The Write Place

¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
Exodus 12:12

When people speak of the Exodus out of Egypt, it is typically in terms of the Angel of Death. This originates not in scripture, but in popular culture. No such being is mentioned in scripture. What we are told is that God himself passed through Egypt, striking down the firstborn. God himself is this “avenging angel” in scripture. Moses passes it on when he edits the family histories into the Pentateuch and elaborates that the Lord is the destroyer, in a way that implies at least two persons.

²³ For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 

Exodus 12:23

I mentioned in a Sunday school lesson that Jesus appeared to have been the personage of YHWH who killed the firstborn of Egypt and passed over those marked by Lamb’s blood. As often happens, someone pointed this out elsewhere the day after this is not dropped in the New Testament.

Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved[a] a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Jude 5:5

Jesus himself, the second person of the Trinity typically appears for the Father to do the divine will. Jude explains explicitly for us that this understanding is ancient as it is historical. Jesus himself fought for his people trapped in slavery to a seed of the Serpent. Through the death of firstborn, and the blood of a lamb Jesus delivered his people from Egypt.

This is a high point of the story but it gets better for God’s people. They leave Egypt as conquerors.

³⁵ The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ³⁶ And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

⁵⁰ All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
Exodus 12:35-36,50-51

Since the God has ordered history is the God who inspired scripture, this is not the last time we see this.

⁸ Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
    and he gave gifts to men.”^[a]
Ephesians 4:8

When Christ rose and then ascended, he led the children of Israel, Jew and Gentile out of their Egypt of bondage to sin and death. The plan of salvation is the grand narrative of history. A God who fights for his people, rescues them and fights for us today. The Church has had her exodus, and Christ is her king.

The thematic repetition does not end there. God struck the firstborn of Egypt who was under a curse. When Jesus came in the flesh, he was the firstborn who died, this time to remove the curse from his people.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world,^[a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

As he judged Egypt, now judges all the nations of the earth. The second person of the trinity does what he always does, accomplishing the authored intent of the father, judging the earth, and redeeming his people (Ephesians 1:3-13).

God is a literary genius. Appreciate that he has worked that into history.