​After ten devastating plagues and 430 years of cohabitation, the children of Israel are finally allowed to return to their homeland.  Was it a happy parting?  Depends on who you ask.  The Egyptians were desperate to get these troublesome people out of their midst, and the Israelites were just as anxious to leave.  So I guess you could so that both parties saw the benefit of separating.  However, the Egyptians definitely got the short end of the stick.

​Ten plagues.  Some harmless but annoying, while others were deadly and destructive, and all of them wreaked havoc on everyday life.  We know that God brought them as a judgment against the gods of Egypt.  However, let’s step back and consider one thing:  what if Pharaoh hadn’t hardened his heart at the very beginning?  What if he had conceded and let the Israelites go after one or two plagues?

​Over the past month or so, we’ve been studying the people and events surrounding the Ten Plagues of Egypt—everything from the great and powerful to the small and slightly hilarious.  We’ve seen magic men try to replicate God and simply fall short and make the situation worse, and we’ve watched Moses’ rise from outlawry to greatness.  But most of all, we’ve witnessed God’s awesome power and glory, His intense judgment on the people of Egypt, and His goodness and kindness towards His chosen people.  

As we near the end of the plagues of Egypt, we come to one of the most beautiful pictures in the Old Testament—the Passover.  Its institution was in the land of Egypt before the Israelites were free, and it has been carried on over the past six thousand years.  One of the most important events in the Jewish year, thousands continue gather to celebrate the Passover to this day.