And the Lord said to Moses: Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharao and Egypt, and after that he shall let you go and thrust you out.
2 Therefore thou shalt tell all the people that every man ask of his friend, and every woman of her neighbour, vessels of silver, and of gold.
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3 And the Lord will give favour to his people in the sight of the Egyptians. And Moses was a very great man in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharao’s servants, and of all the people.
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4 And he said: Thus said the Lord: At midnight I will enter into Egypt.
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5 And every firstborn in the land of the Egyptians shall die, from the firstborn of Pharao who sitteth on his throne, even to the first born of the handmaid that is at the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts.
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6 And there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as neither hath been before, nor shall be hereafter.
7 But with all the children of Israel there shall not a dog make the least noise, from man even to beast: that you may know how wonderful a difference the Lord maketh between the Egyptians and Israel.
8 And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and shall worship me, saying: Go forth thou, and all the people that is under thee: after that we will go out.
9 And he went out from Pharao exceeding angry. But the Lord said to Moses: Pharao will not hear you, that many signs may be done in the land of Egypt.
10 And Moses and Aaron did all the wonders that are written, before Pharao. And the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, neither did he let the children of Israel go out of his land.
Gregory of Nazianzus
“What say you? Thus it has pleased him that you should come forth out of Egypt, the iron furnace; that you should leave behind the idolatry of that country and be led by Moses and his lawgiving and martial rule. I give you a piece of advice which is not my own, or rather which is very much my own, if you consider the matter spiritually. Borrow from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver. With these take your journey. Supply yourself for the road with the goods of strangers, or rather with your own. There is money owing to you, the wages of your bondage and of your brick making. Be clever on your side too in asking retribution. Be an honest robber. You did suffer wrong there while you were fighting with the clay (that is, this troublesome and filthy body) and were building cities foreign and unsafe, whose memorial perishes with a cry. What then? Do you come out for nothing and without wages? But why will you leave to the Egyptians and to the powers of your adversaries that which they have gained by wickedness and will spend with yet greater wickedness? It does not belong to them. They have ravished it and have sacrilegiously taken it as plunder from him who says, "The silver is mine and the gold is mine, and I give it to whom I will." Yesterday it was theirs, for it was permitted to be so. Today the master takes it and gives it to you that you may make a good and saving use of it. Let us make to ourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when we fail, they may receive us in the time of judgment.”
Origen
“When Moses had come to the place which God shows him, he is not permitted to ascend, but first God says to him, "Loose the tie of the shoes from your feet." None of these things are said to Abraham and Isaac, but they ascend and do not put aside their shoes. The reason for this is perhaps that although Moses was "great," he was nevertheless coming from Egypt, and some fetters of mortality were bound to his feet. Abraham and Isaac, however, have none of these, but "they come to the place."”
Methodius of Olympus
“Midnight stands for the reign of the antichrist, when the destroying angel will pass over the houses.”
Cassiodorus
“The words "I rose at midnight" are not without value. They knew that at that hour the firstborn of the Egyptians were smitten, that at that time the bonds of Peter, Paul and Silas who lay in prison were loosed, that the bridegroom would also come at midnight.”
Isidore of Seville
“Finally the firstborn of the Egyptians are destroyed. They are the principalities and powers and the rulers of this world of darkness. Or they are the originators and inventors of the false religions that existed in this world. The truth of Christ put an end to these religions and wiped them out, along with their inventors.”