Children of Exodus - The Oldest Son

CHILDREN OF EXODUS

The Oldest Son

A monolog for a young boy.

By Robert Allen

“So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.

 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die,

from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne,

to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill,

and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been

 or ever will be again.”

Exodus 11:4-6

            Last night I was supposed to die.  You see, I am the oldest son in a family of nine children.   That is the reason I was supposed to die.

            All the men of Israel were called together after work last night for a meeting with Moses.  I am sure you have heard of him.  He’s the one who used to live in the palace and just came back from exile down in Midian.  He has been giving the Pharaoh fits, but our people look at him as their hero.  I did too until I heard what he had to say last night.  He had insisted that all of the men bring their oldest sons with them to the meeting, and it wasn’t long before we found out why.

            Aaron, the brother of Moses, was the one who was actually speaking.  He does all the talking for Moses, something about a speech impediment is the story I’ve heard.  So Aaron stands up next to his brother and with a nod from Moses starts telling us about this death angel.  It seems that God told them He was going to send an angel down to Egypt this very night.  The mission of the angel had been made very clear to them.  He would go into every house in all the land of Egypt and kill the firstborn sons starting with Pharaoh’s son, the heir to the throne. 

            “The Pharaoh must learn that God is the God Almighty,” Aaron said.

            But what about all the rest of us who are dead, I thought.  What are we supposed to learn?  There were many others who were thinking the same thing.  I could tell by the murmur of unrest that swept through the crowd.  None of the men were happy about losing their sons, and you can be sure that none of us sons were happy either. 

            Moses lifted his hands for silence and Aaron spoke again.

            “No one needs to die,” he said.  “Each family is to take a lamb and sacrifice it to God.   Take the blood of the lamb and apply it to the top and the sides of the doorway.  When the death angel sees the blood, your house will be spared.”

            That sounded far too easy to me.  Just put some blood on the doorway, and that would keep me from dying?  I was all for taking off into the desert, running away to some place the death angel couldn’t find me.  In fact, that’s what I suggested to my father on our way back home. 

            He stopped right in the middle of the road when I said that and laid his hand on my shoulder.  “My son, it is not just the lamb’s blood which will save you.  The blood is simply a sign of our faith in the promise of God.   If Jehovah God says the angel will spare those in a house protected by the blood, we can trust Him to keep His word.  He has never failed to keep His promises.  Can you trust your father’s God, my son?”

            I nodded slowly and with that we walked on toward home.  Once we were there I went out with father to the sheep pen to choose a lamb for the sacrifice.  I was sorry the lamb had to die, but I trusted my father’s God.  This was His plan to save my life.

            Needless to say, I didn’t sleep a wink all night.  Father didn’t either.  We applied the blood to the doorway, cooked the lamb for our evening meal and waited.  Just after midnight we began to hear the wailing from the Egyptian side of town.  Boys just my age, the oldest in their families, from the palace right down to the stables, were dying.  The death angel had come.

            Even though I didn’t sleep, I wasn’t afraid.  We had obeyed God and I knew I could trust in His promises.  Last night I was supposed to die.  But I had been saved by faith in the blood of the lamb.