Pharaoh's officials have had enough. They know the plague of locusts will come if he doesn't let the Israelites go, so in yesterday's passage they implored the king to give in. As we begin our study today the king calls Moses and Aaron back to the palace.
"Then Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. 'Go, worship the Lord your God,' he said, 'but tell me who will be going.'" (Exodus 10:8) The king doesn't want the entire population of Israelites to go outside the borders of the country to worship the Lord in the wilderness. He wants to make a compromise in which a percentage of the people are allowed to go. In his mind this percentage will be representing all the Israelites as a whole before the Lord while the remainder of them stay in Egypt and keep working. This would accomplish at least two purposes that I can think of. One, all the work he has the Israelites performing won't come to a complete standstill for the three-day period they've requested off to go into the wilderness. Second, he feels confident the people he allows to go into the desert won't run away but will come home after three days because their families are still in Egypt. When he calls Moses and Aaron back to the palace he wants them to select a committee to go into the wilderness to perform the worship rituals; he does not want or intend for all the people to go.
Moses makes it clear that every single person must go. "Moses answered, 'We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, and with our flocks and our herds, because we are to celebrate a festival to the Lord.'" (Exodus 10:9)
Pharaoh accuses Moses of trying to trick him. "Pharaoh said, 'The Lord be with you---if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil. No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that's what you have been asking for.' Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh's presence." (Exodus 10:10-11) He says, "You're going to need the Lord's help if you try to deceive me by taking all your people out of the land so they can run away! I know what you're really up to. You want to deprive me of an enormous portion of the work force in Egypt. These people are slaves and therefore they are my property. You're trying to steal from me! I'll allow the men to go into the wilderness for three days to make sacrifices to your God so that the plagues will stop, but all the women and children must stay here. That way I know the men won't run away. After they've observed their religious rituals for three days they'll return to Egypt to take care of their families. How dare you suggest I let all the people go? You intend to turn them into runaway slaves. Be gone with you!" Then he calls for his guards to escort---or perhaps even chase---Moses and Aaron from the palace.
"And the Lord said to Moses, 'Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.' So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail---everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt." (Exodus 10:12-15) Imagine what a sight this was, with the ground and all the trees solid black with hordes of teeming locusts! It kind of makes my skin crawl just to think about it. Not only is the sight of them repulsive, and not only is the combined sound of them likely quite loud and monotonous and continual, but they are eating everything in sight.
What did Pharaoh expect? He knows that every plague Moses has threatened has come to pass. Did he think this plague would not? I've tried and tried but can't seem to get inside his head. He appears to be a person who never considers the consequences of his actions until the consequences begin to fall on him. He's like a person who keeps getting himself into predicaments, then saying to the Lord, "I'll straighten up if You'll just get me out of this trouble. I know I've said that before but this time I mean it," and then when the trouble ceases he goes right back to being wicked because he's learned nothing from his mistakes. When the king witnesses yet another plague falling on his land he calls for Moses and Aaron and makes yet another apology and confession, promises to do better, and asks them to pray for the plague to go away. "Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, 'I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.'" (Exodus 10:16-17)
He says, "Okay, guys, I've really messed up this time. I've done you wrong and I've insulted your God. I am going to try to get my act together this time and do better. I promise I'll have mercy on your people and let them go if you'll persuade your God to get these locusts out of here." I think the king's biggest problem---and the biggest obstacle to him changing for the better---is that the God of Israel is still not his God. He keeps referring to Him as "the Lord your God", not as "the Lord my God". Pharaoh hasn't made God the Lord of his life. And unless or until he does, I don't believe he has the willpower or the moral fortitude to become a better man.
It's possible for a person to live a relatively moral life and to care about others without being a believer in the Lord. I personally know people who are atheists and agnostics who are extremely honest and compassionate people. I personally know people who, through sheer willpower and a desire to preserve their lives and their sanity, have been able to free themselves from the power of alcohol or drugs without turning to the Lord. If Pharaoh had wanted to be a good man he might have been able to change himself into a morally decent person even if he never turned to the Lord. But can we ever be all that the Lord intended us to be without turning to Him? No, and we can't obtain the salvation of our souls without turning to Him either. But some people who aren't believers still possess a desire in their hearts to be decent, law-abiding, honest, compassionate human beings. If Pharaoh had been that type of person, he might have been able to change his ways even if he never turned to the Lord. But it simply isn't in him to be a good person. He lacks any natural desire to love his neighbor as himself.
For a few moments, while in extreme distress, he makes promises to do better. He may actually think in those moments that he's capable of keeping his promises. But as soon as his situation improves he always goes back to being who he was before. This is who Pharaoh wants to be and the Lord lets him be who he wants to be; it suits the purposes of the Lord to allow Pharaoh to be who he wants to be because it allows the Lord to display His great might in Egypt. It allows the Lord to perform such miraculous signs in Egypt that the faith of the Israelites is increased. I suspect some of the Egyptians also turned to the Lord because of the things they witnessed.
"Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go." (Exodus 10:18-20) Moses prays to the Lord, knowing Pharaoh will go back on his word. The Lord answers Moses prayer, knowing Pharaoh will go back on his word. But the answering of the prayer is the Lord's mercy on the people of Egypt. First, it removes the problem of the locusts. Second, it proves to the people of Egypt that God is the Lord. God brought the plague exactly when He said He would and He removes the plague exactly when Moses prays to Him. There's no way the plague can be dismissed as a natural occurrence when you consider how it came about and how it leaves. God is proving He is God. This presents an opportunity to everyone in the nation to believe in Him and turn to Him for salvation.
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