Exodus 12:23

The destroyer. — The “plague” of Exodus 12:13 is here called “the destroyer” (τὸν ὀλεθρεύοντα, LXX.), as again in Hebrews 12:28. Jehovah seems to have employed an angel, or “angels” (Ps. 79:48) as His agents to effect the actual slaying of the firstborn. (Comp. 2 Samuel 24:16; 1 Chronicles 21:15; 2 Kings 19:35.) There is no struggle or opposition (as Bishop Lowth and Redslob think) between Jehovah and” the destroyer,” who is simply His minister (Hebrews 1:14), bidden to enter some houses and to “pass over” others.