“And He smote all the firstborn in the land,

The first of their generative power.”

(Psalm 105:36)

On a human level, the tenth plague was certainly the most devastating. We are told that when this took place, there was a great cry across the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:30). The term used in the Hebrew text is צְעָקָה (ts’aqah) which refers to loud yelling and screaming in despair. How the sound of that must have echoed through the land; how eerie it must have been to listen to that as an Israelite who had been delivered. 

While this was a judgment against goddesses like Hathor and Isis (both goddesses of motherhood) or Best (the god of children) in the Egyptian cult, but also the various gods and goddesses of the underworld (there are quite a few in the Egyptian pantheon). God is the God over life and death, not the household deities that the Egyptians worshiped.  In addition, this was a curse against Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh was seen as the embodiment of Amun-Re and thus, Pharaoh’s firstborn was also treated like a god. He too was struck down by the God of Israel, who made the heavens and the earth.

There is another aspect to this curse that must not be missed. It is a picture — perhaps a small taste — of the final judgment where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth by those who are cast away from the eternal blessedness of God and left under His eternal wrath. There will be shouting and crying and that sound should be a reminder of the blessedness of the Redeemed. Woe to the one who stands against the Almighty God for their only end will be the most intense sorrow that can ever be conceived. And beloved, this judgment is not harsh, though we often think it sounds harsh. No, it is just and it is the rightful judgment for the sin that has been committed. Our problem is that we don’t take our sin as seriously as we ought and (for the believer) we don’t appreciate the grace of God as we ought. When it comes to our redemption, we did not do it nor do we deserve it. Praise be to God that He has done it and has applied it to us as He brings all of His elect to salvation.