Bible Commentaries
Exodus 10

Verses 1-29

Chapter 10

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 show these my signs before him: 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 ( Exodus 10:1-2 ).

Now the Lord's been doing these things up to this point to let Pharaoh know who He is. "That he may know that I am the Lord." Now it's an interesting twist here, "I'm doing these also for the purpose that you might tell your sons, and they might tell their sons, and they might tell their sons, that they may know that I am the Lord. You tell them the things that I did to the Egyptians."

So this part of the history of Israel remains a vital part of the Israeli history even to the present day. It is the history that the children must all study. But the tragic thing to me is that so many Jews today look upon it as mythology, as fables. Even as every country has its mythology, the Greeks have their mythology, the Roman mythology; many Jews look upon this as mythology. That is sad indeed because what do you learn from mythology? What lessons are to be gained from mythology? How can you know that the Lord is really Lord from mythology?

So God wanted them to know that He was Lord that they might rehearse these things to their children.

And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me. Or else, if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into thy coast: And they shall cover the face of the earth, that you will not be able to see the earth: they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, and has remained unto you from the hail, they will eat every tree which grows for you out of the field: They will fill your houses, and the houses of your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have ever seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh. [So he gave Pharaoh warning, "Tomorrow the locusts are coming."] And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let them go, that they may serve the Lord their God: don't you know that Egypt is about destroyed ( Exodus 10:3-7 )?

So now the servants of Pharaoh are beginning to say, "Hey, wise up. How long are you gonna let them wipe us out? We're just about destroyed. Let them go."

So Moses and Aaron were called in by the Pharaoh: and he said unto them, [Now he offers another compromise.] Go, and serve the Lord your God: but who are they that shall go? And Moses said, We will go with our young with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, and I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so now: go now you that are men, and serve the Lord; all that you desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence ( Exodus 10:8-11 ).

So Pharaoh is offering the compromise, "Look you can go, but let your children stay. Don't take your children with you. It's gonna be tough out there in the wilderness and all, and don't subject your children to that. Now if you want to go and serve your God, if that's in your heart, and you've gotta do it, then do your thing. But oh, don't make your kids be a part of it."

How many times Satan says, "Hey you know you don't want to rob your kids from fun. Now if you want to make your commitment to the Lord and you want to live a life of dedication to God, that's all right for you if you're gonna do it. But hey, don't put that kind of a trip on your kids. You don't want them to be thought of as weird or whatever. So let them go ahead and do the things with the other kids so that they're not thought of as different." "Go, but don't take your children with you." What an insidious compromise.

And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every vegetable of the land, even all that the hail has left. 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. 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. For they covered the face of the whole earth so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb and vegetable 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 vegetables of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only ( Exodus 10:12-17 ).

So again the confession of sin, and again the asking of them to pray for him. But again an insincere confession of sin, "Once more, this is the last time." It's truth; it is the last time that he asks them to pray for him.

And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord. And the Lord turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; and there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. The Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be a darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days: And 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. And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed ( Exodus 10:18-24 ):

So the last compromise that he suggests, "Go, you know, serve God, but don't take your possessions, let your flocks and herds remain. Give yourself, but don't give your possessions to God. Your little ones go along with you."

And Moses said, You must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind ( Exodus 10:25-26 );

In other words, Moses is saying, "Man, when we go, we're goin all the way. We're not gonna even leave anything behind. Nothing is to be left behind when we go."

for therefore must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come there. [In other words, "We don't know what the Lord our God will ask us to give to Him. We don't know what sacrifice He's gonna ask us to make until we get there, so we've gotta take everything in order that we might be prepared for whatever God might call upon us to sacrifice unto Him."] And Pharaoh said unto him, Get out of here, and you be careful that you don't see my face again; for the day you see my face you're a dead man. And Moses said, That's well spoken, because I will never see your face again ( Exodus 10:26-29 ).

So they did not leave each other in the best of terms. So next week we get into the final plagues, and into the flight of the children of Israel as we continue chapters eleven through fifteen for next Sunday, as we continue our study through the Word of God.

Keep up with your reading during the week. Read it over. If you have a Haley's Bible pocket handbook, read it over also in Haley's. You'll get a lot of interesting insight out of Haley's. I highly recommend and suggest this Bible pocket handbook as the first book you get after your Bible, the first book of your library, and it should be Haley's Bible pocket handbook for all of the rich information that it has stored up. So if you'll read it alongside with the Bible, he just gives you good insight and background into the scriptures. Historical, archeological, and all, just helpful insights. "