The Lord accomplishes His purposes and He does all things well.

We have these remarkable verses in Exodus 12. “The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.”

He knew it would happen, and it did.

But there’s something even more remarkable in this part of the chapter.

Listen to these verses. “And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.”

It’s easy to get distracted calculating how there could have been over two million Israelites walking out of Egypt with their kneading bowls and clothes and jewelry from the Egyptians. It’s easy to miss the next part; It says that a mixed multitude also went up with them.

There was another multitude of people walking out of Egypt that day, people not counted among the Israelites, but they joined themselves to them through the fear of the Lord.

What was God’s purpose in Egypt? What did He say He was going to do?

In Exodus 7, we read that God said He would stretch out His hand against Egypt and bring His people out and the Egyptians would know that He was the Lord. Some came to fear and honor the Lord earlier and listened to Moses and hid from the hailstorm. Some feared and honored the Lord and walked out with the Israelites. The rest, whether they were willing to fear and honor God or not, would see all God had accomplished and would know He was the Lord.

God wasn’t out to get the Egyptians. He desires that all might be saved. He worked hard at showing Himself to them. He gave them repeated opportunities to see who He was. Some did and were saved.