Chapter 9: The Road Back to Egypt

Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law.

MOSES“Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.”— Exodus 4:18

JETHRO“Go in peace.”— Exodus 4:18

Then the Lord spoke to Moses one more time.

GOD“Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”— Exodus 4:19

The man who had fled Egypt as a wanted fugitive was no longer hunted. But God had more to say. He told Moses to perform all the signs before Pharaoh, and then gave him a warning: God Himself would harden Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh would not let the people go. When that happened, Moses was to deliver a message.

GOD“Thus you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, Israel is My firstborn son, and I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.'”— Exodus 4:22-23

The last plague had been announced before the first one had even begun.

Moses took his wife and his son, set them on a donkey, and turned west toward Egypt. In his hand he carried the staff of God. (Exodus 4:20) The same desert he had crossed as a fugitive forty years earlier, he now crossed as God's messenger.