Chapter 9 closed with the fact that both Pharaoh and his servants
hardened their hearts. Chapter 10 opens with a statement by the Lord to
Moses that He had hardened their hearts, and thus shut them up to their
doom. It furnished also the occasion for the Lord to display Himself as
the God of judgment in such fashion that it would be remembered in the
generations to come. Even to our day this witness stands, and it will
yet be remembered until the day of grace is succeeded by the epoch of
judgment. Then God will deal in His righteous judgment and wrath not
with Egypt only but with the whole earth, as is portrayed in Revelation
6—11, 15, 16. Of that coming day of judgment the plagues of Egypt were
a small sample.
However, such is the longsuffering of God
that Moses was sent once more to Pharaoh with a remonstrance and demand
that he let the people go. He is warned that, if he still refused, God
would smite Egypt with swarms of locusts, and this was to happen
"tomorrow." In the previous chapter twice did God announce a plague for
tomorrow, thus giving at least twenty-four hours
respite in view of a possible relenting on the part of Pharaoh. In
contrast to this, salvation, as we know, is always presented today.
Locusts were well recognized as a serious plague even in those days,
and the extra severity of what was coming was plainly indicated, for it
would destroy all that was left in the land. The wheat and rye escaped
before, but they would not escape this. Moreover while the trees of the
field had been broken by the hail, they were still in leaf: they would
now be stripped bare. The only way of escape was indicated: that of
Pharaoh humbling himself before the Lord, and letting Israel go.
Though the locust invasion now threatened was to be of altogether
exceptional severity yet such a plague was not unknown in Egypt. Hence
there was remonstrance from the servants of the king, and they were so
stirred as to allow themselves an unusual freedom of speech, seeing the
Pharaohs of those times were regarded almost as deities. Moved by this,
he recalled Moses and Aaron and proposed another cunning device,
raising a question as to who should go. In reply, Moses made it quite
plain that there is no compromise permitted when God
makes His demands. The Lord claimed the people as His; men, women,
children and possessions. This is an important lesson which we all have
to learn. Though we are not under law but under grace, yet there are
"the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14: 37) and these are not issued
that we may negotiate about them or compromise, but that we may obey.
Pharaoh attempted to negotiate. He would permit the men to go and
sacrifice, but all the rest should remain in his power. He knew enough
of human nature to be sure that this would bring the men back under his
authority. Pharaoh was a tool of the devil, who knows very well the
practical working of "thou . . . and thy house" (Acts 16: 31) and
wished to turn it to his own advantage. The suggestion was, Let each
man go, but let him leave his house behind. But if God was to have any,
He would have ALL.
This declaration moved Pharaoh to more
drastic action and Moses and Aaron were simply driven from his
presence, and as Moses stretched forth his rod, the Lord brought up the
strong east wind on the wings of which the mighty hordes of locusts
came. In the annals of the east there are plenty of records as to the
havoc that is made by a bad swarm of locusts. This was a visitation so
grievous that "before them there were no such locusts as they, neither
after them shall be such." We can imagine therefore the terrible plight
into which the land of Egypt was plunged.
As a result,
Moses and Aaron, who a few days before had been driven out of Pharaoh's
presence, were recalled in haste. Pharaoh adopted a humble attitude,
confessing he had sinned and asking for a forgiveness which should
include the removal of the punishment. The Lord knew his heart, yet He
listened to his plea and by a strong west wind He removed the locusts
so completely that not one was left. The locusts were drowned in the
Red Sea. Not many days after Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned there
too.
It now seemed as if the heart of Pharaoh had been
softened, but it had not been so really. Directly the infliction was
removed he reverted to his stubborn attitude of resistance. As
predicted the Lord had hardened his heart. He provides us with the
classic example of the sinner who defies God, but is quite prepared to
adopt a humble attitude, if thereby he may avoid reaping the punishment
he deserves. We have to remember this word: "He that covereth his sins
shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have
mercy" (Prov. 28: 13). Under chastisement Pharaoh did not mind doing a
little bit of confessing, but he had no idea of forsaking his
self-willed way. The fair words he uttered in verses 16 and 17 of our
chapter were merely an effort to avoid further punishment.
So, as we see in verse 21, the ninth plague was ushered in without any
warning being given. Again Moses was to stretch out his hand toward
heaven and there fell upon Egypt darkness of a supernatural kind. It is
described as "darkness which may be felt." From this expression some
are disposed to regard it as being of the nature of the hot south-west
winds that do bring on Egypt great dust storms that darken the land;
the wind being laden with tiny particles of sand, it can be felt. But
on the other hand the expression may be a figurative one, in which the
feeling about and groping in dense darkness is attributed to the
darkness itself.
How it came about need not concern us. It
was something supernatural. It lasted for three days. It was so dense
and complete that all activity stopped. Every Egyptian was isolated
from his fellows in the midst of his ruined country, and none of them
knew when, if ever the visitation would end. Of all the plagues this
must have been the most terrifying, because most mysterious and
unprecedented. And all through the dreadful three days the children of
Israel had light in their dwellings.
We cannot fail to see
here a pictorial representation of what we find laid down in the New
Testament. Take such a passage as this: "He that loveth his brother
abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and knoweth not whither
he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes" (1 John 2: 10,
11). The present-day men of the world, though refined and educated, as
were the Egyptians in their day, are in spiritual darkness. Only those
who are born of God, and therefore possess the divine nature, are
abiding in the light.
At the end of the three days, the
darkness having departed, Pharaoh was again ready to attempt a
compromise. This time it was, Let all men, women and children, go, but
your flocks and herds must remain. But, as Moses pointed out, this
would defeat the object of their going forth, since they would not have
the wherewithal to sacrifice to the Lord. He stated again the Divine
terms, in the nature of an ultimatum, "there shall not an hoof be left
behind." It was the purpose of God to take His people, and every single
thing they had, clean out of Egypt.
God's purpose for us
who belong to His church today, is just the same in principle. Egypt
typifies the great world-system, Pharaoh typifies the god and prince of
this world. The children of Israel were to enjoy a physical
deliverance: in body and in possessions they were to be free. Ours is a
spiritual deliverance. We still live on earth and in the midst of the
world-system, but it is the purpose of God that we be completely
delivered from its enslaving power.
The uncompromising
stand which Moses took on this point evidently angered Pharaoh, and his
heart being still hardened of the Lord, he broke off all negotiation at
this point. On God's part the ultimatum had been presented: on his part
it had been rejected with a threat of death to Moses who had presented
it to him. In reply to that threat Moses spoke as a prophet, and
foretold in a veiled form his doom. It was not Moses who was about to
die but first Pharaoh's firstborn and then himself.
As we
commence to read Exodus 11, we realize that all God's preliminary
dealings are over and the final strokes must now fall. As the
preliminary judgments proceeded they increased in severity, and we are
sometimes tempted to enquire why they should be necessary. We may ask:
Since God knew in advance all that would transpire, why should He
prolong the agony in this way? Why did He not eliminate the
preliminaries and strike the final blow at once?
The answer surely is this: His ways and judgments are always right, yet He so acts as to manifest their rightness before
His intelligent creation. Being omniscient, He knew that all nine
plagues would not subdue the stubborn heart of Pharaoh; but the angelic
principalities and powers in heavenly places are not omniscient, nor
are men upon earth. So by testing Pharaoh, and giving space for
repentance as plague succeeded plague with increasing severity, no one
could rightly question the final stroke when it came. The same thing
may be said as to the judgments of seals, trumpets and vials of the
Book of Revelation, preceding the final destruction of the power of the
adversaries at the glorious appearing of Christ.
Moses
therefore was prepared of God for this "one plague more," that was very
soon to fall. It was to be of such a nature that panic-stricken Pharaoh
would not merely let them go but hasten to thrust them out. In view of
this he was to instruct the people both men and women to ask of their
neighbouring Egyptians "jewels" or "utensils" of gold and silver. By
this time fear and respect had been instilled into their hearts, and
Moses himself had become very great in their eyes. Hence they readily
yielded up all that was asked of them. It is not an uncommon thing that
humbler and more simple people are impressed by the acts of God when
the great ones of the earth are undiscerning.
It would
appear that verses 1-3 are somewhat parenthetical, for in verse 4 we
again have Moses speaking, and as verse 8 indicates, he was still in
the presence of Pharaoh. What he announced as about to happen was an
act of God, both in its character and its severity, lifted far above
all that had gone before. In the nine preceding plagues God had used
things of His own creation in such a way as to chastise by them. But
now He, the Creator, was going to step in after a personal sort: "About
midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt."
Now if the
holy and righteous God comes down thus into the midst of His fallen and
sinful creatures there can be but one result. The death penalty must
fall, for "the wages of sin is death." Yet even so the mercy of God is
displayed for death was not to fall upon all the Egyptians but only
upon the firstborn of both man and beast. Many of us may have seen a
"genealogical tree," showing the descent of some well-known family from
the days of old. In such a tree the outmost twigs show the firstborn
sons of the various branches of the family. Now using this as a figure,
we may say that God was about to cut off all the young twigs, as a sign
that His sentence of death rested upon the trees, though He would not
at that moment cut down every tree.
But again there would
be exemption for the Israelites, for the Lord was going to put a
difference between them and the Egyptians. There was no fundamental
difference between them; had there been it would not have been needful
for the Lord to put a difference. Here then we have
foreshadowed the "no difference doctrine" of Romans 3: 22, 23. The
Israelites were sinners as the Egyptians were, and equally subject to
the death sentence, and God is no respecter of persons. Hence if God
puts a difference, it must be done in a righteous manner. We have to
pass on to the next chapter to discover how the difference was to be
put.
In Romans 3 the "no difference doctrine" is followed
by verses 24-26, which reveal the righteous basis of the justification
of the believer, which puts a difference between him and the
unbeliever. When we reach Exodus 12, and read of the blood of the
Passover lamb, we find in type the basis of the difference that is to
be put between the Egyptians and Israel.
In speaking thus
Moses gave Pharaoh and his servants full and clear warning of what was
impending, and his words were prefaced by, "Thus saith the Lord."
Having delivered this final message with the full weight of the Divine
authority behind it, he went out from Pharaoh "in a great anger," or,
"in a glowing anger." It is no sin to be angry with sin, and there was
in Moses merely a reflection of that which was in the heart of God.
Our chapter closes with Pharaoh brushing aside all that had been said
and for the last time but one we read of the Lord hardening his heart.
His stubbornness however would only furnish further occasion for the
multiplication of God's wonders in the land of Egypt.