The Lord Passes Over and the Destroyer May Not Enter

"And the LORD will pass through to strike Egypt" (Exodus 12:23). "Passing through" is stated here; say it also there. Just as the "passing through" stated here means a plague, so too the "passing through" stated elsewhere means a plague. And so it says, "and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of you, says the LORD" (Amos 5:17). "And He will see the blood upon the lintel and upon the two doorposts" (Exodus 12:23) — this excludes a house that has no lintel and no doorpost. "And the LORD will pass over the door" — this is a warning concerning the door. "And He will not permit the destroyer to come into your houses to strike" — this teaches that once permission has been given to the agents of destruction to harm, they do not in the end distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. Nevertheless they do not return to the place of holiness.