “us from the dominion of darkness and [brings] us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14). Christ has fully paid the penalty for our sins—death—and has reconciled us to God (22). As sin buries its victims, Christ triumphantly leads His people out of the throes of death to freedom in Him and beautifully adorns them with eternal life (Rm. 6:23). What a picture of contrasts!

While the world struggles through deprivation and death, the believer has the hope of glory, the assurance of eternity with Christ (Col. 1:27). Amid the troubles and confusion in this world, God protects His children (Psalm 91:1-16) and gives them peace (Phil. 4:6-7) and joy (Gal. 5:22) in Christ Jesus. Where do you belong in these two contrasting pictures? Have you surrendered your life to Christ (Acts 16:29-33; Rm. 10:9-10, 13)?

Contrasting sin and death with righteousness and life in one picture reveals Christ in His fullness. Embrace Him and receive salvation for your soul, the peace only He gives (Romans 5:1-2: Philippians 4:6-7), and the fulness of joy in Him (John 15:11) .

Shalom