Day 29: The Passover

Clearly Egypt needs the Israelites. They have become dependent on their slave labour, and as Pharaoh twists and turns, making one small concession after another, he wants to ensure that the Israelites come back. Let the menfolk go, but not the women on children, he says at one point. Then, you may all go, but leave your livestock behind. But God's people don't belong in Egypt, and nothing short of a complete and permanent departure will do. That's what God promised. And that's what must happen.

10: Killing of firstborn: warning
Exodus 11:1-8
Pharaoh's heart hardened
Exodus 10:29-8-9, 11:9-10
Passover instructions
Exodus 12:1-12
Importance of the blood
Exodus 12:13-27
First born of Egypt killed
Exodus 12:29-30
Deliverance begins
Exodus 12:31-36, 40-42, Numbers 33:1-4
The Exodus: c 1462 BC
From Ramases to Succoth
Exodus 12:37, Number 33:5, Exodus 12:38-9, 43-51

This is it. This is the defining moment for the nascent nation. They dated their calendar from the Passover - Passover Day was New Year's Day. The story is interwoven with instructions about how it is to be celebrated in the future - either because they realised that the time what a significant moment this was, or because later, people re-visited this story and filled it up with meaning and instructions that defined Israel's identity. Either way, this is the moment they changed from being a bunch of slaves to being a nation.
A figure that's always fascinated me is the angel of death. The translation I'm using (NIV 2010) calls it "the destroyer." Robert Harrison deals with it by having his angelic hero show those poor humans what heaven is really like. They die in a moment of ecstasy. Not a bad way to go. Bob Hartman wrote a beautiful story where the angel of death spends centuries grieving over what he has done, and his grief is finally healed when he is given the task of being the angel that sits in the empty tomb of Jesus, announcing the resurrection to the women who came early on the first Easter morning.
Out of death comes life. This is God's way.