G-d tells Moshe that He
is hardening Pharaoh's heart
so that through miraculous plagues the world will know
for all time that He is the one true G-d.
Pharaoh is warned about the plague of locusts and is
told
how severe it will be. Pharaoh agrees to release only the men,
but Moshe insists that everyone must go.
During the plague, Pharaoh calls for Moshe
and Aharon to remove
the locusts, and he admits he has sinned. G-d ends
the plague but
hardens Pharaoh's heart, and again Pharaoh fails to free the Jewish
people.
The country, except for the Jewish People, is then
engulfed in a palpable
darkness. Pharaoh calls for Moshe and tells him to
take all the Jews out of
Egypt, but to leave their flocks behind. Moshe tells
him that not only will they
take their own flocks, but Pharaoh must add his own too. Moshe
tells Pharaoh
that G-d is going to bring one more plague, the death
of the firstborn, and
then the Jews will leave Egypt. G-d again hardens Pharaoh's
heart, and
Pharaoh warns Moshe that if he sees Moshe
again, Moshe will be put to death.
G-d tells Moshe that
the month of Nissan will be the chief month.
The Jewish people are commanded to take a sheep on the 10th of the month
and guard it until the 14th. The sheep is then to be slaughtered
as a Pesach
sacrifice, its blood put on their door- posts, and its roasted
meat eaten. The
blood on the door-post will be a sign that their homes will be
passed-over
when G-d strikes the firstborn of Egypt.
The Jewish People are told to memorialize this day as
the Exodus from
Egypt by never eating chametz on Pesach.
Moshe relays G-d's
commands, and the Jewish People fulfill them flawlessly.
G-d sends the
final plague, killing the first born, and Pharaoh sends the Jews out of
Egypt.
G-d tells Moshe and Aharon the
laws concerning the Pesach sacrifice,
pidyon haben (redemption of the first born
son) and tefillin. |