V.1-3. And the LORD said unto Moses, I will bring another plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt, and after that he shall send you away, and shall not only send all things away, but shall also send you away. Now therefore say before the people, that every man require of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, vessels of silver and of gold: for the LORD will give grace unto the people in the sight of Egypt. And Moses was a very great man in the land of Egypt before the servants of Pharaoh, and before the people.
(1) In this chapter God is threatening to inflict another punishment on Pharaoh and the Egyptians, which is to be the tenth and last punishment, namely, that all the firstborn shall be slain. And thus says God: He will make it so that Pharaoh will be glad to send you out and let the people go, yes, he will drive them by force himself, so that they will go out. Now Moses can do no more. For until now Pharaoh has despised Moses' word, preaching and urging, and has not wanted to follow, so God says: "I will do it myself, what you cannot do to Moses; I can do it well [Ps. 12:6]. And now Pharaoh has preached enough, and this chapter belongs to the previous one, since Moses says: "Let it be, I will no longer come before your eyes; but I will leave this for you to do last: If I cease to preach, another shall come after me, and he shall do better, and shall smite all the firstborn; and then shalt thou give me leave.
2 Here one would like to ask whether the saints are also angry? Moses herewith gives the country and the king Pharaoni the valete and the leave that he does not want to ask for the king anymore, but considered him a hardened and hardened man. As St. Paul [Titus 3:10, 11] also commanded, that after one or two admonitions, one should let such a one go, and avoid him, as one who is given over to the devil. Moses also lives according to this here, and speaks thus:
I will also let it go and preach to you no more; soon the tenth plague will come, and all the firstborn will be struck down, and you will be glad that you let me and the people go. So he has renounced all friendship, prayer and support for him, his whole kingdom and his people.
3 And God commanded Moshi and the people of Israel that they should not go forth empty, but that they should borrow every man of his neighbor's vessels of gold and silver, because they had served the Egyptians with great toil and labor many and long years, and had been slain without reward or recompense, and many of their children had been slain; they had been oppressed and constrained.
4 Now God also makes them find favor with the Egyptians. Otherwise someone would say: How is it possible, because the Egyptians are so hostile to the Hebrews, that they should borrow and lend them their silverware? Yes, says God, I will bring it about; I will give the Egyptians favor against the Hebrews, and they will do it gladly.
005 The children of Israel were sojourners in the land; and when they asked of the citizens for silver vessels, and said: Tomorrow we have feast, lend us your silver chains, or silver bowls and cups, they did so, and believed them. Some took pity on them, and perhaps the common man was also favorable to them, saw their misery and need. They will not all have been more wicked than the king and the sovereign with his servants. For it is a synecdoche to say that the people are either wicked or pious, that is, half of them. For this is the custom and manner of the holy scriptures, to speak thus.
(6) So God gave grace to the people to bring the cups and silverware of the Egyptians to themselves for the Paschal feast, and in the evening, when they have taken away the ornaments, they go out and take them all with them. What will they say here? Did they not steal these things and take them unjustly?
that they borrow the silverware from the Egyptians in good faith and trust, and yet they steal it? The text says: God told them to borrow the silverware. For God could have made it possible for the Israelites to take the silverware from the Egyptians by force, but He did not do it, for He wants to lead His people in humility and under the cross. It can be seen and seems as if they did it secretly, but it was still God's command.
Therefore, it is not a sin. For what God calls is right. If I or you had done it, it would be wrong, but because he names it and gives it, it is right and just. For the goods of Egypt are God's. He says, "I have given it to them; if I am commanded to take it from them, it is right; who will judge me to do wrong? But if it were done without my command, it would be wrong. But I do it publicly, and can evidently take it all away; for it is all mine, I do with it as I will [Ps. 50:10.
Ps. 24, 1. ff. 1 Cor. 4, 7.] Therefore, the word of God and the commandment of God are here and have been done.
And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, I will go out at midnight into the land of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne unto the firstborn of the maid that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle 2c.
8th The last and tenth plague is this, that God smites all the firstborn, from the chief to the maidservant or the least maidservant's son. For in Egypt all served, man and woman were called servants and maidservants; they were poor people who all served. Moses said, "There shall not be a dead man in any house, nor shall there be a dead man in any house.
(9) But before this plague, that the firstborn was slain, Moses describes in the following twelfth chapter the paschal feast which God has appointed for the Israelites.