Exodus 11, The Final Plague Foretold

The final plague is coming. There have been warnings of this final event. In the last chapter we read of Moses leaving Pharaoh's presence, for the last time. Here we have a summary of that last conversation.

Exodus 11:1-3, One more plague

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."

    

(The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.)

The final plague will completely free the Israelites. For their journey, they are to ask their Egyptian neighbors, those who have a different attitude than the Pharaoh, for treasures and wealth.  (I hope some of these neighbors were warned of what was coming?!)

As the last plague approaches, it appears that Pharaoh is increasing isolated. His officials are probably saying, "Please, let these people go for a time! How is that a problem?"

Exodus 11:4-8, Death of firstborn foretold

So Moses said, "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, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt--worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.

    

But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.' Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, `Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will leave." 

    

Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

The final plague will be devastating. At this point, Moses seems, like YHWH, to run out of patience.

This conversation is a flashback, fitting into a timeline that predates the last verses of chapter 10.

Exodus 11:9-10, Pharaoh refuses to listen

The LORD had said to Moses, "Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you--so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt."

    

Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

One more time Pharaoh has refused.  He has run out of opportunity and time.

The next chapter will describe this final plague and its result.  But first, there will be a significant interlude in our story.

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is nega,

נֶגַע

a masculine noun meaning "sore, plague, wound." It appears 78 times in the Old Testament.

Some Random Thoughts

This short chapter seems strangely out of place to me. It inserts into the last chapter a final conversation with Pharaoh and builds tension towards an outcome that will be briefly described in verses 29 and 30 of the next chapter. Those two verses describe a very memorable event, but from the point of the view of the author of Exodus, the climax of the story is the festival of Pesach (Passover) that is described around the deaths of the firstborn.

.

First published March 13, 2023; updated March 12, 2026