“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for [there was] not a house where [there was] not one dead.” (Ex 12:30 AV)
As I was reading this verse, a mental picture came to mind. It helps that this particular event has been depicted on the big screen. I don’t know how far apart the Hebrews and Egyptians lived. Perhaps they were removed enough that the sound of mourning never came to them. However, I don’t think the Hebrews were completely immune from the sounds of suffering, either. The Bible does implicate there were some Hebrews who didn’t follow the instructions of Moses, thus losing their firstborn. There had to be some sounds of agony echoing through the ghettos. The Ten Commandments with Yul Brenner and Carlton Heston depict this night as one filled with the cries of those who suffered loss. I would almost say such an experience would be maddening. I could not help but wonder what they were thinking or how they must have felt.
I have attended many emotional funerals. I have officiated many as well. It is particularly difficult to keep on point and accomplish comfort and closure when there are some are completely falling apart at the loss of someone who they deeply loved. No judging, mind you. People must process their loss the best way they can in order to accomplish closure and healing. I remember one funeral where a lady in the front row continuously lost it. Her mourning stretched my sermon from ten minutes to twenty minutes. There was another time, in the same funeral home, sat family on the opposite side of the immediate family began to experience deep mourning. Still another time when a very well-known member of the community was eulogized and a large part of the room began to noticeable weep. I am sure there were some who were irritated. Perhaps some thought it was a show. Yet most, knowing what it was like to lose someone and having far more grace than those who are naturally critical, exercised better judgment and empathized with those suffering loss. At a funeral, there are number of reasons why someone might attend. At my mother’s viewing, my little league coach came. WOW. There are some, however, who have little or no emotional reason to come. They come because they were acquainted with the deceased or his or her family. To one of the aforementioned funerals, some who came did so merely because the deceased was a business associate, client, or vendor. Some feelings may have even been adversarial. Yet, out of respect for the deceased or family, they came. They empathized with the loss of those who were left behind.
When I read this, I wondered how the Jewish slave must have felt. Humility may have kept them from feeling adverse emotions at the suffering of their captors. I imagine the wailing was overwhelming. I imagine they could hear the agony in the cries coming from afar. Perhaps they felt a twinge of vindication, but I don’t imagine it lasted long. Only a very cold person would feel joy over the suffering of those who had once tormented them. The book of Proverbs warns us not to rejoice over the all the wicked. The book of Revelation teaches is that the patience of the saints is the justice inflicted on those who persecuted the saints. There is a fine line between avarice and satisfaction. As God’s people, our first desire for the enemies of God should be grace and forgiveness. We should want them to experience the same grace we received. We should pray for and seek the reclamation of all souls, no matter how they might have treated us. If they refuse, empathy should not cease. If we are gleeful at the fall of those who hate God, there is a part of us that dies with it.
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