1 YHVH said to Moses, "Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence; when he lets you go, he will drive you away completely.
2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, jewelry of silver and of gold."
The taking of the silver and gold from the Egyptians Indicates that there is value to the experiences of the material consciousness and it is appropriate for us to take them with us to the new level of consciousness. All is to be used in the new life; nothing is lost, only changed, into a more spiritual form.
3 And YHVH gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man, Moses, was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.
4 And Moses said, "Thus says YHVH: About midnight I will go forth in the midst of Egypt;
5 and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits upon his throne, even to the first-born of the maidservant who is behind the mill; and all the first-born of the cattle.
As we have said before, Egypt symbolizes darkness, the body wherein the soul is hidden. In order to free the soul, the first born must be eliminated: The first born refer to the first conscious ideas, the ideas of our youth when we believe that the material goals and appetites of the body are all important.
6 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever shall be again.
7 But against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, not a dog shall growl; that you may know that YHVH makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.
8 And all these your servants shall come down to me, and bow down to me, saying, 'Get you out, and all the people who follow you.' And after that I will go out." And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.
9 Then YHVH said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."
10 Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and YHVH hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.