The Bible In Paintings: THE LORD PASSES OVER!

[Hebrews 11:6]

The Bible In Paintings 2
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S MESSAGE

E X O D U S
CHAPTER 11-12

Now the LORD had said to Moses,
“I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”

So Moses said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.’ ” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “Tell the whole community of Israel that each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. All the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU.”

1
Source

2
Source

3
Source

4
Source

5
JAMES TISSOT
"The Signs on the Door"

6
Source

7
JACQUI OAKLEY
"Passover Lamb"

8
JAMES TISSOT
"The Jews' Passover"

9
URIEL CAZES
"The Night of Pessach"

10
PALMA IL GIOVANE
"The Paschal Lamb"

11
Source

12
Source

13
MARC CHAGALL
Source

14
Source

15
ARTHUR HACKER
"And There Was a Cry in Egypt"

At midnight the LORD struck down ALL THE FIRSTBORN IN EGYPT, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

16
GUSTAVE DORÉ
"The Firstborn Slain"

17
Source

18
JAMES TISSOT
"Pharaoh and His Dead Son"

20
JMW TURNER
"Tenth Plague of Egypt"

21
PIETRO PAOLETTI
"The Death of the Firstborn of Egypt"

22
BERNARDINO LUINI
"The Death of the Firstborn"

23
LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA
"Death of the Pharaoh Firstborn Son"

24
CHARLES SPRAGUE PEARCE
"Lamentations over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt,"

25
PHILIP DE VERE
"The First Born Smitten"

26
ERNEST NORMAND
"The Pharaoh’s Sorrow"

→ a n d... f i n a l l y ←

27
GUSTAV DORÉ
"Moses Before Pharaoh"

28
GUSTAVE DORÉ
"The Egyptians Urge Moses to Depart"

New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added

[Hebrews 11:6]

Thanks to you, Alba, for unpacking that one for us. Those of us who have lost children....

[etabeta]

Sharing in your feelings, I have 2 grandchildren in Heaven.

[subterfuge]

Thanks

[Hebrews 11:6]

Sure

[Jim W N]

The blood on the vertical posts and horizonal lintel are a prophetic sign of the Cross of Christ.

Thank you Jesus.

[Deaf Smith]

I usually stay silent about scriptures, but I have a question about timelines.

Most Bible timelines puts Exodus 7-14 at one year (around 1446 BC).

The Fifth Plague of Exodus 9 destroys all of the Pharaoh's live stock including horses.

Seems that Exodus 7-14 should be over many years, even a generation to allow Pharaoh to re-establish his herd of horses for the pursuit of the Israelites in Exodus 14.

Shouldn’t Exodus 7-14 be longer than one year?

[Hebrews 11:6]

That is plain to today’s believers, but 3500 years ago none of them would have foreseen that (except by special revelation). We have another foreshadowing coming soon with Moses’ brazen serpent—which Jesus explained to Nicodemus.

[Jim W N]

Actually, with the Holy Spirit’s help, we can see Jesus stamped in the entire Old Testament which is “Jesus concealed” (vs. the New Testament as “Jesus revealed”).

[M Kehoe]

Hi.

I’m just bumping through.

5.56mm

[Hebrews 11:6]

Excellent and incisive question.

You offer one solution to the question, "If the fifth plague killed all his horses, where did Pharaoh get horses to attack the Israelites?"

Your proposal contradicts the immediacy evident in the text--there is no room for a years-long hiatus. Therefore, the plague did not actually kill ALL the horses. This is made explicit in the seventh plague, hail, when Moses warns the Egyptians to bring their livestock indoors. Thus, they were not already ALL dead.

Rather, it was hyperbole, and we are meant to understand it as such. The main intent was to describe the fact of a devastating event, not to detail its extent. Clearly, most of the horses died, but enough remained.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Well said, Jim.

Dan

[Hebrews 11:6]

Hoping for no ricochets...

[Deaf Smith]

I just figured it was about a human generation, 30-40 years.

I never brought it up, guessing everyone would just give me a blank look.

[Hebrews 11:6]

By God's design, where needed, the Bible interprets and explains itself.

Sometimes, as here, the explanation is half-a-page away. Other times, as with the water-giving rock, we must wait 1500 years for Paul's explanation. It works the other way, too: sometimes the Old Testament informs the New, as for Revelation's symbols.

But always, God rewards our study of His Word.

[InkStone]

Thank you Dan; we acknowledge your hours of work, for a great result. Many new styles here!

[Hebrews 11:6]

hours of work FUN, Leon, FUN!

[xp38]

Indeed the themes are there to see. The death of the first born, so important in ancient culture foreshadows the time when Christ arrives and the slaughter of the innocents. First born sons in that case.

[Ezekiel]

As long as I was pinged... ;)

The translations that use the word "lintel" really score big here...

23. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood upon the LINTEL, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not let the destroyer come into your houses to strike you:
24. And you shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever:

... because of the intel inside.

Something similar happens with the entire Torah in the beginning and the end words:

IN The beginning... all IsraEL

Or in connecting the end to the beginning:

All IsraeL IN The beginning... all IsraEL

Because the letter chet [ח] is the first letter of chai, "life" [חי], it is known as the letter of life.

As a Torah analog for the "two side posts",

Here's the translation generated off the Hebrew Wikipedia page:

Trees of Life [עצי חיים]

Trees of life are a pair of wooden poles on which the scrolls of the Torah scroll are rolled and through which the book can be scrolled during the reading of the Torah.

Due to the decree of the sages, the Torah scroll should not be scrolled by hand as other books and scrolls are scrolled, and therefore the trees of life are required in order to scroll the book.

In an Ashkenazi Torah scroll, the trees of life end with two shaped handles made of wood and sometimes also with a combination of silver. In a Sephardic Torah the living trees end in two thick wooden discs.

I always appreciate these visual mnemonics because here's a mother's hug:

Trees of Life [עצי חיים] = 238 = Rachel [רחל], who is known as Rachel Imenu, the Mother of All Israel.

It's like the Hebrew-English word play that *is* a hug, a chibuk:

חיבוק

A hug is a "chai" book,
a book of life

the trees of life are required in order to scroll the book:

♪ Mama Rochel - רחל אימנו ♪

[chuckles]

Ping for later.

[Hebrews 11:6]

What a large group there is whom I hope will welcome me into heaven--and my mother is in the front rank.

Thanks for that.