All Egypt trembled before the awful outpouring of divine judgment. Pharaoh hastily sent for the two brothers, and cried out, “I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord (for it is enough) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer.”Exodus 9:27, 28. The answer was, “As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord God.”Exodus 9:29, 30.
(PP 270.1)
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Moses knew that the contest was not ended. Pharaoh’s confessions and promises were not the effect of any radical change in his mind or heart, but were wrung from him by terror and anguish. Moses promised, however, to grant his request; for he would give him no occasion for further stubbornness. The prophet went forth, unheeding the fury of the tempest, and Pharaoh and all his host were witnesses to the power of Jehovah to preserve His messenger. Having passed without the city, Moses “spread abroad his hands unto the Lord: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.”Exodus 9:33. But no sooner had the king recovered from his fears than his heart returned to its perversity.
(PP 270.2)
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Then 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 Jehovah.”Exodus 10:1, 2. The Lord was manifesting His power, to confirm the faith of Israel in Him as the only true and living God. He would give unmistakable evidence of the difference He placed between them and the Egyptians, and would cause all nations to know that the Hebrews, whom they had despised and oppressed, were under the protection of the God of heaven.
(PP 270.3)
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Moses warned the monarch that if he still remained obstinate, a plague of locusts would be sent, which would cover the face of the earth and eat up every green thing that remained; they would fill the houses, even the palace itself; such a scourge, he said, as “neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day.”Exodus 10:6.
(PP 270.4)
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The counselors of Pharaoh stood aghast. The nation had sustained great loss in the death of their cattle. Many of the people had been killed by the hail. The forests were broken down and the crops destroyed. They were fast losing all that had been gained by the labor of the Hebrews. The whole land was threatened with starvation. Princes and courtiers pressed about the king and angrily demanded, “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?”Exodus 10:7.
(PP 271.1)
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Moses and Aaron were again summoned, and the monarch said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God: but who are they that shall go?”Exodus 10:8.
(PP 271.2)
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The answer was, “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.”Exodus 10:9.
(PP 271.3)
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The king was filled with rage. “Let the Lord be so with you,” he cried, “as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. 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.”Exodus 10:10, 11. Pharaoh had endeavored to destroy the Israelites by hard labor, but he now pretended to have a deep interest in their welfare and a tender care for their little ones. His real object was to keep the women and children as surety for the return of the men.
(PP 271.4)
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Moses now stretched forth his rod over the land, and an east wind blew, and brought locusts. “Very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.”Exodus 10:14. They filled the sky till the land was darkened, and devoured every green thing remaining. Pharaoh sent for the prophets in haste, and 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 10:16, 17. They did so, and a strong west wind carried away the locusts toward the Red Sea. Still the king persisted in his stubborn resolution.
(PP 271.5)
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The people of Egypt were ready to despair. The scourges that had already fallen upon them seemed almost beyond endurance, and they were filled with fear for the future. The nation had worshiped Pharaoh as a representative of their god, but many were now convinced that he was opposing himself to One who made all the powers of nature the ministers of His will. The Hebrew slaves, so miraculously favored, were becoming confident of deliverance. Their taskmasters dared not oppress them as heretofore. Throughout Egypt there was a secret fear that the enslaved race would rise and avenge their wrongs. Everywhere men were asking with bated breath, What will come next?
(PP 271.6)
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Suddenly a darkness settled upon the land, so thick and black that it seemed a “darkness which may be felt.”Exodus 10:21. Not only were the people deprived of light, but the atmosphere was very oppressive, so that breathing was difficult. “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.”Exodus 10:22, 23. The sun and moon were objects of worship to the Egyptians; in this mysterious darkness the people and their gods alike were smitten by the power that had undertaken the cause of the bondmen. [See Appendix, note 2.] Yet fearful as it was, this judgment is an evidence of God’s compassion and His unwillingness to destroy. He would give the people time for reflection and repentance before bringing upon them the last and most terrible of the plagues.
(PP 272.1)
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Fear at last wrung from Pharaoh a further concession. At the end of the third day of darkness he summoned Moses, and consented to the departure of the people, provided the flocks and herds were permitted to remain. “There shall not an hoof be left behind,” replied the resolute Hebrew. “We know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither.”Exodus 10:26. The king’s anger burst forth beyond control. “Get thee from me,” he cried, “take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.”Exodus 10:28.
(PP 272.2)
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The answer was, “Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.”Exodus 10:29.
(PP 272.3)
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“The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants, and in the sight of the people.”Exodus 11:3. Moses was regarded with awe by the Egyptians. The king dared not harm him, for the people looked upon him as alone possessing power to remove the plagues. They desired that the Israelites might be permitted to leave Egypt. It was the king and the priests that opposed to the last the demands of Moses.
(PP 272.4)
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When the demand for Israel’s release had been first presented to the king of Egypt, the warning of the most terrible of the plagues had been given. Moses was directed to say to Pharaoh, “Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My first-born: and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born.”Exodus 4:22, 23. Though despised by the Egyptians, the Israelites had been honored by God, in that they were singled out to be the depositaries of His law. In the special blessings and privileges accorded them, they had pre-eminence among the nations, as the first-born son had among brothers.
(PP 273.1)
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The judgment of which Egypt had first been warned, was to be the last visited. God is long-suffering and plenteous in mercy. He has a tender care for the beings formed in His image. If the loss of their harvests and their flocks and herds had brought Egypt to repentance, the children would not have been smitten; but the nation had stubbornly resisted the divine command, and now the final blow was about to fall.
(PP 273.2)
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Moses had been forbidden, on pain of death, to appear again in Pharaoh’s presence; but a last message from God was to be delivered to the rebellious monarch, and again Moses came before him, with the terrible announcement: “Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I will go out.”Exodus 11:4-8.
(PP 273.3)
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