As long as a family is intact and its members love one another and share the privation and hardships, they can stand scorn, rigor, even slavery. But perhaps this edict to destroy the family and Israel's heritage was the most bitter element of all. Could the tenth plague have been a divine payback for what this Pharaoh did? Was the killing of Egypt's firstborn a retaliatory measure for what they did to the Israelites? Maybe.
