No matter how much Pharaoh may bargain with God, God is insistent. Nothing can change Him. Once He has made a demand of us, He will not give in. On the contrary, He will insist that His demand be fulfilled. It is useless to argue with Him. He is patient, sometimes waiting for years until we are willing to submit to His requirements. We may think that after a long period of time the Lord will change His mind, only to discover that the Lord is more insistent than ever. Heaven and earth may pass away, but His will remains. Pharaoh must recognize the fact that God is insistent and will not withdraw His absolute demand.
In His insistence that His demand be carried out, the Lord used the last plague, the slaughter of the firstborn, to force Pharaoh to drive Israel altogether out of Egypt (12:29-33). No matter how stubborn Pharaoh was, he could not stand against this plague. Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron, “Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said” (12:31, Heb.). Furthermore, Pharaoh said to them, “Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone” (v. 32).
Exodus 12:35 and 36 say, “And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and Jehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave to them what they asked. And they plundered the Egyptians” (Heb.). God made the Egyptians willing to give to Israel these jewels and raiment. In this way, the children of Israel plundered the Egyptians. Therefore, when it was time to build the tabernacle, they had the necessary materials.
Some may think that God was not just in allowing Israel to plunder the Egyptians in this way. Remember, Pharaoh had forced the Israelites to build treasure cities for him. For this labor he did not pay them anything. Hence, the plundering of the Egyptians was actually a clearing of the account. In His justice and righteousness, God had a way to clear the account. How marvelous that the last plague not only forced Pharaoh and the Egyptians to drive out the children of Israel, but also made them willing to give the Israelites whatever they requested!
Even the matter of plundering the Egyptians has an application today. I know of many who first bargained with the Lord and then were truly saved by Him. Having been saved, they thoroughly plundered the world and brought a good number of things with them out of the world for the Lord. Many can testify that after they were called and saved, they left nothing in the world. Instead, everything they had they took out of the world for God’s purpose.
We have pointed out that the materials given to the Israelites by the Egyptians were used in building the tabernacle. The silver was used to make sockets, and the gold was used to overlay the boards and other furnishings in the tabernacle. In the eyes of the Egyptians, such a use of their gold and silver would have been a waste. In the eyes of God, however, this was not a waste. The wealth of Egypt had been plundered for God’s purpose.
Throughout the centuries, many who have been called by the Lord and rescued by Him from the world have brought a great many things to Him to become a waste for His sake and for the sake of His purpose. For example, when Mary anointed the Lord Jesus with costly ointment of spikenard, Judas regarded this as a waste. He said that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor (John 12:3-5). He wondered why so much had been wasted on the Lord Jesus. But all that is plundered from the world should be brought to the Lord Jesus and wasted upon Him. To do this is to be saved to the uttermost. This is a sign of our deep love for the Lord, a sign that we have been thoroughly saved. Eventually, what we plunder from the world is brought together to be used for God’s dwelling place.
This is our experience today. Not only have we ourselves left Egypt, but we will not allow anything related to us to remain in the world. Instead, we plunder the wealth of the world and waste it upon the Lord as a token of our love for Him. This plundered wealth then is used in God’s dwelling place on earth.