What is the context?
God announces one more plague. After it, Pharaoh will drive the people out completely. Israel is also told to ask its Egyptian neighbors for silver and gold, and the account describes the favor God has given the people and the regard in which Moses is now held.
Moses warns Pharaoh that the LORD will go through Egypt about midnight and every firstborn son will die, from the royal household to the household of the servant girl grinding grain. The firstborn of the cattle are included. Rank and wealth will not shield a household from the coming grief.
The great outcry in Egypt is contrasted with the quiet promised to Israel, expressed through the image of not even a dog snarling at its people or animals. The distinction will make the LORD’s action known. Pharaoh’s own officials will urge Moses and the people to leave.
Moses leaves Pharaoh in anger. The final verses look back over the wonders and the continued refusal: the LORD has hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and the people have not yet been released. The warning now stands immediately before the instructions for Passover.
How is this passage commonly understood?
The shared reading sees the final warning as bringing the confrontation to its announced conclusion. Calvin and Wesley understand Moses’ speech as continuing the final interview described at the end of chapter 10, before he leaves Pharaoh’s presence.
The request for silver and gold receives different explanations. Wesley emphasizes asking rather than borrowing and understands the goods as compensation for the people’s labor. Calvin allows a request made as borrowing, justified by God’s authority to transfer the possessions, and limits his explanation to this particular divine command. Brown–Driver–Briggs notes that the verb can describe borrowing, while also observing that a pretext of temporary use is not clear here. The BSB uses ask.
Where does this fit in God's plan?
The coming judgment is directly recalled in Hebrews 11:28. It describes Moses keeping the Passover and applying the blood by faith so that Israel’s firstborn would be spared. The instructions that follow in Exodus will show how the people are to trust and act on God’s word.
Jude 1:5 places the wider deliverance within the New Testament’s teaching about Jesus, recalling that He brought His people out of Egypt and later judged unbelief. Rescue and accountability remain together in that recollection. The Exodus becomes both a testimony to God’s saving action and a warning about how His people respond to Him.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.