In the tenth and final plague, all the Egyptian firstborn died instantaneously at midnight of the 15th of the month of Nisan. Before this, G-d instructed the Jewish people to prepare a lamb or kid goat to slaughter and eat that night.
Fleeing Exile
וַאֲכַלְתֶּם אֹתוֹ בְּחִפָּזוֹן וגו':
(שמות יב:יא)
[G-d instructed Moses to tell the people,] “You must eat [the lamb or kid goat] in haste.”
Exodus 12:11
Although the Jews had renounced their involvement in
Egyptian culture, the glamour of Egyptian materialism still maintained an inner
grip on them. G‑d therefore had to hurry them out of Egypt while they were
still sufficiently impressed by the ten plagues that they were willing to leave
the only home they knew and venture into the double unknown of the inhospitable
desert and a lifestyle of holiness.
The same is true whenever we go out of a personal “Egypt,” i.e.,
whenever we leave behind the familiarity of a previous way of living and rise
to a new level of Divine consciousness and its accompanying way of life. In order
to stay on our new path, it is crucial to sustain our momentum and take all
necessary measures in order not to slide back into previous habits.
In the Messianic Redemption, however, this caution will be
unnecessary. Since this redemption will be absolute and encompass all reality,
there will be no possibility of backsliding into the mentality of materialism.1
