The Jewish nation is said to have been born at the time of Yetzia Mitzrayim, the prophet Yechezkel explicitly refers to this period as "the day you were born".   Many of us tend to view the ten plagues as ten separate events each showing the power and brilliance of our G-d.  I would like to suggest the ten plagues are a progression leading up to Makkat Bechorot.  With that in mind we should not think that the exodus took place after the tenth plague, but specifically after Makkat Bechorot - the essence of the exodus was the firstborn of Egypt being smitten.  Our birth as a people can therefore be said to take place within the context of Makkat Bechorot.

As a means of understanding this, we must point out that the idea of bechor - firstborn, is something very central in the Torah.  We see Yaakov and Esav fighting over the birthright.  Yaakov's house revolves around whether Reuven or Yosef are considered the firstborn.  For those of us from Western culture it is hard to understand why one child appears to receive more than the other - he receives double the inheritance of the others, and he has the special mitzvah associated with him of pidyon haben.  There is obviously something intrinsically different about the bechor than the others.

There ten plagues which many have said correspond to the ten sayings (asara maamarot) with which the world was created.  If that is the case then there is a corresponding relationship between the two.  Many have compared the ten plagues to the ten sefirot - supporting the idea that the makkot are a progression.  It can be said that the ten plagues served the purpose of eradicating any false ideas associated with Egypt and revealing the world as it should be based on the ten sayings with which it was created.  Creation had reached a certain level by ridding the world of the Egyptian culture which ruled at that time.  Once these ten sayings have been revealed then the world is ready for the Ten Commandments.  Had Klal Yisrael not received the Torah, the world would cease to exist, the existence of the world hinges upon Klal Yisrael receiving the Torah, as the pasuk states: "im lo briti yomam valayla chukot shamayim vaaretz lo samti" "If My covenant with the night and with the day would not be; had I not set up the laws of heaven and earth" (Yirmiyahu 33:25).  Without klal yisrael receiving the ten commandments there is no purpose to the ten sayings with which the world was created.  In other words, Hashem is saying that He cannot give to the Torah to a world containing Egyptians and their culture.

You want the Torah?  You must get rid of Egypt and let the world reach its ultimate destination.  According to Chazal each of the plagues had two aspects - to destroy Egypt and to purify the Jewish nation.  Let us look for a moment at the plague of darkness, by the same token one of the ten maamarot is "vayomer Elokim yehi or".  What is light and what is darkness?  Perhaps the plague of darkness is the darkening of other forces and the appearance of the light of the Torah - the Torah tells us that the Jewish nation had light, what does it mean they had light while the Egyptians did not.

Our Sages discuss the pasuk: "Woe to those who desire the day of Hashem: 'Why do you seek this day of Hashem?  It is darkness and not light'"(Amos 5:18).  Chazal see this as "An analogy of a rooster and a bat who were awaiting the light of dawn, said the rooster to the bat 'I am awaiting the light, because the light is mine (Rashi: I benefit from the light), but you, why do you want the light?'" (Sanhedrin 98b). The rooster loves the day, he can run, dance, jump, and break a few dishes (see Mishna Baba Kama 17a). What about the bat? He has no eyes! Even when day does arrive, he will not realize it!  Why must he wait for light?  On the contrary, the dark serves his purposes better than the dawn.

The pasuk is teaching us that in the End of Days the ultimate light which has been hidden since creation will be revealed.  For one who has spent his life involved purely in pursuits of this world, that light will be darkness, while for one who has spent his life striving to grow higher and higher, he will feel the light.  Chazal tell us that "love your fellow as yourself" is a great precept of the Torah.  this defines the essence of Torah - worrying not about yourself but about others, your neighbor, your wife which is the ultimate expression of bein adam lachavero.  Ultimately it expresses itself in trying to do for HaKadosh Baruch Hu.  One who was egocentric and only cared about himself will see darkness in the end of day.  Each plague against the Egyptians is a greater revelation.  When we say that the Jewish people had light we mean that they saw the light.

The ultimate as we said was Makkat Bechorot.  The Jewish people are referred to as reishit.  What does a firstborn do?  He transforms an individual into a father.  Hashem therefore referred to Klal Yisrael as beni bechori Yisrael in Parshat Shmot.  The Jewish nation is now revealing the true meaning and purpose of the creation - Bereishit Bara Elokim.  Just as the child reveals the father's potential, the reishit of the Jewish nation reveals what the world is about.  We have turned Hashem into our father.  Hashem first revealed Himself in the period of yetziat Mitzrayim.  The forefathers each had their own personal understandings of His existence, but true revelation took place when we left Egypt.  From that point onwards Hashem reveals Himself only through the Jewish nation and it will continue in this manner until the arrival of Moshiach.  You want to see G-d in this world?  Look at Am Yisrael.  You hate the Jews?  That means you hate Hashem.  It was the smiting of the Egyptian firstborn associated with the forming of the nation of Israel that taught us and the world of what true bechora is - not the Egyptian one.  The bechor who reveals what the world is about is not the Egyptian one.

In the End of Days it is not that the righteous will be rewarded with light and the evil will be punished with darkness.  It will be the same light which for the righteous is light but for the wicked is darkness.  A person who has the vessel for receiving the light, a vessel of Torah and mitzvoth, will be able to receive the light.  One who spent his life in other pursuits will not.  Makkat Bechorot marked the collapse of any false ideas as to the purpose of creation. 

It is interesting to note that until Parshat Bo which describes the final three makkot, the Torah has basically been a narrative. It is from this point on that the purpose of creation was revealed and any future narrative will be intertwined with mitzvoth.  The first mitzvah in the Torah given to the Jewish people as a nation is "hachodesh hazeh lachem", this month is for you.  We are all familiar with the opening Rashi in Chumash who asks why the Torah did not begin here.  The Jewish people have been compared to the moon.  Hashem, as we mentioned, only reveals Himself in this world through the Jewish nation.  Just as at night we do not see the sun on its own but only through the moon.  In the End of Days that light will be revealed in all its glory on its own.

The moon has an approximate 30 day cycle, for the first 15 days it grows bigger then grows smaller until it vanishes.  The fifteenth generation from Avraham was Shlomo HaMelech and the building of the Beit HaMikdash - the light was shining strongly.  From the sixteenth generation it was downhill as the kingdom split into two.  Finally the thirtieth generation marked the destruction.  This is the meaning behind what we say in Kiddush Levana that we pray for the moon to remain completel.  We pray for the speedy arrival of Moshiach in which the Jewish nation represented by the moon will remain strong and whole with the building of the Beit HaMikdash which will remain for eternity reflecting the light of Hashem in this world, not only through the Jewish nation but in all its glory.