After everything that had happened you would think that Pharaoh would recognize God's great power. But even after all the plagues God had sent, the ruler of Egypt still refused to admit that God was Supreme Ruler over all creation. In his pride and self-exaltation Pharaoh refused to release God's people from slavery.

The ninth plague had caused Egypt to be filled with a darkness. A darkness so dense that you wouldn't see your hand in front of your face. Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, was there any light.

"Give me back my light," Pharaoh had told them, "And you and your people may leave Egypt. Only you must leave your animals behind."

"We must take our livestock with us," Moses had explained. "For we will need to offer them in sacrifice to our God."

Pharaoh had grown angry. He knew that not a single animal that belonged to the Hebrews had gotten sick or died during the plagues. He had hopes of replenishing the Egyptians herds from the animals that remained. Also he hoped that the Israelites would return again to Egypt. If they took their animals with them they might become self-sufficient and never return.

"Get out of my sight!" he had yelled at Moses. "If I ever see you again, you will die!"

"You have spoken well," Moses replied, upset that Pharaoh wouldn't listen to reason. "You will never see my face again. But before I go, God has one last message for you - this is what God says: 'About midnight tonight I will go out into the land of Egypt and I will cause all the firstborn in the land of Egypt to die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits upon the throne to the firstborn of the lowliest servant and also the firstborn of all the animals. There shall be a great cry throughout Egypt, such as there has never been, nor will there ever be such a cry again. But not a single Israelite shall die, nor a single animal that belongs to an Israelite. This is so that you will know that God is watching over His people and will punish the Egyptians for murdering so many of the Hebrew babies.'

"When this horrible event occurs," Moses went on, "All of your servants will come and bow down to me and will plead with me, 'Get out with all of the people who follow you!' Then we will go." And Moses left the Pharaoh in great anger.

God told Moses, "Announce to the people of Israel: 'All of you - men and women, when you leave ask your Egyptian neighbors for valuable things of gold and silver." And God gave the Israelites favor on the eyes of the Egyptians and Moses was held in great esteem by the Egyptians as well as the Israelites. So the Egyptians gave the Israelites what they asked for.

Now God had given Moses and Aaron instructions which they passed on to the people of Israel.

God told them that the months of the year begin at the new moon - a time when you can just see a little sliver of moon just after sunset. The first time this happened in the spring was to be their first month of the year. Every year from then on, they were to select a perfect lamb or kid for each family on the tenth day of the month. This lamb or kid was to be killed, roasted, and eaten on the night of the fourteenth day of the month. On this night, the very night after Moses told Pharaoh that all the firstborn would die, they were to daub some of the blood of the lamb or kid on the doorposts and lintel of the houses where they would eat the lamb or kid.

The lamb or kid represented the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would die to pay for the sins of all mankind. The blood on the doorposts and lintel demonstrated that the people inside were trusting God to pass over them and spare all their firstborn from death; the lamb or kid had been sacrificed for them so that they could live.

There were a number of other rules but the main one was that no one could go outside their houses that night - not until morning - this was for their own protection.

God told Moses, "It is the Lord's Passover, I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and I will kill all the firstborn, both man and beast and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. When I see the sign of the blood, I will pass over you and this plague will not destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. In all future generations you will keep this feast for ever."

And the people all did as Moses instructed them.

At midnight God did as He said and struck the Egyptians. As was their custom when someone died, the Egyptians wailed loudly over their dead. Soon others awoke and discovered that a family member had died. Everyone was struck, from the house of Pharaoh, to the house of the lowest slave. There wasn't a single Egyptian household where there wasn't at least one dead. Soon a great crying and wailing filled the land.

Pharaoh then set word to Moses, "Get out of Egypt," he ordered. "Go away from my people, all of you, as you have said. And take your livestock with you, as you have said. Get out, but bless me."

Fearing that God might also strike them down dead, the Egyptians strongly urged the Israelites to get out of Egypt.

God had instructed the people not to go out of their houses until dawn. So they stayed inside and did as much as possible to get ready for leaving come sunrise. As the sun rose over the land of Egypt the Israelites came out of their houses and spent the day packing things in carts, gathering their flocks and herds together, and assembling for the march out of Egypt. This was a huge undertaking since there were about 600,000 men; counting women and children, that would be 2,000,000 or more. Moses must have had his hands full organizing them and all their animals for travel. Besides the people of Israel, there were also others who wanted to leave Egypt; probably many non-Israelite slaves, and some Egyptians who wanted to leave their devastated country.

By the time they were ready to leave it was sunset. Unwilling to stay in Egypt a day longer, they prepared to depart. It was the night of the full moon so there was plenty of light and they had no trouble traveling. God told them this was to be "a night to be much observed" for all the coming generations. It was also to be the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Later Christians would be told that leavened bread represented sin and that Pharaoh was a type of Satan the devil. God frees us from sin and Satan, just as he freed the Israelites from Pharaoh. The Israelites were going out of Egypt, which was a type of sin, and were not able to stop and let their dough rise, so they had to eat unleavened bread, which, the new testament explains, represents righteousness.

It took the Israelites seven days to leave the land of Egypt and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is seven days long.

But the Pharaoh once more hardened his heart. Gathering up his army he pursued after the Israelites who where camped near the Read Sea.

On the seventh day the Israelites were to cross the Red Sea to escape from Pharaoh, but that part of the story will come in the next chapter.