162
From Eternity Past
Pharaoh at Last Relents
All Egypt trembled before the divine judgment. Pharaoh hastily
sent for the two brothers: “I have sinned this time: the Lord is righ-
teous, 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.”
Moses knew that the contest was not ended. Pharaoh’s confessions
and promises were not the effect of any radical change in his mind
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. Moses “spread abroad his hands
unto the Lord: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not
poured upon the earth.” But no sooner had the king recovered from his
fears than his heart returned to its perversity.
[186]
Then the Lord would give unmistakable evidence of the difference
He placed between Israel and the Egyptians and would cause all nations
to know that the Hebrews were under the protection of the God of
heaven. Moses warned the monarch that a plague of locusts would be
sent, which would cover 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.”
The counselors of Pharaoh stood aghast. The nation had sustained
great loss in the death of the 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 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?”
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?”