Exodus 11:1-3

Verses 1-3:

Matthew-Henry describes this event as happening before Moses has left the presence of Pharaoh, for recall from the last verses of chapter 10 that Pharaoh had ordered Moses out of his sight, never to return again. The purpose of this would be of mercy, for God wants Pharaoh to hear exactly what will happen if he continues in his rebellion. The context of the chapter, as we will see so clearly, supports this, yet in the very first verse we also see something else…God’s Sovereignty at work!

Let no one be confused, everything that has happened has been according to the will of God, and nothing, absolutely nothing, has come as a surprise to the Lord.

“I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go.”

God is about to show Pharaoh the futility of resisting Him! Read Isaiah 14:24-27.

Brothers and sisters, it does not matter how powerful Pharaoh is, God’s desire shall come to pass, for He is Lord! It does not matter how haughty Pharaoh is, declaring he knew not the Lord, it does not matter how emphatically he has declared that he will not let Israel go, God has declared that Israel will go! Despite this, however, Pharaoh has had opportunity to repent, God has extended the offer, but Pharaoh’s rebellion is in his very nature, just as sin grips man, naturally. We act sinful because we are depraved and wicked, and only by the grace of God and by the mercy that He extends are we allowed to see the light and turn to Him in repentance.
While this may seem wrong to the sinful and prideful man, it should fill the Believer’s heart with nothing but gratitude and love for the Lord of all Creation who loved us enough to make sure we would not remain as slaves to sin!

To clear up any misunderstanding, the word translated as "ask" in verse 2 is the Hebrew sha’al. It appears 168 times in the OT and it is translated as ask, beg, or require 162 times. The Septuagint translates it into aites, which is Greek for ask. I mention this only because the KJV and some other translations render this word as borrow. This has caused many opponents to accuse God of ordering His people to deceive the Egyptians, since anything borrowed implies there will be a return of the borrowed object! Rest assured this is not the case.

Let us think about this, however. Why did God require the Egyptians to give up the jewelry?
There are 2 possible reasons:
They were lawfully entitled to the jewels as payment for the unpaid labor they had done for Egypt. With this view, we see the Israelites as merely requisitioning what they had earned.

The spiritual reason becomes a spiritual lesson. Just as Egypt benefited by the labor of Egypt, so the world today benefits by the presence of the Redeemed in this world. Our labor maintains the fabric of it. Example: Where did hospitals come from? Where did orphanages originate? All by Christians doing the work of the Lord in obedience to the command that we love our neighbor as ourselves!

So when God takes His people out of Egypt, he wants the Egyptians to feel the loss, even if here it is financially. Yet it is more, for eventually they will lose the witness of a people who serve the Lord, just as when Christ returns the world will be momentarily without any of the Light, because God’s people will be reunited with their Master!

One other thing:
This is a fulfillment of God’s words. Note the beginning of verse 3. “And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.” Now look at Exodus 3:21. Pretty amazing, right?

Look at Genesis 15: 13&14.
What do you think about this? What is this if not God’s plan coming about just as He said it would? This is a truth that any Believer should understand…The Word of the Lord cannot fail! And this is another thing we should understand, that just as God was certain to fulfill His words to the descendants of Abraham, so shall He be faithful to us…