This pillar of cloud became a strange protection from the desert heat of the day and at night it became a lighting and heating plant.

.............It kept them cool during the day and warm during the night.

God made His presence known to the Israelites by a pillar of cloud which appeared on the second day.

...........................They could see the cloud, hear and feel the warmth of this fiery cloud at night.

..............This pillar of cloud was not only a visible manifestation of His presence, but it was also a means of His caring for them.

The natural man is limited in his knowledge to that which he gets through the five senses of his physical body.

..........................God must manifest Himself to Israel; but His presence can only be know to them through their physical senses.

No man could actually be Born Again of the Spirit of God until the Father God had a legal right to give His nature to spiritually dead man.

..........................God didn't have a legal right to give His Life to the Old Covenant people.

The dominion that the first Adam had when He walked in the realm of God's ability became lost at the fall.

....................................There are signs of it now and then under the Old Covenant, like with Moses getting the Israelites out of Egypt,etc, until the time when the second Adam [Jesus] walks with the Father God, with dominion over the forces of nature.

Exodus 14:21-22
"And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left."

....The forces of nature obeyed His Word.

So we see what the miracle-working God performed.

.......................He told Moses to speak to the children of Israel to go forward, then Moses, the Covenant man, was to prepare a pathway for them.

...................................Moses was to lift that rod which had brought judgment on Egypt; it would command the forces of nature to work salvation for the people of His Covenant.

Then came the words of faith from Moses to fear not, because their Covenant God would work on their behalf that day.

..........................Exodus 14:13-16
"And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea."

In a moment of hopeless despair, Israel forgets the God of the Covenant.

....................They cry bitterly to Moses for bringing them into this place of what looked like death.

...........................Exodus 14:11-12
"11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness."

The elaborately disciplined army of Egypt was one of the marvels of the world at that time.

.................We can only imagine the terror that must have struck the Israelites when they realized that it was coming after them.
................................Exodus 14:9-10
" But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.
And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD."

The Egyptians were left in their selfish greed and cruelty.

.....................The heart of Pharaoh turned against the people and they said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"
.........................Exodus 14:6-9

........It seems that all the troops which could be gathered together took part in this pursuit.

Israel who stood and waited for salvation from their God, came out of Egypt with gorgeous possessions and jewels from those who had enslaved them.

More than 200 years before,
................God had predicted this victory.

.......................In Genesis 15:13-14,
He had said to Abraham that his seed should be a stranger and afflicted in a land that was not theirs and that He would judge the nation whom they had served.
With it He had given this promise: "Afterward they shall come out with great substance."

.............God had looked ahead to the end of His people's travail and gave them compensation for their bondage and slavery.

God gave His people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians.

...............They were looked upon by their enemies in a new light; and the Egyptians gave to them.

......................These spoils were more glorious than any other conquering nation. Before, the conquered has been spoiled but never willingly. Here the Egyptians were so glad to get rid of Israel, they gave them everything they wanted and more.

In Exodus 3:21-22 and Exodus 12:35-36 have caused questions regarding the words
'borrow' which means 'ask' in Hebrew and the word 'lend' which is a form of the same word meaning to 'let ask'.

................It is not a case of theft or borrowing with no thought of returning.

............The Israelites asked for these things.

Before the conflict with Pharaoh, God had said to Moses:

"I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians and it shall come to pass that when ye go ye shall not go empty, but every woman shall borrow of her neighbor and of her that sojourneth in her house jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and ye shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters and ye shall spoil the Egyptians."
.............................Exodus 3:21-22

Down through the generations, the Jews have been accustomed to wear upon their foreheads as a crown and upon their arms as an armlet, a small leather cas as a sacred amulet containg a record of the passover covenant between Jahovah and the seed of Abraham, His friend.

Often times when two men cut the covenant,
..a blood-stained record of the covenant was
....perserved in a small leather case to be worn
......on the arm or around the neck of him
who had won a friend forever in this sacred rite of blood-friendship.

The symbol of the Passover is described in
.........................Exodus 13:16
..........."And it shall be a sign for thee upon thy hand and for a memorial between thy eyes that the law of Jehovah may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath Jehovah brought thee out of Egypt"

Jesus was betrayed on the tenth day
....and was crucified on the fourteenth day,
..........dying at three o'clock.

......Surely He was the Lamb of God!

Exodus 12:3-8
The Passover Lamb stands for Christ on the Cross.

........................The Lamb must be a male without blemish; he must be taken on the tenth day of the first month [Jewish year] and kept until the fourteenth day when he is slain at three o'clock.

The institution of the Passover custom of Jehovah's blood-friendship with Israel
...is to become a permanent ceremony among them
...as a memorial of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt as His Covenant people.

Exodus 12:14-20,43 and 13:16

It is the Covenant-keeping God who is delivering His Covenant people.

...................He has reaffirmed His Covenant.

..........................................As they face the dangers of the wilderness, they know that the Covenant-keeping God is with them.

"He [Pharoah] called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, Rise up and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go serve the Lord Jehovah as ye have said and be gone and bless me also.
And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, we will be all dead men"
......................Exodus 12:31-33

The firstborn of the Israelites were safe.

Not one plague touched God's Covenant people.

............But Egypt was afraid of what else might happen, so they agreed to let the Israelites go.

In fact, Pharaoh wouldn't even wait for day break.

It's been told that animals were worshipped in Egypt and that the king, himself, was considered a god and was worshipped.

........Pharaoh was struck down in his own land and in front of his own people.

.............His son who had already been recognized like his father, was now dead.

......................It was impossible for them not to know that it was from the Israelite's God.

"I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast and against all the gods of Egypt.
I will execute judgment."
...........................Exodus 12:12

.............God executed judgment against both man and beast
and against all the gods of Egypt.

"And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead"
Exodus 12:30

The flesh of the chosen lamb was to be reverently eaten by the Israelites according to the primitive blood covenant rites.

...........The last plague broke the Egyptians.

..............................When anyone died in Egypt it caused a great mourning.

The blood of the lamb, a type of Christ's blood, was to be put on the two sideposts and on the lintel of every house of the descendance of Abraham.


Read Exodus 12:7-13


.......The firstborn was safe when covered by the Blood.