Mo'ses also instructed the elders of Is'ra-el to establish an annual feast to be observed by all future generations as a memorial of the wonderful deliverance from E'gypt. The feast was to be called "Pass'o-ver," and we shall learn more about it in other stories.
Mo'ses had not told Pha'raoh just when the last dreadful plague was to strike the land of E'gypt, but had merely said that it would come at midnight. Days had passed since his last warning to the wicked king, so before long Pha'raoh began to think that the terrible hour would not come. Soon all E'gypt began to feel safe; weeks went by, and still there was no sign from Heaven.
Then, on the night of the 14th of the month called Ni'san, a sudden cry of anguish filled the land at midnight. The Angel of death swept over the land, smiting every family of E'gypt. The words which Mo'ses had spoken to Pha'raoh had now all come true, for not a single home escaped.
"Twas dark-that dreary witching hour of night,
When restless spirits stole in mortal sight,
And grim spectres stalked their dreary round."
The whole land rose up in one mighty shout for the deliverance of Is'ra-el at once, for the people feared still greater calamities if Pha'raoh still defied the LORD. So Pha'raoh sent for Mo'ses and Aa'ron, and in the darkness of this night of grief told them to take all the Is'ra-el-ites out of the land at once. With the Is'ra-el-ites went their wives and children, their flocks and herds and all other possessions, and Pha'raoh advised the E'gyp-tians to supply them with whatever they might need for the journey.
Under the direction of Mo'ses the Is'ra-el-ites had been thoroughly organized by families and by tribes. Six hundred thousand men capable of bearing arms marched out of the land, and with the old men, women, and children, the number reached to nearly three million. The children of Is'ra-el carried with them enormous quantities of food and worldly goods, treasures of gold, silver, and jewels, and drove before them great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.
At last the children of Is'ra-el were free from the land of bondage, released by order of the king after ten successive plagues had crushed his proud, hard-hearted spirit. From the seventy souls which had migrated to this land two hundred and fifteen years before, there had now sprung up a mighty host of nearly three million. They were now strong in numbers, skilled in the arts and science of civilization, and increased in wisdom and experience to the point where they could safely begin their national history as the chosen people of God.
Although forty years of hardship took place before they finally settled in the land of Ca'naan, they were free at last from E'gypt, never to return. Long years of discipline and vital instruction from the LORD lay ahead before they would be fully prepared to set up all the national institutions of a great people, but they were on their way.
"Already she is on her august way,
And marching to her final goal."
