For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a solemn assembly, and on the seventh day a solemn assembly; no work shall be done on those days; only what everyone must eat, that alone may be prepared by you. (Exodus 12:12-16)

God’s judgment on Egypt would be harsh: the first born would die. The first born of Egypt’s Pharaoh was believed to be an incarnation of the sun god, Ra, the chief god of Egypt. That Pharaoh’s first born should die was a blow not just against the political leader, but also against the religious system of Egypt—as had been all the plagues. Not just physical things were being attacked. It was a systematic attack against a belief system, against those things that the Egyptians had put their trust in.

The judgment of God against Pharaoh and his people was for the Israelites a great victory. From this time forward every year the people of Israel would remember what God had done and celebrate it as their day of deliverance. What was judgment for the Egyptians, to the Israelites was loving salvation.

But even for the Egyptians, mercy was attainable. It was not just the Israelites who could protect their loved ones by putting blood on their door posts. Any Egyptian who so chose could gain the same protection, the same benefit, the same relief from God’s judgment. God’s mercy is available to anyone who wants it.

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