Session 3

Instruction (Exodus 12:21-23)

Application Point:

Believers will be blessed when they follow God’s instruction.

21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them,
“Go, select an animal from the flock according to your families,
and slaughter the Passover animal.
22 Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin,
and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin.
None of you may go out the door of his house until morning.
23 When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel
and the two doorposts, he will pass over the door
and not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you.”

Key Background

God’s power

The final, climactic battle between Yahweh and the gods of Egypt is given in two chapters, indicating its importance.
It begins with God’s announcement of “one more plague” (Ex. 11:1).
It would be the final demonstration of the Lord’s superiority over Egypt’s gods,
as well as of His faithfulness and compassionate zeal for His people, His “firstborn son” (4:22-23).

God often works through agents.
For example, seven other plagues were triggered by Moses’s actions (7:15-19; 8:5-6,16-17; 9:8-10,22-23; 10:12-13,21-22).
From the beginning, though, God emphasized that true power resides in His hand alone (3:19-20; 6:1; 7:4-5; 9:3,15; 13:9).
The final plague explicitly showed God at work.
He personally moved across Egypt to strike every firstborn (11:4-5; 12:29),
distinguishing between Egypt and His people based on the blood (11:7; 12:13,23,27).

Introduce:

remind adults of the events leading up to this point.

1. Water turned to blood.
   God turned the waters of the Nile River into blood, making them undrinkable.
2. Frogs.
   God caused frogs to infest the land of Egypt.
3. Gnats (
   possibly, mosquitos).
4. Flies.
   God caused swarms of flies to infest the land of Egypt. These may have been a biting species, which would have made the plague worse for the Egyptians.
5. Cattle.
   A serious disease, possibly anthrax, killed the cattle belonging to the Egyptians.
6. Boils.
   A painful disease broke out on the skin of the Egyptians.
7. Hail.
   A severe hailstorm destroyed the fields of the Egyptians. The land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, suffered no damage.
8. Locusts.
   After the hail had passed, a swarm of locusts stripped the land of any remaining plant life.
9. Darkness.
   For three days, a deep darkness settled over the land of Egypt.
10. Death of the firstborn.
    In this final plague, God killed every firstborn son of the Egyptians. The plague “passed over” the Israelites, who had marked their doorposts with blood.

Examine:

verses 21-23 (PSG, pp. 30-31)
identify the steps each Israelite home was to take for Passover.
discuss the significance of these steps

Highlight the process of finding an animal, sacrificing it, and spreading the blood on the doorposts.

Ask:

• After having survived the plagues, what do you imagine the Hebrew people thought as they heard these instructions? How would they have felt as they anticipated what was about to happen? (PSG, p. 31)

KEY DOCTRINE

Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man
and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood
obtained eternal redemption for the believer.
(See Luke 1:68-69;

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.)

Remind

this sacrifice and this blood foreshadowed the death
of the ultimate Passover Lamb.
continue looking for ways this story in Exodus points to the work of Jesus.