Exodus 10:1-20 NKJV
10 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”
3 So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says 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. 4 Or else, if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. 5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field. 6 They shall fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—which neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “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?”
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?”
9 And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.”
10 Then he said to them, “The Lord had better be with you when I let you and your little ones go! Beware, for evil is ahead of you. 11 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.
12 Then 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 herb of the land—all that the hail has left.” 13 So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. 14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. 15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.
16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.” 18 So he went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. 19 And the Lord turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the territory of Egypt. 20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
God keeps giving Pharaoh time and chances to repent and turn form his evil ways. God commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh once again. And this God exhorts, even though he saw how little Pharaoh had been moved before.
It can be likened to a faithful pastor who has a parishioner who needs visitation attempting to bring him back from the on-going despising of God’s Word and Sacraments given through God’s Divine Service week after week. The pastor is ordained and called to go time and time again to deliver God’s Word of Law — in an attempt of breaking the parishioner of their on-going sin against the 3rd Commandment, express contrition over their sin, and be brought to repentance and belief. Now, some could argue — just as some do with God and Pharaoh — that the pastor is responsible for hardening the parishioner’s heart; because if he had only left the parishioner alone his heart would not have been hardened. Again, that’s illogical. God desires no one to perish and neither does God’s faithful pastor; that’s why the warnings are mercifully given.
Also displayed within these historic events with Pharaoh is how God will use the situation for His good purposes, even though it seems like Pharaoh’s pride is winning the day. Valerius Herberger puts it this way: “Here we learn how stubborn hearts cannot hinder God’s work, no matter how evil they may be. All that ungodly hearts accomplish by resisting God and His people is to manifest more clearly their own wickedness and move God to do more wonders for His own. God also tells us what is to be learnt from every wondrous work: “That you may know that I am the Lord.” Think on this whenever you encounter a wondrous work in the Old or New Testament. The Lord our God is the Lord on whom we can rely in bodily, spiritual, and mortal distress.” (The Great Works of God, pts. V & VI, trans M. Carver, pg. 163-64, CPH) Let us pray: O Lord, we thank You for Your wondrous works that focus us on You. Grant that we ever rely on You as You give us forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ. Amen.