John Calvin Commentary Exodus 12:29

"And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle." — Exodus 12:29 (ASV)

And it came to pass, that at midnight. So that the hand of God would not be hidden in this miracle—both in the preservation of His people and in taking vengeance upon the Egyptians—Moses describes its power through many circumstances.

He explains these circumstances as follows:

1. He relates that the destruction took place at midnight, which was the time prescribed by God.

2. He then adds that all the first-born of the land were struck, from the son of the king to the son of the captive in the dungeon. In this way, he proverbially indicates the lowliest persons, as he had said before, unto the first-born of the maidservant that is behind the mill. For it could only be by an extraordinary miracle that this calamity could affect every house without exception, at the same hour, especially when it extended even to the animals.

3. He recounts that all the Egyptians were aroused suddenly and were clearly convinced that the God of Israel was wrathful toward them.

4. Pharaoh humbly begged Moses to lead the people out in haste; indeed, he even urgently thrust them out.

Yet, not even by such clear and solid proofs has the dishonesty and impudence of some been prevented from attempting to overturn this memorable work of God with their falsehoods. The slanders that Josephus refutes in his reply to Apion the Grammarian are too well known, and it appears from Justin¹⁴⁴ that they were widely accepted. Nor can we be surprised that the devil would employ all sorts of deceptions, so that by introducing various fables he might erase the redemption of the Church from people's minds.

But here also the admirable wisdom of God was revealed, in that the uselessness of these absurdities refutes itself, without needing any arguments against them. Perhaps there was no intention to deceive on the part of secular writers when they reported these trivial and silly stories about the Jews. For undoubtedly Strabo¹⁴⁵ desired to give the true history of the origin of circumcision when he wrote his foolish and unfounded fables.

Nor did even Cornelius Tacitus,¹⁴⁶ although he wrote with malicious and hostile feelings, intentionally disgrace himself. But when, by the impulse of Satan, they obscured God’s glory, they were struck with blindness and foolishness, so that their ridiculous lack of truth could be discovered even by children. From this, however, some sparks of fact may still be drawn out, because God would not allow so memorable a work to be altogether forgotten. These blind men became its proclaimers, even while the devil was using their help to wipe out its memory.

¹⁴⁴ Vide Justini Hist., lib. 36 cap. 2. Justini Hist., lib. 36 cap. 2.

¹⁴⁵ Vide Strabonis Geog., lib. 17 Strabonis Geog., lib. 17

¹⁴⁶ C. Tacit. Hist., 5:3, 4.