The plague against the firstborn seems harsh because the innocent died because of the faults of the leadership of Mitsraim (Egypt). However, like with the life of Yosef (Joseph), that plague is a foreshadowing of the future death of an innocent Firstborn, Yeshua the Messiah.
The 10 plagues against Mitsraim (Egypt) were judgments against the false deities of the land, to show the descendants of Yisra’el (Israel) and the people of the land Who was the true God.
Moshe (Moses) in Exodus 6 said his lips were “uncircumcised” and insisted that prevented him from sharing The Name of God to Yisra’el (Israel). We know about circumcision of a man’s privates and metaphorically of the “heart,” but what is this, and how is it connected to sharing knowledge of The Name?
The account of Moshe (Moses) encountering God via the burning bush has spawned a number of interpretations and explanations about who Moshe encountered, how the bush could be burning yet not consumed, etc. Yet the declaration of the Name of God there and the signs God gave Moshe to show the leaders of Yisra’el is the important element. The Name and the signs would strengthen not only Moshe but the leadership for something powerful God would do on Earth via Yisra’el in the mighty empire of Mitsraim (Egypt).
This study also explores the seeming strange vignette of God on the warpath against Moshe’s family, placated only by Tsipporah’s circumcising the son. This appears to be a foreshadowing of the 10th plague against Mitsraim.
Try your best to ignore the cartoons and movies that purport to tell the account of Moshe (Moses). They take many liberties with the real record, imposing their own story lines on him. Important elements at the beginning of the book of שְׁמוֹת Shem’ot, also called Exodus, are God’s faithfulness to the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would face hardship but become a numerous people and blessing to the nations.
After the death of Yisra’el, fka Ya’akob (Jacob), 10 of his dozen sons approached Yosef (Joseph) with a message from their father: Don’t seek revenge for selling him as a slave. Yosef lived out the “second greatest commandment” in his response, showing he trusted God’s plan that had violently separated him from his family and landed him in prison for a few years.
Some Christians think references to “the latter days” in the Bible refer to the coming of Messiah, destruction of Babylon and messianic reign. Some connect the blessings for each of the 12 sons in Genesis 49 to particular nation groups that are supposed to exist at the end of time. When I read the chapter, I see Ya’akob (Jacob) only addressing his 12 sons, who would become the 12 tribes of Yisra’el (Israel), in their “end times,” not in those of some modern nation.