When the Lord sent Moses to deliver the Children of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh, the Lord also sent many plagues upon the land of the Egyptians. The tenth and final plague would be known as The Passover. For this plague would destroy all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn in Pharaoh’s house, to the firstborn among the servants, even to the firstborn of all the animals. The Lord instructed Moses that the congregation of Israel, every man according to the house of their fathers, should take a lamb for that house. They were to kill it in the evening, and take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, where inside they would eat the lamb.
This ritual was to protect the Children of Israel from the plague of The Passover. For the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, “…I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast…and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12,13). Moses himself would go on to tell the elders of Israel that, “…the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.” (Exodus 12:23).
From what we see here in these verses from the Book of Exodus, it is the Lord that passes over the house with the blood of a lamb on the door posts and lintel, and it is also the Lord that does not allow “the destroyer” to enter that house to smite the firstborn. So, it would seem that there is a duality of persons involved in the execution of the tenth and last plague upon the land of Egypt. The Lord passes through the land of Egypt that night, but “the destroyer” is the one who smites the firstborn. It is common to hear “the destroyer” of the plague of The Passover being called the Angel of Death, but nowhere in either the Old or New Testament is that phrase found. However, the name of “the destroyer” is found in the New Testament book of The Revelation of St. John the Divine.
Now the book of Revelation is filled with both the blessings and promises of God. It is also filled with the judgments of God and plagues, that in many ways mirror the plagues God sent upon the land of Egypt in the days of The Exodus. In Revelation chapter 9, a most frightening plague of supernatural locusts are sent to torment, “…those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” (Revelation 9:4). This plague of locusts sent unto the future inhabitants of the earth, is strikingly akin to the plague of locusts sent unto the ancient Egyptians. The fact that these future and supernatural locusts only hurt the people of the earth who have not the seal of God in their foreheads, would echo the office of “the destroyer” in Exodus who smites the firstborn of every house in Egypt without the blood of a lamb on the door posts and lintel.
Going further, these locusts of Revelation who arise from the bottomless pit, “…had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.” (Revelation 9:11). The Hebrew term adaddon appears six times in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, and has the meaning of destruction or “place of destruction,” or realm of the dead. The Greek Apollyon comes from apollymi, which means “to destroy,” while the Greek term Apollyon itself directly translates to “the destroyer.” So, here we could argue that this angel of the bottomless pit mentioned in Revelation, who is named as “the destroyer” could quite possibly be linked to “the destroyer” mentioned in the Book of Exodus, who smites the firstborn in the land of ancient Egypt.
In conclusion, it is not the intent of this author to forge Biblical doctrine from what has been presented, but rather inspire individual study of the holy scriptures, and to challenge the believer to think. There are indeed many mysteries of the Bible, and several interpretations of these mysteries, and more than a few schools of theology, all with differing opinions of the meaning of these oracles. That being said, may we all take into consideration the myriad of possibilities that have come down to us over the centuries concerning the deep mysteries presented in the pages of the Holy Bible. Hopefully, together and in cooperation we can assist each other in the study, as well as in the understanding of God’s Holy Word. As it is written in Isiah 1:18 – “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD…”
References:
Green, J.P. The Interlinear Hebrew-Greek-English Bible. (Lafayette, IN: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 2000).
Zondervan. The Holy Bible, King James Version. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009).