ocusts came upon Egypt,
Moses, at the king's request, prayed, and God sent a strong wind that
swept them into the sea, where they perished in the water. The ninth
plague was a horrible darkness for three days in all the land of Egypt.
The tenth plague, the last, was the most terrible of all--the killing of
the firstborn in all the land of Egypt. (Ex. 12). God instructed Moses
to tell the Israelites in the land that on a certain night they were to
take a lamb in each family, kill it, and sprinkle its blood on the
doorposts of their houses. They were then to cook the lamb and eat it
standing, with their garments ready as for a journey. (Ex. 12). The lamb
was called the paschal lamb, and was, after that, to be eaten every
year, at about what is with us Easter-time, in commemoration of this
event. That night God sent an angel through all the land, and he killed
the firstborn of man and beast in all the houses of the Egyptians. That
is, he killed the eldest son in the house; and if the father was the
firstborn in his father's family, he was killed also; and the same for
the beasts. This was a terrible punishment. In the house of every
Egyptian there were some dead but not one in the houses of the
Israelites; for when the angel saw the blood of the lamb on the
doorposts, he passed over and did not enter into their houses, so that
this event, called Passover or Pasch, was kept always as a great feast
by God's people. This paschal lamb was a figure of our blessed Lord, for
as its blood saved the Israelites from death, so Our Lord's blood saved
and still saves us from eternal death in Hell.

After that dreadful night Pharao allowed the people to depart with
Moses; but when they had gone as far as the Red Sea, he was sorry he let
them go, and set out with a great army to bring them back. There the
people stood, with the sea before them and Pharao and his army coming
behind them; but God provided for them a means of escape. At God's
command, Moses stretched his rod over the sea, and the waters divided
and stood like great walls on either side and all the people passed
through the opening in the waters, on the dry bed of the sea. (Ex. 14).

Pharao attempted to follow them, but when he and his army were on the
dry bed of the sea, between the two walls of water, God allowed the
waters to close over them, and they were all drowned. Then the
Israelites began the great journey through the desert, in which they
travelled for forty years