Exodus Chapter Ten. Exodus 10:1-6: The Lord s Instructions to Moses Concerning the Eighth Plague

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1 Exodus Chapter Ten Exodus 10:1-6: The Lord s Instructions to Moses Concerning the Eighth Plague Exodus 10:1-6 presents the record of the Lord giving Moses instructions concerning the eighth plague. Exodus 10:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord. 3 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 4 For if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. 5 They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped what is left to you from the hail and they will eat every tree which sprouts for you out of the field. 6 Then your houses shall be filled and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, something which neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day. And he turned and went out from Pharaoh. (NASB95) The account of the eighth plague in chapter 10 is the second longest of the nine that lead up to the tenth and final plague. In verse 1, the Lord says to Moses that He has hardened Pharaoh s heart as well as the heart of his servants. There are other passages of Scripture which teach that God hardened Pharaoh (Exodus 9:12; 10:20, 27; 11:10; 14:8). There were prophecies that God would do this to Pharaoh (Exodus 4:21; 7:3). However, the Scriptures also teach that Pharaoh would harden himself (Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 34, 35). Therefore, God s hardening of Pharaoh is the direct result of Pharaoh first hardening himself in the sense of rejecting over and again God s command to release the nation of Israel from her bondage to him in Egypt. God permitted Pharaoh to exercise his volition repeatedly to reject His command to release the nation of Israel from her bondage in Egypt. Pharaoh was responsible for his evil actions. God s hardening was His response to Pharaoh s hardening or in other words, it was in response to Pharaoh repeatedly rejecting His command to release the nation of Israel from her bondage in Egypt. Thus, God s hardening is a manifestation of His wrath, i.e. righteous indignation towards sin and is an expression of His holiness William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1

2 So the Lord is said to harden Pharaoh s heart even though Pharaoh did this of his own volition. Thus, for the Lord to harden Pharaoh s heart means that, in His omniscience, the Lord knew that Pharaoh would do this and ordain for it to take place in time. Therefore, when it says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh s heart it means that the Lord, in eternity past, decreed for Pharaoh s negative decision to reject Him in time to take place. It means that the Lord permitted to take place. By permitting it to take place, He was also giving Pharaoh a chance to repent. It also gave the Lord an opportunity to glorify Himself in the sense of manifesting His power to Pharaoh, the Egyptians, the Israelites and the entire world. If Pharaoh never rejected the Lord s demands to let Israel go to serve Him in the wilderness, then, we would never have this account and manifestation of God s power. Pharaoh s stubbornness gave the Lord an opportunity to reveal something about Himself to men. He was able to manifest His patience, grace, love, omnipotence and righteousness and justice. In verse 1, the Lord says that one of the purposes of hardening Pharaoh s heart was so that He might perform His signs, i.e. the ten plagues. Verse 2 presents another purpose, namely, that the Israelites might tell their children and grandchildren what the Lord did to Egypt with these plagues. The purpose of telling their children and grandchildren was so that they would trust in the Lord and how important it was to do so. Also, the Lord in verse 2 says that He hardened Pharaoh s heart so that the Israelite might know the Lord experientially. This eighth plague like the previous seven was against another of the gods of the Egyptians, namely, Nut, the sky goddess as well as Osiris, who was the god of crops and fertility. The eighth plague reveals the impotence of these gods and demonstrates that the God of the Hebrews is the true and living God who is worthy of their worship rather than these false gods who are inventions of Satan and the kingdom of darkness. In verses 3 and 4, we have the record of Moses and Aaron confronting Pharaoh yet again and rebuking him for his arrogance and lack of humility and disobedience to the Lord s command to let Israel go. Once again, we have phrase let My people go (7:16; 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13) but the rhetorical question How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? is unique to these plague accounts. In these verses, we see Pharaoh receiving advanced warning with regards to this eighth plague, which was the case with the first, second, fourth, fifth and seventh plagues. This was to give Pharaoh an opportunity to repent and spare himself and the Egyptians further suffering. In verses 5-6, Moses announces to Pharaoh and his servants that a locust plague will destroy what s left in the land from the plague of hail. What s left from the 2011 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2

3 plague of hail will be consumed by this locust plague. This plague will be unlike any other locust plague in Egyptian history. In the Nile Valley, locust plagues were not unknown since every now and then a massive locust population would come from Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula and be carried along by a strong westward breeze and destroy the crops in Egypt. However, the locust plague that Moses is announcing to Pharaoh and his servants would make these previous locust plagues seem small in comparison. This locust will be unparalleled in Egyptian history. Every inch of land would be covered with locust so that you could not see the ground (verse 5). The entire 500 miles of the Nile Valley would be left bare from this locust plague as a desert or burnt field. This would completely devastate the Egyptian economy and bring about starvation. Pharaoh s policy toward the Israelites will have bankrupt the Egyptian economy and brought the nation to a standstill. Exodus 10:7-11: Moses Conversation with Pharaoh Prior to Eighth Plague Exodus 10:7-11 presents the record of Pharaoh s servants conversation with him as well as Moses conversation with Pharaoh prior to the eighth plague. Exodus 10:7 Pharaoh s servants said to him, How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed? 8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go, serve the Lord your God! Who are the ones that are going? 9 Moses said, We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord. 10 Then he said to them, Thus may the Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Take heed, for evil is in your mind. 11 Not so! Go now, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desire. So they were driven out from Pharaoh s presence. (NASB95) In verse 7, for the first time, we have the servants complaining about this policy. This verse records these palace servants and advisors as placing the blame squarely on Pharaoh s shoulders. They are astounded that he continues to stubbornly refuse to submit to Moses demands. They confront Pharaoh and ask him if he realizes what his policy towards the Israelite is doing to their nation. Verse 8 records Pharaoh s response to his servants pleadings, namely to summon Moses and Aaron and tell them to go serve the Lord their God. Notice he says your God and not my God since he refuses to submit to the Lord and trust him and reveals he is lost and unsaved. Pharaoh s question who are the one that are going? reveals his stubbornness. Moses made clear that all of Israel would leave Egypt. This question reveals that 2011 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3

4 Pharaoh is attempting to bargain. However, he is in no position to bargain. The Lord s demands are not negotiable. In verse 9 Moses tells him that not only the men are going to leave Egypt but also their women and children. Pharaoh knows that if he lets only the men leave, then they can t leave permanently without their women and children. Verses 10 and 11 record Pharaoh issuing a threat to Moses and Aaron. When Pharaoh say may the Lord be with you he is not blessing Moses and Aaron. What Pharaoh is saying is that may the Lord your God be as far from you as I am from giving you permission to go forth with your dependents. Ironically, Pharaoh will let them go and the Lord will be with them. The phrase for evil is in your mind is incorrect since Pharaoh is not referring to the Israelites devising evil by leaving Egypt since it is according to God s will. If Pharaoh was referring to Israel leaving Egypt as evil, why would he tell them to look out? What Pharaoh is actually saying here is a threat. He is in effect telling Moses and Aaron to look out since if they continue to issue demands to him, then he would do something to them! This fits with Pharaoh driving Moses and Aaron out of his presence. Amenhotep II is loosing his patience and threatening to resort to violence against Moses and Aaron. Exodus 10:12-15: The Destruction Caused by the Eighth Plague In Exodus 10:12-15, we have the record of the destruction caused by the locust plague. Exodus 10:12 Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land, even all that the hail has left. 13 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. 14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very numerous. There had never been so many locusts, nor would there be so many again. 15 For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Thus nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt. (NASB95) These verses record the Lord fulfilling His promise and threat, which results in the complete destruction of the land of Egypt. Verse 12 records the Lord giving Moses the command to stretch out his hand over Egypt which resulted in the Lord directing an east wind to come over the land of Egypt all day and all night. The following morning this east wind brought the 2011 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 4

5 locusts up from Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula. The locusts were innumerable and settled on the land of Egypt. Verse 14 says that there has been nothing like in the history of Egypt and nor would this ever take place in the future. The locusts are described as covering the entire land of Egypt so that the land was darkened. All vegetation was destroyed. What was left from the plague of hail, was now gone. Douglas Stuart writes, Locusts are merely grasshoppers that have hatched and grown under ideal conditions in the sandy soil where grasshopper eggs are deposited. Instead of a survival rate of a few per thousand, they survive by the hundreds per thousand. In the larval stage they rub together so frequently as to produce the characteristic brown exterior pigmentation, as opposed to the green color associated with grasshoppers that hatch in relatively greater isolation. Where did the locusts originate? This is almost impossible to identify with certainty. One cannot assume simply that the specially controlled east wind that brought the locusts blew for, say, twenty-four hours at twenty miles per hour, and thus calculate that the locusts came from a location roughly four hundred and eighty miles east of Egypt. The beginning of the east wind simply may have reached Egypt so as to be felt at the time Moses was led to make his gesture, having actually originated far to the east at an earlier time; the wind may have preceded the locusts many hours before they flew into it and with it; or some other combination of wind and locusts may have been used by God to accomplish the plague. The general impression given by the wording of the original in vv is that on the morning after Moses raised God s staff, the locusts simply began to arrive and over a period of time gradually spread over Egypt rather than that they blanketed Egypt instantly. Since nearly all the crops of Egypt are grown within sight of the Nile or its irrigation canals, one may presume that the locusts were especially concentrated near the Nile, so that every area of the country in v. 14 refers more to every area where there were plants to eat rather than equally over the whole land mass. 1 Notice, that Moses obedience to the Lord s command appropriated the power of God. Moses faith resulted in obedience which appropriated the power of God. Moses overcame Pharaoh and the Egyptians by his obedience to the Word of God, which resulted in God acting on his behalf and the Israelites and striking Egypt with this plague. The Egyptians who were the enemies of Israel were defeated with the power of God as a result of faith in the Lord s Word, which results in obedience to God s Word. Exodus 10:16-20: The Lord Humbles and Hardens Pharaoh 1 Stuart, D. K. (2007). Vol. 2: Exodus (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary ( ). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 5

6 In Exodus 10:16-20, we have the record of the Lord humbling and hardening Pharaoh. Exodus 10:16 Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and make supplication to the Lord your God, that He would only remove this death from me. 18 He went out from Pharaoh and made supplication to the Lord. 19 So the Lord shifted the wind to a very strong west wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not one locust was left in all the territory of Egypt. 20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go. (NASB95) As was the case in Exodus 9:27 after the seventh plague, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and acknowledges to them that he has sinned. However, as was the case with the seventh plague, his admission of sin does not demonstrate that he is repentant since again he refuse to obey the Lord and let Israel leaved Egypt. He admits his sin of disobeying the Lord and Moses and Aaron but refuses to let Israel go and thus goes right back to sinning against the Lord since Exodus 10:20 records he refuse to let the Israelites go. Thus, he is not repentant. He only admits his sin to stop his suffering as indicating by his plea in verse 17 to remove this death, i.e. the plague of locusts, from him. If he was repentant he would have obeyed the Lord by immediately releasing the Israelites. After the seventh plague, Pharaoh requested that Moses intercede in prayer on his behalf and so we see the same thing taking place after the eighth plague. After the seventh plague, Moses responded to Pharaoh s request for prayer and he responds to Pharaoh s request for prayer after the eighth plague. The Lord responds to Moses intercession and ended the seventh plague and He again responds to Moses intercession and ends the eighth plague. After the second and fourth plagues, Pharaoh requested Moses pray to the Lord to end these plagues and the Lord responded to Moses intercession and ended these plagues. Exodus 10:21-29: The Ninth Plague Exodus 10:21 Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt. 22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. 23 They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings. 24 Then Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be 2011 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 6

7 detained. Even your little ones may go with you. 25 But Moses said, You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice them to the Lord our God. 26 Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the Lord our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the Lord. 27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. 28 Then Pharaoh said to him, Get away from me! Beware, do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face you shall die! 29 Moses said, You are right; I shall never see your face again! (NASB95) The ninth plague like the third and sixth plagues did not come with advance warning for Pharaoh. Like the previous eight plagues, the ninth plague was directed at the gods of Egypt, specifically, it was against Re, the sun god and Horus, another sun god as well as Nut, a sky goddess and Hathor, another sky goddess. John Hannah writes, This plague was aimed at one of the chief Egyptian deities, the sun god Re, of whom Pharaoh was a representation. Re was responsible for providing sunlight, warmth, and productivity. Other gods, including Horus, were associated with the sun. Nut, the goddess of the sky, would have been humiliated by this plague (as well as by the plagues of hail and locusts). 2 The thick darkness was a supernatural darkness that could be felt by human beings for three days. In the Bible, darkness is always associated with judgment, sin and evil (cf. Is.5:30; 8:22; Ezek.32:7-8; Acts 13:11; Ex.10:21-29; cf. Ps.105:28; Matt.27:45-54; Rev.19:20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8). Douglas Stuart has the following insightful comment with regards to the ninth plague, he writes To appreciate fully this plague account, one must understand how ominously darkness threatened ancient people. We travel easily at night with the aid of various forms of electric lighting; they were virtually immobilized by the darkness of nighttime unless the night was cloudless and the moon relatively full. Although some ancient professional caravaneers could travel partly at night, they were able to do so mainly at times other than the dark of the moon but only because their animals could see better at night than they could and especially because they traveled on well-defined, well-remembered paths. Straying from those paths in darkness could be fatal. We can be active at night because our homes and places of work can be cheaply illumined; they closed up their cities at night, barred their courtyard gates, and locked their house doors. People abroad in the nighttime were assumed to be criminals and, typically, in fact were. We feel relatively safe during the night, even away from home, with various means of 2 Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983-). The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (Ex 10:21 23). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 7

8 communication to call for help readily available; they were at the mercy of common thieves and bandits when away from home at night,179 and unless wellarmed and in large groups, they were easy prey for those who used the nighttime as cover for evil. They understood that the darkness was essentially chaotic, a kind of enemy of the safe and the good; we may think of it as just another phase of the day.181 They considered confinement in darkness a grave punishment from God, even a sort of sometimes purposeful force183 and associated it with death; we don t think much about it at all. Even so, were we in our day to have three days without light (v. 23), widespread panic would ensue. Everyone would realize that the natural order had been overturned and that a basic fact of life on the planet had been removed. Long before the three days were up, people would begin to understand the consequences: If this keeps up, there will be no food because plants need sunlight to live; all animals will die because the food chain requires plants; we will die because everything we live on will be gone. Deep, total darkness of the sort God imposed on the Egyptians (v. 21) would also cause sensory deprivation, leading to disorientation and psychological distress. More than just those people inclined to light-deprivation depression would be severely depressed by the third day. A sense of doom would pervade all minds. 3 Verse 22 records that immediately after Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, the Lord brought thick darkness upon the land of Egypt for three days. This darkness was immediate and not gradual. It was instantaneous. However, in the land of Goshen where the Israelites were located, the Israelites had light in their homes. This verse also reveals that Moses obedience to the Lord s command appropriated the Lord s omnipotence and which omnipotence overcame the Egyptians and Pharaoh. Verse 23 records that the Egyptians did not travel for these three days. The nation was totally immobilized. No one could do anything. In verse 24, we have Pharaoh calling for Moses and telling him to go serve the Lord. However, he again amazingly, attempts to bargain and does not permit the flocks and herds of the Israelites to leave with them. In verse 25, Moses responds by telling Pharaoh that these animals are needed in the worship of the Lord. Therefore, these animals are to leave with the Israelites. By keeping the livestock of the Israelites in Egypt, Pharaoh would be holding hostage the Israelites primary business, thus, he was not making an offer that could be accepted by the Israelites. Verse 27 records Pharaoh s refusal to let the Israelites go. In verse 28, Pharaoh threatens Moses and Aaron with death if they return to him, which makes clear that he is finished negotiating with the two brothers. This is the third Pharaoh who threatened to kill Moses. Thutmose I threatened to kill him as an infant, Thutmose III threatened to kill him after he killed an Egyptian and now Amenhotep II is 3 Stuart, D. K. (2007). Vol. 2: Exodus (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (255). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 8

9 threatening to kill Moses. When he was an infant, Thutmose I sought to kill him and all Israelites infant boys. At forty years of age, he was sought by another Pharaoh, which history reveals was Thutmose III. Now, Amenhotep II threatens to kill Moses if he returns to see him again. In verse 29, Moses ominously tells Pharaoh that they will never see each other alive again. This would appear to be a contradiction in light of what Exodus 12:31 says, namely that Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh after the latter summoned them after the tenth and final plague which killed his first born son. This apparent contradiction is resolved when we understand that when Moses says that he will never again see Pharaoh s face he means that if he saw Pharaoh again, it would be at Pharaoh s request to grant him and the Israelites permission to leave Egypt. Moses will now only return to Pharaoh in order to hear him grant his request to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Moses is through negotiating in effect. So we have a mutual determination to not to speak to each other again. However, Pharaoh is forced by the tenth plague to send for Moses and beg that he and the Israelites leave Egypt. Pharaoh blinked. Amenhotep II is attempting to intimidate and silence Moses. However, Moses is unimpressed since he has seen first hand that Amenhotep II is impotent in comparison to the Lord his God. God has promised Moses that He will destroy Pharaoh and Egypt. The Lord has made good on all His promises thus far with the nine plagues and knows that the Lord will make good on the rest of His promises. Thus, Pharaoh s threats have no weight with Moses. Pharaoh s conduct is outrageous for a sovereign. First of all, as a prophet of God, Moses would be given immunity since he was simply representing God and presenting Pharaoh with the Lord s demands. Pharaoh has a problem with God and not Moses. The violation of the immunity of a prophet in the ancient world was a serious breach of religion and law. Pharaoh has brought all these problems on himself. He was warned many times but yet stubbornly refused to acquiesce to the Lord s demands. If he complied with the Lord s demands, he and his fellow countrymen would not have suffered as terribly as they did. He accuses Moses as conducting himself in a manner worthy of death instead of admitting that he brought this destruction and suffering upon himself and his people William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 9