Exodus 11

Introduction

Exodus 11 stands at the climax of the plague narrative. After nine devastating plagues, Pharaoh remains defiant, and God now announces the tenth and final plague: the death of every firstborn in Egypt. This short chapter (only ten verses) serves as both the culmination of the confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh and the bridge into the Passover narrative of chapter 12. It contains some of the most dramatic language in the entire exodus story — the unprecedented cry of grief, the eerie silence among the Israelites, and the rare spectacle of Moses burning with anger as he storms out of Pharaoh's presence.

The chapter raises an interesting chronological puzzle. Verses 1-3 appear to be a private communication from God to Moses, yet verses 4-8 seem to continue the confrontation with Pharaoh that ended in Exodus 10:28-29 with Pharaoh's threat ("Make sure you never see my face again") and Moses' agreement ("I will never see your face again"). The most natural reading is that the speech in verses 4-8 was delivered to Pharaoh before Moses departed — that is, 11:4-8 recounts the final words Moses spoke before leaving Pharaoh's court, while 11:1-3 is a parenthetical flashback explaining the divine instruction Moses had already received. This reading preserves the dramatic continuity: Pharaoh issues his death threat, and Moses responds not with retreat but with the most terrifying oracle yet. The chapter also fulfills the plundering motif first announced at the burning bush (Exodus 3:21-22) and introduces the theological theme that will dominate the Passover: God makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

The Final Plague Announced; Plundering the Egyptians (vv. 1-3)

Notes

• נֶגַע אֶחָד ("one more plague") — The word נֶגַע means "blow, strike, plague" and comes from the root נָגַע ("to touch, strike"). It is distinct from the more common word for plague, מַגֵּפָה, used elsewhere in Exodus. The use of נֶגַע here emphasizes the personal, violent nature of this final act — it is a direct strike from God. The same word is used extensively in Leviticus 13-14 for skin diseases, where the connotation is of something that has been "touched" or "struck" by God. By calling it "one plague" (אֶחָד), God signals finality: this is the last blow, the one that will break Pharaoh's resistance.

• גָּרֵשׁ יְגָרֵשׁ אֶתְכֶם ("driving, he will drive you out") — This is an infinitive absolute construction intensifying the verb גָּרַשׁ ("to drive out, expel"). The image is remarkable: Pharaoh, who has clung to Israel with an iron grip through nine plagues, will not merely permit them to leave but will forcibly expel them. The word גָּרַשׁ carries connotations of violent expulsion — it is used of Adam and Eve being driven from Eden (Genesis 3:24) and of Hagar being sent away (Genesis 21:10). The shift from Pharaoh refusing to let Israel go to Pharaoh driving them out represents a total reversal of power.

• כָּלָה ("completely") — This word means "completion, destruction, entirety." The BSB renders it "completely," which captures the sense well: when Pharaoh finally relents, it will not be a partial concession (as in his earlier offers to let only the men go, or to keep the livestock). He will expel all the people, all the animals, everything. The departure will be total.

• דַּבֶּר נָא בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם ("Speak now in the hearing of the people") — The particle נָא ("now, please") adds urgency to the command. The instruction is remarkable: God tells Moses to ask the Israelites to request valuables from their Egyptian neighbors. The verb שָׁאַל means "to ask, request" — not "to borrow," as the KJV misleadingly renders it. There is no intention of returning these items. This fulfills the promise God made to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:21-22) and the earlier promise to Abraham that his descendants would come out of their affliction "with great possessions" (Genesis 15:14).

• כְּלֵי כֶסֶף וּכְלֵי זָהָב ("vessels of silver and vessels of gold") — The word כְּלִי (plural כְּלֵי) means "vessel, utensil, article, implement" — a broad term for crafted objects. The ESV has "jewelry," the BSB has "articles," and the KJV has "jewels." My translation uses "vessels" to stay close to the Hebrew. These silver and gold items will later be contributed for the construction of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:3, Exodus 35:5), though tragically some will be used for the golden calf (Exodus 32:2-4). The plundering is not theft but divine restitution — back wages for generations of slave labor.

• וַיִּתֵּן יְהוָה אֶת חֵן הָעָם בְּעֵינֵי מִצְרָיִם ("And the LORD gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians") — The word חֵן ("favor, grace") is the same word used of Noah finding favor in God's eyes (Genesis 6:8). God supernaturally disposes the Egyptians to view the Israelites favorably. After nine devastating plagues that the Egyptians know have come because of Israel's God, the natural reaction would be hostility toward the Israelites — yet the opposite occurs. This is a divine work in the hearts of the Egyptians.

• גַּם הָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה גָּדוֹל מְאֹד ("Moreover, the man Moses was very great") — This parenthetical note is striking. The word גָּדוֹל ("great") applied to a person means "important, prominent, powerful." Moses, who began as a fugitive shepherd, has become the most prominent figure in Egypt after Pharaoh himself. He is respected both by Pharaoh's court officials (עַבְדֵי פַרְעֹה) and by the common people (הָעָם). The plagues have demonstrated that Moses speaks for a God more powerful than all of Egypt's deities. This detail also explains why the Egyptians will willingly hand over their valuables — they have come to revere and fear Moses.

Moses Announces the Death of the Firstborn (vv. 4-8)

Notes

• כַּחֲצֹת הַלַּיְלָה ("about midnight") — The preposition כְּ ("about, approximately") softens the precision slightly — "around the dividing of the night." The word חֲצֹת comes from חָצָה ("to divide in two"), so midnight is literally "the halving of the night." God acts at the darkest hour, when Egypt is most vulnerable and unsuspecting. The same temporal marker appears in the fulfillment account: "At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:29).

• אֲנִי יוֹצֵא בְּתוֹךְ מִצְרָיִם ("I am going out into the midst of Egypt") — The pronoun אֲנִי ("I") is emphatic. God himself will go out — not an angel, not a messenger, but the LORD personally. The participle יוֹצֵא ("going out") conveys imminent action: "I am about to go out." Compare Exodus 12:12, where God says "I will pass through the land of Egypt" using the verb עָבַר ("to pass through"). The two verbs together paint a picture of God actively moving through Egypt, entering every home.

• בְּכוֹר ("firstborn") — This word occurs four times in verse 5 alone and is the thematic center of the chapter. The בְּכוֹר held a position of supreme importance in the ancient Near East — the firstborn son was the heir, the representative of the family, the one who carried the family's future. To lose the firstborn was to lose everything. The plague strikes comprehensively: from the royal firstborn on the throne to the firstborn of the lowest slave woman. No social class is exempt. The theological significance runs deeper: Egypt's Pharaoh was considered a divine firstborn, the son of Ra. God's plague is a direct assault on the theology of Egyptian kingship. Furthermore, God has already declared "Israel is my firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22-23) and warned Pharaoh, "Let my son go... or I will kill your firstborn son." The tenth plague is the fulfillment of that warning.

• הַשִּׁפְחָה אֲשֶׁר אַחַר הָרֵחָיִם ("the slave woman who is behind the handmill") — The שִׁפְחָה is a female slave, the lowest rung of Egyptian society. The רֵחַיִם (a dual noun, literally "two millstones") refers to the hand-operated grain mill. Grinding grain was the most menial of household tasks, reserved for the lowest servants. By spanning from Pharaoh's throne to the slave behind the handmill, the text encompasses the entire social hierarchy of Egypt. No one is spared.

• צְעָקָה גְדֹלָה ("a great cry") — The word צְעָקָה is a cry of anguish, a shriek of grief. It is the same root (צָעַק) used to describe Israel's cry under Egyptian oppression (Exodus 3:7). The reversal is devastating: the nation that caused Israel to cry out will itself cry out in an anguish that surpasses anything in history. The phrase "the likes of which has never been and never will be again" (אֲשֶׁר כָּמֹהוּ לֹא נִהְיָתָה וְכָמֹהוּ לֹא תֹסִף) uses the same superlative formula applied elsewhere to describe unprecedented events (cf. Joel 2:2 for the locust plague; Daniel 12:1 for the final tribulation).

• לֹא יֶחֱרַץ כֶּלֶב לְשֹׁנוֹ ("not a dog will sharpen its tongue") — This is one of the most vivid images in the chapter. The verb חָרַץ means "to sharpen, to cut, to decide." The phrase literally means no dog will "sharpen its tongue" — that is, not even a dog will bark, growl, or snarl at any Israelite. While Egypt is engulfed in the most terrible cry of anguish imaginable, among Israel there will be such complete peace that not even a dog stirs. The contrast is absolute: death and chaos on one side, supernatural calm on the other. The KJV's "not a dog shall move his tongue" captures the sense well. This proverbial expression occurs also in Joshua 10:21 in a context of divine protection.

• יַפְלֶה יְהוָה בֵּין מִצְרַיִם וּבֵין יִשְׂרָאֵל ("the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel") — The Hiphil verb יַפְלֶה from the root פָּלָה means "to make separate, to set apart, to distinguish." This is a key theological motif in the plague narrative. God has been making distinctions since the plague of flies (Exodus 8:22-23) and the plague on livestock (Exodus 9:4). The distinction is not based on Israel's merit but on God's sovereign election. Israel is protected not because they are better but because they belong to God. This theme reaches its fullest expression in the Passover itself, where the blood on the doorposts marks the distinction between judgment and mercy.

• וְיָרְדוּ כָל עֲבָדֶיךָ אֵלֶּה אֵלַי וְהִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לִי ("And all these servants of yours will come down to me and bow down to me") — Moses speaks with stunning boldness. He tells Pharaoh that his own court officials will come to Moses, bow before him, and beg him to leave. The verb הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ ("bow down, prostrate oneself") is the standard word for worship and deep obeisance. Moses carefully avoids saying that Pharaoh himself will bow — he says "your servants" — but the implication is clear: Pharaoh's authority will collapse. Note that Moses says "come down to me" (אֵלַי), though the message is ostensibly from God. By this point, Moses and God's purposes are so unified that Moses speaks with divine authority in the first person.

• אֲשֶׁר בְּרַגְלֶיךָ ("who are at your feet") — Literally "who are at your [Moses'] feet," meaning those who follow Moses, his people. The idiom suggests those who walk behind a leader, following in his footsteps. The entire nation is identified as being "at Moses' feet" — under his leadership.

• בָּחֳרִי אָף ("burning with anger") — The phrase literally means "in the burning of the nose" (or "nostrils"), since אַף means "nose" and by extension "anger" (the image is of nostrils flaring with rage). This is one of the very few times in the entire Pentateuch where Moses is described as angry. Elsewhere the expression חֳרִי אַף is typically used of God's anger. Moses' fury here is not petulance but righteous indignation — he has witnessed Pharaoh's stubborn refusal through nine plagues, each one accompanied by broken promises, and now he knows that Pharaoh's obstinacy will result in the death of every firstborn in Egypt. Moses is angry because lives that could have been spared will now be lost. The narrative notes that Moses "went out from Pharaoh's presence" (וַיֵּצֵא מֵעִם פַּרְעֹה), fulfilling his statement in Exodus 10:29 that he would never see Pharaoh's face again.

Interpretations

The chronological relationship between chapters 10 and 11 has been debated. In Exodus 10:28-29, Pharaoh tells Moses to leave and never return, and Moses agrees. Yet in 11:4-8, Moses is apparently still speaking to Pharaoh. Three main solutions have been proposed: (1) The retrospective reading holds that 11:1-3 is a flashback — God had already given Moses this instruction before the audience with Pharaoh, and 11:4-8 is the final part of that same audience, spoken before Moses departs in 10:29/11:8. On this view, 10:29 and 11:8b describe the same exit. (2) The sequential reading takes the events in strict chronological order and posits that Moses returned to Pharaoh one more time despite his earlier statement, compelled by the urgency of the divine message. (3) The literary-compositional view, common in critical scholarship, sees the chapter as combining material from different sources (J and E) that were not originally continuous. Most evangelical and traditional interpreters favor the first reading, which preserves both the narrative coherence and the integrity of Moses' word.

Summary: Pharaoh Will Not Listen (vv. 9-10)

Notes

• לֹא יִשְׁמַע אֲלֵיכֶם פַּרְעֹה ("Pharaoh will not listen to you") — The verb שָׁמַע means "to hear, listen, obey." In Hebrew, to "not listen" is to "not obey" — hearing and doing are inseparable. This statement is not a prediction of a future surprise but a divine declaration of what God has known from the beginning (cf. Exodus 3:19, Exodus 7:4). Pharaoh's refusal is simultaneously a human act of stubborn defiance and a circumstance that serves God's larger purpose.

• לְמַעַן רְבוֹת מוֹפְתַי בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם ("so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt") — The word מוֹפְתִים ("wonders, signs, portents") is distinct from אֹתוֹת ("signs"). While אוֹת emphasizes the sign-character of a miracle (pointing to something), מוֹפֵת emphasizes its extraordinary, awe-inspiring nature. The purpose clause לְמַעַן ("so that, in order that") is theologically loaded: Pharaoh's stubbornness serves the divine purpose of multiplying God's demonstrations of power. Each plague reveals another dimension of God's sovereignty — over water, over livestock, over the skies, over life and death — and each refusal by Pharaoh provides occasion for yet another display. The plagues are not merely punishments; they are a systematic dismantling of Egypt's theology and a revelation of the true God to all nations (Exodus 9:16).

• וַיְחַזֵּק יְהוָה אֶת לֵב פַּרְעֹה ("And the LORD strengthened Pharaoh's heart") — The Piel verb חִזֵּק from חָזַק means "to make strong, to harden, to strengthen." I have translated it "strengthened" rather than "hardened" to preserve the Hebrew nuance: the word itself is not inherently negative. God strengthens or fortifies Pharaoh's heart in its existing disposition. Three different Hebrew verbs are used for the hardening of Pharaoh's heart throughout the plague narrative: חָזַק ("to strengthen," used here and in Exodus 4:21, Exodus 7:13, Exodus 9:12, Exodus 10:20, Exodus 10:27), כָּבֵד ("to make heavy," Exodus 7:14, Exodus 8:15, Exodus 8:32, Exodus 9:7, Exodus 9:34, Exodus 10:1), and קָשָׁה ("to make stubborn/hard," Exodus 7:3). In the early plagues, Pharaoh hardens his own heart; in the later plagues, God hardens it. This verse uses the same summary formula found in Exodus 7:13 and elsewhere, bringing the plague cycle full circle.

• וְלֹא שִׁלַּח אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵאַרְצוֹ ("and he did not send the sons of Israel out of his land") — The Piel of שָׁלַח ("to send, let go, release") has been the recurring demand throughout the plague narrative: "Let my people go" (שַׁלַּח אֶת עַמִּי). The summary in verse 10 notes with finality that despite all the wonders, Pharaoh did not שִׁלַּח — he did not release them. The possessive phrase מֵאַרְצוֹ ("from his land") is telling: Pharaoh considers Israel's departure a loss of his property, from his land. The irony is that Pharaoh's claim of ownership over Israel and over the land stands against the reality that both the people and the land belong to God.

• These two verses function as a summary colophon for the entire plague narrative of chapters 7-11. They look backward over the whole series of confrontations and forward to the decisive act of God in chapter 12. The next time the narrative resumes, God will give Moses the Passover instructions, and the final plague will be executed.

Interpretations

The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is one of the most discussed theological problems in the Old Testament. The tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility is felt acutely here. Calvinist/Reformed interpreters emphasize that God's hardening is an exercise of sovereign prerogative — God has the right to use Pharaoh's rebellion for his own redemptive purposes, and Paul appeals to this passage in Romans 9:17-18 to argue for unconditional divine sovereignty in election. Arminian interpreters note that Pharaoh first hardened his own heart (in the early plagues) before God hardened it, and they argue that God's hardening was a judicial act — God confirmed Pharaoh in a course Pharaoh had already freely chosen. On this view, God did not create Pharaoh's rebellion but ratified it. A mediating view holds that the Hebrew text deliberately interweaves both divine and human agency without resolving the tension, presenting both as simultaneously true: Pharaoh is genuinely responsible for his stubbornness, and God is genuinely sovereign over the outcome. The text does not invite us to choose one side of the paradox over the other but to hold both in tension, recognizing that God's purposes are accomplished through — not despite — human decisions.