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Ten Plagues of Egypt
169
destroyed. The Egyptians were quickly losing all that they had
gained by the work of the Hebrews. The whole land was threatened
with starvation. Princes and officials crowded around the king and
demanded, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men
go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know
that Egypt is destroyed?”
Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron again and said to them,
“Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?”
Pharaoh Again Hardens His Heart
The answer was, “We will go with our young and our old; with
our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds will we
go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”
The king was filled with rage. He cried, “‘Not so! Go now, you
who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.’ And
they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.” Pharaoh pretended
to have deep interest in their welfare and a tender care for their little
ones, but his real intent was to keep the women and children as a
way to guarantee the return of the men.
Moses now stretched his rod over the land, and an east wind
brought locusts. “They were very severe; previously there had been
no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them.” They
filled the air till the sky was darkened, and they devoured every green
thing remaining.
Pharaoh quickly sent for the prophet and said, “I have sinned
against the Lord your God and against you. ... Entreat the Lord your
God, that He may take away from me this death only.” They did so,
and a strong west wind carried away the locusts toward the Red Sea,
but the king still kept on in his stubborn determination.
The people of Egypt were ready to despair, 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 battling against One who made all the powers of nature the
agents of His will. The Hebrew slaves were becoming confident of
deliverance. Throughout Egypt there was a secret fear that the slaves
would rise and take revenge for their wrongs. People everywhere
were asking, “What will come next?”