NOTES for Exo 10:1-29
1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him: |
2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD. |
3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. |
4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast: |
5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field: |
6 And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh. |
7 And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? |
8 And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go? |
9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD. |
10 And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. |
11 Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. |
12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. |
13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. |
14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. |
15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt. |
16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you. |
17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only. |
18 And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD. |
19 And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. |
20 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. |
21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. |
22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: |
23 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. |
24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you. |
25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God. |
26 Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come thither. |
27 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. |
28 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die. |
29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more. |
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There is a logic of its own in a person's relationship with God, and if a person again and again pushes away the hand God extends to him, this cannot remain without consequences. At first glance, such a situation seems not very clear: after all, God can simply leave alone the one who does not want to have anything to do with Him. But what if, because of the circumstances that have developed, this person who does not want to know God has ended up in a place where the fulfillment of God's plan depends on his decision? After all, God's providence is realized in a world of free people, and in a fallen world a person, using his freedom, does not always take God's plans into account. And then God has to act firmly. Pharaoh's intransigence, in a certain sense, forces God too to become intransigent toward him. And then the sign will no longer be Pharaoh's acknowledgment of God's authority, but God's carrying out His plan despite Pharaoh's will (vv. 1-2).
And Pharaoh himself will meet face to face not with God's love, but with God's power. And this power will be such that its obvious superiority will be clear to everyone without exception (v. 7). Such power has to be reckoned with. But reckoning with it does not mean accepting it. Even a magician or a materialist is sometimes ready to admit that there are forces in the world that surpass human forces, whether the might of science or the power of magic. But even if behind this force such a materialist senses the presence of someone's will, far surpassing the human will, he will not necessarily recognize it as higher than himself, because the stronger one does not always have the right to rule over the weaker. Of course, nature is not like that; according to the law of nature, the strongest has the right to rule over the weakest. But a person rarely accepts such a state of things as normal, even if verbally he recognizes nature as the highest and final reality.
And then, encountering God's power and not finding God behind it, a person tries to negotiate with it or with the one who, as it seems to him, stands behind it, just as Pharaoh tries to negotiate with Moses (vv. 8-11, 24-27). It would seem that this would be the moment to try to establish contact with Pharaoh and try to soften his heart. But in reality such bargaining does not involve any full communion or even any genuine meeting with God: it allows no recognition of God's authority. On the contrary, its aim is an attempt to buy off and get rid of the God of Moses, to do something so that He will finally leave Egypt, Pharaoh himself, and all of them alone, and to achieve this with as little cost as possible. That is why Pharaoh cares so much about guarantees that those whom he releases for the festival will return. But in relationships with God, bargaining is out of place.
Readings for 16 March 2026
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