The tenth plague—the death of the firstborn—has long troubled interpreters of the Bible. In this teaching, Josh offers some guidance on reading the story in its OT context, and then advances its implications to the NT and to Jesus.
the restoration project. Joshua James. 9 April 2017
Small Group Study Questions:
(1) Are you troubled by the tenth plague (the killing of the Egyptian firstborn)? If so, how do you reconcile your understanding of God with the story?
(2) Josh stressed the importance of reading ancient stories through ancient eyes (and not solely 21st c. American eyes). To support this, he cited NT Wright: "To understand any event in history, you must put it firmly into that history and not rest content with what later generations have said about it" (Wright, The Day the Revolution Began). How do you go about doing this? How does this help us understand the tenth plague?
(3) Over the past two weeks, Josh has talked about the (intentional) authorial/editorial shaping of the plague narratives. (Don't worry, if that's not ringing any bells, it has been a minor point.) Are you troubled by the reporting of "history" in the ancient world?
Josh also brought up this point about the potential for hyperbole in the retelling of Israel's story: “Exodus 12:37-39 reports that 600,000 Israelites of fighting age left Egypt. This number plus their wives and children along with the mixed multitude said to accompany them would have totaled some two and a half million. Marching ten abreast, the numbers would have formed a line over 150 miles long and would have required eight or nine days to march by any fixed point” (Miller and Hayes, A History of Ancient Israel and Judah). Now remember, this is *one perspective on the flight from Egypt, but how does it sit with you? Troublesome? Exciting? Interesting?
(4) In Exodus 4, the *end of this story is foreshadowed: "Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’” Does the fact that Pharaoh had chances to let Israel go help your understanding of God? (Do you think he *really had a chance to do this, or was it impossible due to the hardening of his heart?)
(5) We didn't go into much detail with this one, but the tenth plague forms the basis for the Passover (see Exodus 13). Why is this festival so important? How is it re-read in light of Jesus in the NT?
*This is a tough passage. Don't be discouraged if you are left with questions. It has troubled interpreters for centuries.
