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Exodus 12:27 NIV •
then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.' " Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
Exodus 13:15 NIV •
When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.'
Why would God kill so many innocent Egyptian babies?
Why would God want humans to kill the first born of every womb to protect their firstborn child? Which wombs? I can think of no explanation for this. Please help me understand.
2007-02-24 17:15:18 · 15 answers · asked by Sara 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Hey, Soc F.
I don't know what you are talking about. I took the advice from what bible is good, looked up a scripture, and am asking a question. I even copied and pasted the scripture and cited a source. How does that warrant your description of me?
2007-02-24 17:28:21 · update #1
If the Pharaoh was the one causing the problem, why didn't God kill the Pharaoh, and let babies live?
2007-02-24 17:30:26 · update #2
I guess its not as convenient in this day and age. lol
2007-02-24 17:17:38 · answer #1 · answered by Mayonaise 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The story actually goes back to Joseph. Joseph saved both his family and Egypt from famine by telling Pharaoh the interpretation to his dream. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge, even though Egyptians considered the Israelites unclean. They would not eat with an Israelite in their midst.
God allowed the things that happened to Joseph to occur to show both Israel and Egypt that He is God. And the Pharaoh at the time seemed to understand that, but generations later, they had forgotten and fallen back into idolatry.
The plagues are not arbitrary. The are a "defeat" of the Egyptian idols. After each defeat, Pharaoh has the option of acknowledging God and letting the Israelites go. Each time he refuses.
The first born or "firstfruits" of everything does belong to God. Everything belongs to God. Elsewhere the Israelites are told how to "redeem" the firstborn of their children. The firstborn children are given extra blessings as a result of their relationship with God (and their extra responsibilities).
I believe when Jephthah "sacrifices" his daughter, it means she lives out her life in temple service and cannot be redeemed, as God says the blood sacrifice of children is an abomination to Him.
The firstborn of Egypt who died would have gone to be with Him. It should have been a wake up call to the nations.
God isn't commanding the killing of the firstborn children, but the sacrificing of the firstborn of their livestock and the redeeming of their firstborn children. The point was to remind them that everything comes from God and their responsibility to be good stewards of those blessings.
I've often thought that if parents today really understood that they are stewards over their children's lives, and not owners, they would take much better care of them.
2007-02-24 17:57:58 · answer #2 · answered by Contemplative Chanteuse IDK TIRH 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am not really sure about this myself, but this is to the best of my knowledge.
All this could be found in the chapter of Exodus.
It says in Exodus that the Egyptians made the Hebrews slaves and killed every Hebrew male babies.
Hebrews were the children of God, and they believed in Him, while the Egyptians believed in their god.
The Egyptians made the Hebrews slaves, and treated them badly. God sent Moses to tried to stop all this, but the Egyptians did not stop. And God promised deliverance when Moses cried out to Him. And finally in Exodus 14:14 "The LORD will fight for you; you need only be still."
And i think that the wombs of their firstborn child is the wombs of the animals, but i don't this is strongly encouraged, especially in this modern society. And that is like a symbolic act as said in Exodus 13:16.
God Bless,
With Love
2007-02-24 17:38:01 · answer #3 · answered by Joycelyn 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No,that was talking about a very specific circumstance.The Eyptians had enslaved the Hebrews for hundreds of years.The Pharoah went back on his promises to let the slaves go,so God punished Egypt with a series of plagues,including rivers and other water sources turning to blood,a plague of frogs,lice,flies,boils,hail mixed with fire and locusts.Pharoah still went back on his promises,and punished the Hebrews even harder.Eventuall,due to Pharoah's stubborn heart,God had to kill the firstborn of the Eygypians to wake the Pharoah up to himself.So,in a sense,it was Pharoah's fault.
The reference to sacrificing the first of every womb in Ex.13 ,was talking about animals.The firstborn human was dedicated to the Lord,which has nothing to do with killing.
2007-02-24 17:24:44 · answer #4 · answered by Serena 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
In the king james version it says that, each time the he was minded to let the jews go "The Lord hardened Pharoah's heart against them." So why all these fanatics are blaming the Egyptian king when actually it was god, I cannot understand. Do they read the ****ing bible or not?
2007-02-25 08:54:37 · answer #5 · answered by The Singing President 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
GOD didn't kill the Egyptian babies.
HE sent death down to kill the oldest child In the family,
the oldest was the first born.
Why?
Because Pharaoh wouldn't let GODs Children the Israelites go free from bondage ( slavery ).
People never sacrificed their Children. That would be
a sin.
When Abraham was going to sacrifice his son Isac,
GOD stopped him because GOD was testing Abraham's
faith to see if he would do it.
2007-02-24 17:43:54 · answer #6 · answered by elliebear 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The firstborn son has a special role to fill as he is the first in line after his father and would be responsible if something should happen in the family to cause his father to be unable to take care of everyone else. So the firstborn son must be responsible, serious, and willing to give up everything to support his family in a time crisis. He might have to take care of the younger siblings, do household chores, take care of monetary issues and get a full-time job. These duties would require him to quit school.
He is also the 'knight in shining armour' for the family and must live up to their expectations. He is less likely to be spoiled and sheltered and more likely to be held accountable for all his actions.
2007-02-24 17:20:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Because he wanted to teach Pharaoh a lesson, afterall Pharaoh killed all the innocent Jewish babies hunting for Moses.
2007-02-24 17:19:17 · answer #8 · answered by Pantherempress 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Sara I have erased my inappropriate response in recognition that you did not deserve that and I will try to answer your questions as best I can according to my ability.
"Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all. For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish." So then, everything depends, not on what we humans want or do, but only on God's mercy. "
The first step in understanding anything is accepting that God is God and you are not, if you do not accept that premise you cannot understand anything rightly in the bible or a God made universe.
God cannot be judged from a human centered morality.
Glory to Thee O God glory to Thee.
2007-02-24 17:21:46 · answer #9 · answered by Socinian F 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
why would God want to kill the first born when God is the one who bless. Make sense. If i have to take $1.00 from my son, then why would i give him in the first place.
2007-02-24 17:21:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Are you beginning to see why the Bible is not very logical sometimes? The Old Testament is full of a bunch of violence and other stuff like that where it would be considered very crazy to follow those "laws" today.
That's in the Old Testament right?
2007-02-24 17:21:05 · answer #11 · answered by Ievianty 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋