And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward the heavens, that there may be darkness in the land of Egypt -- so that one may feel darkness.
The ninth blow against Egypt falls with nothing said in advance: Moses lifts his hand, and a darkness people can feel settles over the land. Why did God choose darkness for the last stroke before death, and what was He saying to a nation that worshipped the sun?
This plague arrives with no message to Pharaoh first. The strange phrase describing the darkness may point to a physical cause, or it may be a picture.
As we see in verse 21, the ninth plague came with no warning at all. Again Moses was to stretch out his hand toward heaven, and a darkness of a supernatural kind fell on Egypt. It is described as "darkness which may be felt." Because of this phrase, some think it was the hot south-west winds that bring great dust storms over Egypt and darken the land. The wind carries tiny particles of sand, so people can feel it. But the phrase may also be a figure of speech. In that case it credits the darkness itself with the groping and feeling around that people do in dense darkness.
(The ESV renders the phrase "a darkness to be felt.")
Whatever its cause, the effect was total. It held people where they stood and shut down ordinary life.
At the bidding of Jehovah, and without a word of warning, Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and at once a darkness that could be felt chained every Egyptian to his place. None moved; all were bound, as it were, in a prison of outer gloom. For three days and nights, though the sun shone on high, and the moon and the stars gave their light, no ray pierced the shroud wrapped about Egypt. The darkness was the prelude to the coming death.
Egypt worshipped the heavenly bodies, and this plague hid them all.
God sent darkness over the land for three days and nights. It hid the host of heaven from the sight of the worshippers and stopped the services in the temples. We may assume that when it happened, some grand ceremony in honour of the heavenly bodies was about to take place.
The king's own name came from the sun, and it did Egypt no good.
The supernatural darkness of the ninth plague speaks even more solemnly. The ruler who took his name from the sun could do nothing for all the land of Egypt. Meanwhile the light which all the children of Israel had in their homes showed the source of that darkness people could feel.
Three silent days passed while judgment waited. One writer reads that pause as mercy, not delay.
Darkness is the withdrawal of light. It stands for the solemn truth of God forsaking. God was about to abandon Egypt; the darkness was the herald of it… This darkness was God's final appeal to repentance. For three days they were shut in and all business stopped. That awful darkness wrapped every class alike — rich and poor, king and beggar, the learned and the ignorant… God waited, and in that silence and darkness He appealed to their conscience. How slow God is to judge; it is His strange work.
The plague also pictures what happens when a heart refuses light.
The last plague, before the final stroke, points to God withdrawing and leaving man to himself. God is light. Where the heart refuses the light, God leaves it to its own darkness. That is a foretaste of the outer darkness which will mark man's eternal banishment from the source of light and blessing.
Choosing that darkness and living in it are not the same.
It is a symbol of the spiritual darkness that unbelief prefers (John 3:19). Men choose that darkness rather than light. But they find it far less pleasant when not the slightest ray of light ever breaks it.
The darkness stopped where Israel lived, and the line between the two peoples was absolute.
This sign of God's displeasure stopped where the Egyptians lived. God's almighty hand drew the dividing line there, and the Hebrews had light in their homes… On one side was darkness about to end in death. On the other was light, the prelude to life and liberty… In the plague there was no shading off between the darkness and the light. As it was then, so it is now: there is no twilight, and everyone is shut up to one side or the other — living in the light, or living in the darkness.
One writer sets this darkness beside the darkness at the cross, and marks the difference.
Jehovah sent darkness as a plague throughout the land of Egypt, while Israel had light in their homes. It lasted three days. No one could see anyone else, and no one got up from his place. At the cross of Christ it told a tale to the ear of faith still more profound. It was not a punishment falling on wicked men. This darkness surrounded the Holy One of God made sin, and God forsaking Him because of sin — our sins laid on Him.
- Withdrawal. The plague came with no warning. It pictures God pulling back His light and leaving man to himself.
- Exposure. It hid the sun, moon and stars Egypt worshipped, shut the temples, and left a king named after the sun powerless.
- Patience. The three dark days were God's last appeal to conscience before death came — He is slow to judge.
- Preference. Unbelief prefers darkness. This plague shows how unbearable that choice becomes when no ray of light ever breaks it.
- Division. Israel had light in their homes; Egypt had none. There is still no twilight — people live in the light or in the darkness.
And Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens; and there was a thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt three days
This is the ninth plague. Moses raises his hand, and darkness covers Egypt for three days — a darkness thick enough to feel. What was it saying to a nation that worshipped the sun, and to a king who would not let Israel go?
Commentators differ on what "a darkness to be felt" in verse 21 means.
As we see in verse 21, the ninth plague came with no warning. Again Moses was to stretch out his hand toward heaven, and a supernatural darkness fell on Egypt. It is described as "a darkness to be felt." Because of this, some think it was like the hot south-west winds that bring great dust storms over Egypt and darken the land. The wind carries tiny particles of sand, so you can feel it. But the expression may also be figurative. It credits the darkness itself with the feeling about and groping that go on in thick darkness. How it came about need not concern us. It was something supernatural. Of all the plagues this must have been the most terrifying, because it was the strangest and nothing like it had happened before.
However it came, it struck with no warning and froze the country.
At the command of the LORD, and without a word of warning, Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven. At once a darkness that could be felt chained every Egyptian to his place. None moved; all were bound, as it were, in a prison of outer gloom. For three days and nights the sun shone on high, and the moon and the stars gave their light. Yet no ray pierced the shroud wrapped about Egypt. The darkness was the prelude to the coming death.
Egypt's religion was tied to the sky. This plague struck there.
So far the plagues on the land had not touched the heavenly bodies, which people all over Egypt worshipped. The ninth plague was to blot out the host of heaven from the sight of their worshippers. It was also to stop the main religious ceremonies of the country. The Egyptians aligned their temples to the sun, the moon, or a special star, and they linked their gods to different heavenly bodies.
The man on the throne was no help either.
The supernatural darkness of the ninth plague speaks still more solemnly (Ex. 10:21-29). The king who took his name from the sun was of no use at all for the whole land of Egypt.
Three days of darkness came before the last and worst judgment. God used that pause.
Suddenly darkness, which could be felt, came upon Egypt. Pharaoh and all Egypt now learned that their idols were helpless. Darkness is the withdrawal of light. It stands for the solemn truth of being forsaken by God. God was about to abandon Egypt, and the darkness announced it. All Egypt was about to face the severest of all judgments: the death of the firstborn. This darkness was God's final appeal to repentance. For three days they were shut in and all business stopped. Rich and poor, king and beggar, the learned and the ignorant — that awful darkness wrapped them all. God waited, and in that silence and darkness He appealed to their conscience. How slow God is to judge.
Kelly sets this darkness beside the darkness at the cross. The difference is who it fell on.
Throughout the land of Egypt the LORD had sent darkness as a plague, while Israel had light in their homes. It lasted three days, so that no one could see anyone else, and no one rose from his place. At the cross of Christ it told a far deeper story to the ear of faith. It was not something inflicted on wicked men. This darkness surrounded the Holy One of God made sin, with God forsaking Him because of sin, our sins laid on Him.
The plague also pictures a darkness people choose.
The ninth plague is symbolic of the spiritual darkness that unbelief prefers (John 3:19). But men find it not so pleasant when no ray of light ever breaks it. They deliberately choose darkness rather than light, and later find it is not what they thought it was.
- Felt — The darkness was supernatural. It was so thick that every Egyptian stayed frozen where he was. Commentators differ on how it came: a sandstorm, or a picture of groping in total blackness.
- Dethroned — It hid the sun and the stars. Egypt's temples pointed to them, and Egypt's king was named after the sun. None of it helped.
- Withheld — Darkness is light taken away. That pictures being forsaken by God, with the death of the firstborn waiting behind it.
- Patient — Three days of silence were God's last appeal to conscience. He is slow to judge, and that slowness is a warning.
- Chosen — What Egypt suffered, unbelief prefers. People walk into that darkness by choice. At the cross it fell instead on the Holy One, made sin for us.
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.
For three days a darkness settled on Egypt so heavy that all life stopped. In the homes of Israel it stayed light. Two questions follow. What kind of darkness could do that? And why did it stop at a border no wall marked?
Why could no one see anyone else? Commentators explain this darkness in two ways.
It is called "a darkness to be felt." Because of these words, some think it was like the hot south-west winds that bring great dust storms over Egypt and darken the land. The wind carries tiny particles of sand, so it can be felt. On the other hand, the words may be a picture. The feeling about and groping in dense darkness is then credited to the darkness itself.
Egypt's religion made this plague personal. The nation adored the sun, and for three days its god could do nothing.
Egypt worshipped the sun as the source of light... Suddenly darkness that could be felt came over Egypt. Pharaoh and all Egypt learned now that their idols were helpless. Darkness is the withdrawal of light. It stands for the solemn truth of being forsaken by God... God was about to abandon Egypt; the darkness was the herald of it... This darkness was God's final appeal for repentance. For three days they were shut in and all business stopped. Rich and poor, king and beggar, the learned and the ignorant — that awful darkness wrapped every class.
The light in Israel's homes was itself part of the message. It showed where the darkness had come from.
The ruler who took his name from the sun could do nothing for all the land of Egypt, while the darkness that might be felt was made visible in its source by the light which all the children of Israel had in their homes.
Sitting still, unable to see the person beside you, is more than an inconvenience. One writer reads those three days as a picture of what it means to be cut off from God.
Being abandoned by God! Men would indeed like to get away from God here... But even the far-off country is not the hell where men will find the answer to their wish to escape God. In Egypt, for three dreadful days they sat overwhelmed; no one looked at another, or rose from his seat. In that darkness which is the "shadow of death," it says, "they sit." But what will it be when it is not the shadow but death itself, and the eternal flame still gives no light?
The plague stopped at the border of God's people. Nothing blurred the edge.
This sign of divine displeasure stopped where the Egyptians lived. There God's almighty hand drew the dividing line; the Hebrews had light in their homes... On one side there was darkness about to end in death; on the other there was light, the opening of life and liberty... There was no shading off between the darkness and the light in the plague. As it was then, so it is now. There is no twilight, so everyone is shut up to one or the other — living in the light, or living in the darkness.
The light had nothing to do with the quality of the buildings.
For three days no one could stir. The children of Israel had light in their plain homes, while a blackout deeper than a London night fog covered the ornate temples of Egypt. That points to the spiritual darkness that surrounds man's philosophy. Divine light fills the hearts of the people of God, because God is there.
One writer reads the same contrast as a picture of the believer's place in a dark world.
It is a symbol of the spiritual darkness that unbelief prefers (John 3:19). But men do not find that darkness so pleasant when not the smallest ray of light ever breaks it. They deliberately choose darkness rather than light, and later find it is not what they thought... Of course this was miraculous. But Christians today have spiritual light, while all around them the world is in pitiful darkness.
In Goshen, the part of Egypt where Israel lived, their homes carried two marks — light first, then the blood of the lamb. In a Christian home, one writer notes, the order runs the other way.
A true Christian household has two essential and distinctive qualities. The house of every Israelite in Goshen had them too, during those terrible days of God's increasing judgments on Egypt. First, it is under the shelter of the blood of the Lamb. Second, it is filled with heavenly light. Only the order is the reverse of what it was for the Israelites, where the light in their homes came before the sprinkling of the blood.
- Cause — God sent this darkness as a sign of His displeasure. Commentators differ over whether "felt" points to a sandstorm or pictures men groping in the dark.
- Target — a nation that worshipped the sun found its idols helpless. Taking the light away announced that God was about to abandon Egypt.
- Warning — three days of forced stillness were God's last appeal for repentance before the final blow. They also shadow what it is to be shut out from God forever.
- Line — the darkness stopped at the border of God's people. There was no twilight then, and there is none now.
- Light — Israel's plain houses shone while Egypt's grand temples went dark. Light depends on God being present, not on the building.
And Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go, serve Jehovah; only, let your flocks and your herds remain; let your little ones also go with you.
After three days of darkness, Pharaoh makes one more offer: go and worship, take the children, but leave the animals with me. So what is Pharaoh trying to keep here, and why will Moses not leave one animal behind?
This offer is the end of a series. Each time the pressure rose, Pharaoh moved his line. One writer traces the retreat step by step:
With what persistence Satan disputed every inch of Israel's way out of the land of Egypt! He first tried to keep them in the land, then to keep them near the land, then to keep part of themselves in the land. Finally, when none of these three worked, he tried to send them out with no ability to serve the Lord. If he could not keep the servants, he would try to keep their ability to serve, which would answer much the same purpose.
The flocks and herds were the people's business. One writer puts Pharaoh's offer in plain modern terms:
That is to say: You may have the children, but leave me the business. For us it suggests this: you and your family may go to heaven, but meanwhile run your business on worldly lines. This is compromise number four. What does Moses say? "Our livestock also must go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind." We are to be for God all round, family and business included. Notice that when they do go, Pharaoh gives up this part too: "Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said."
Pharaoh's bargain splits a person in two: the soul goes, the property stays. God's answer refuses that split:
"Leave your possessions," he says; and how many do leave their possessions! They themselves are saved, but their business, their occupation — these are still not sacred things, they are secular. What have these things to do with the salvation of the soul? But God says, No: bring them all out of Egypt — yourselves, your families, your property — all are kept to be Mine.
Moses will not negotiate, and the reason is not stubbornness. To agree would have been to admit that Pharaoh had a right to something that belonged to God:
The question was one of leaving Egypt to serve the Lord. He therefore not only claimed the people as His, but also all their possessions. For this reason Moses rejected Pharaoh's title to anything. To have done otherwise would have been to admit his authority at once… The words of Moses hold a principle of the first importance: God claims all that we have, and He claims us as well. We must therefore hold everything at His disposal. He gives, and He asks from us… We must not accept the world's claims on what the Lord has given us. Not a hoof must be left behind, or it might be that very hoof the Lord would ask for sacrifice.
Moses gave another reason for refusing: they did not yet know what the service would need.
"We do not know with what we must serve the LORD until we arrive there." In other words, they had no knowledge of God's claim or their responsibility until they had gone "three days' journey." No one could learn these things in the dense and polluted air of Egypt. You must know redemption as an accomplished fact before you can have any true or full sense of responsibility.
This offer comes from a man who wants relief from judgment, not from a changed heart:
Divine judgments do not soften the human heart. Pharaoh called for Moses and said, "Go, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds remain behind." But when Moses rejected these terms, Pharaoh was enraged. He lived in the darkness, and was as dark as it… He would not humble himself. He had piled one godless act on another. He would gladly have spared himself more suffering, but he was set on resisting God's word.
- All, step by step. The enemy first wanted them in the land, then near it, then part of them in it, and last of all without the means to serve.
- All means possessions. The flocks and herds were their livelihood. Pharaoh's offer means: go to heaven, but run your business on worldly lines.
- All means no split. Business and occupation are not a "secular" zone outside God's claim — God says bring them all out.
- All, or you concede a right. Moses refused Pharaoh any claim at all. The hoof left behind might be the very one the Lord would ask for.
- All is learned outside. No one learns what God's service needs while still in Egypt. Redemption must be a settled fact first.
And Moses said, Thou must give also sacrifices and burnt-offerings into our hands, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.
Pharaoh has tried everything else, and now he makes one last offer. The people may go, but their flocks and herds stay behind. Moses refuses. The animals are not goods to trade away; they are the means of sacrifice, and without them Israel has nothing to bring to God.
Pharaoh had already made three other offers. Each time Moses refused, the king came back with a new one.
With what persistence Satan disputed every inch of Israel's way out of the land of Egypt! He first tried to keep them in the land. Then he tried to keep them near the land. Next he tried to keep part of themselves in the land. When none of these three worked, he tried to send them out without any ability to serve the Lord. If he could not keep the servants, he would try to keep their power to serve. That would achieve much the same end. If he could not persuade them to sacrifice in the land, he would send them out of the land without sacrifices.
Moses did not bargain. He answered with God's terms.
As Moses pointed out, this would defeat the whole object of their going out. They would not have the means to sacrifice to the Lord. So he stated God's terms again, as an ultimatum: "Not a hoof shall be left behind." God's purpose was to take His people, and every single thing they had, clean out of Egypt.
Why would a few animals matter so much?
This proposal appears innocent enough. It seems like a small matter of giving up a little property. But Moses' answer reveals how subtle and deadly the offer is... He did not regard the cattle as mere property, or as a food supply, since Israel ate manna in the wilderness. He saw them as the sacrificial means of approach to the Lord, and so did Pharaoh. In fact they were so many pictures of Christ. The enemy wants us to go into the wilderness without Christ. That would be miserable. More than that, it would mean certain destruction.
The same offer still gets made today.
That is to say: You may have the children, but leave me the business. To us it would suggest this — you and your family may go to heaven, but meanwhile run your business on worldly lines. We are to be for God all round, family and business included. It is worth noticing that when they do go, Pharaoh gives up this part too. He says, "Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said."
Moses' refusal rests on something larger than one argument with a king.
The question was one of leaving Egypt to serve the Lord. So God claimed not only the people as His, but all their possessions too. That is why Moses denied Pharaoh any title to anything. To have done otherwise would have meant admitting his authority... The words of Moses hold a principle of the first importance: God claims all that we have, and He claims us as well. Everything must therefore stay at His disposal. He gives, and He demands from us. David showed this well when he provided materials for the temple: "For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you." As God's people we must not take from the world, just as Abraham refused to be made rich by the king of Sodom. And we must not accept the world's claims on what the Lord has given us. Not a hoof must be left behind, or it might be that very hoof the Lord would ask for sacrifice.
Moses' reply ends with an admission: Israel does not yet know how it must serve the Lord until it arrives.
The people of God only get a proper sense of His claims when they take their stand on new ground, in simple childlike faith. That is the ground where death and resurrection have set them. So they had no knowledge of God's claim or of their responsibility until they had gone "three days' journey." No one could learn such things in the dense and polluted air of Egypt. You must know redemption as an accomplished fact before you can have any right or full sense of responsibility.
- Plot. When the enemy cannot keep the people, he goes after their power to serve.
- Purpose. Israel left Egypt to sacrifice. Take away the sacrifices and the journey loses its point.
- Portion. The flocks were not assets. They were the way to draw near to God, and pictures of Christ.
- Possessions. The claim reaches daily life. Family and business both belong to God, and the world keeps not one hoof.
- Perception. No one learns what God will ask while still in Egypt. So everything travels out first, before He asks.
Our cattle also must go with us there shall not a hoof be left behind; for we must take thereof to serve Jehovah our God; and we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah, until we come there.
Plague after plague has worn Pharaoh down. Now he tries one last deal: the people may go and worship, but the flocks and herds stay in Egypt. Moses will not trade a single animal. They cannot yet know what God will ask of them, so a quarrel over cattle becomes a question about who owns a person's whole life.
Pharaoh gave ground step by step, but always kept something back.
The enemy's fourth and last objection is in these words: "And Pharaoh called to Moses and said, Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back; let your little ones also go with you." He would let them go, but without the resources to serve the Lord. If he could not keep them in Egypt, he would send them away crippled and stripped bare.
One writer puts the same offer in modern terms: keep your family for God, but run the business the world's way.
Pharaoh is saying: you may have the children, but leave me the business. To us it would suggest this: you and your family may go to heaven, but in the meantime run your business on worldly lines. This is compromise number four. What does Moses say? "Not a hoof shall be left behind" (Ex. 10:26). We are to be for God all round, family and business included. Notice that when they do go, Pharaoh gives up this point too: "Take also your flocks and your herds, as you have said" (Ex. 12:32).
Israel were shepherds, so the herds were most of what they had. One writer draws out what Pharaoh's demand became in later teaching.
At the very last, Pharaoh tries another compromise. If he cannot prevent their going out, he will at least make them as poor as he can. Their flocks and herds were the main part of all that they owned as a shepherd people. They are therefore a fitting picture of our possessions — of what we have in the world. These must be left, says Pharaoh. This may be the first attempt to state a teaching that has since spread far among the people of God, sadly. It says we should split the "secular" from the "sacred." It says that even if we ourselves must go on pilgrimage, we need not bring all we own out of Egypt, openly acknowledging God's claim to it.
Moses answers on practical ground. One writer shows what Pharaoh's offer would have cost the journey.
At the end of the three days, when the darkness had gone, Pharaoh was again ready to try a compromise. This time it was: let all the men, women and children go, but your flocks and herds must remain. But as Moses pointed out, this would defeat the whole point of going out. They would not have the means to sacrifice to the Lord. He stated God's terms again, as an ultimatum: "not a hoof shall be left behind." God's purpose was to take His people, and every single thing they had, right out of Egypt.
The second half of the verse admits ignorance — they cannot yet tell what God will require. That is exactly why nothing can be surrendered in advance.
The question was one of leaving Egypt to serve the Lord. He therefore claimed not only the people as His, but all their possessions too. So Moses refused Pharaoh any claim at all. To do otherwise would have been to acknowledge his authority… There lies in the words of Moses a principle of the first importance — that God claims all that we have as well as ourselves. So we must hold everything at His disposal. He gives, and He demands from us… Not a hoof must be left behind, or it might be that very hoof the Lord would demand for sacrifice.
Moses ties this knowledge to a place — "until we arrive there." Why could it not be learned in Egypt?
"We do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there." That is, they knew nothing of God's claim or their responsibility until they had gone "three days' journey." No one could learn these things in the thick and polluted air of Egypt. We must know redemption as a settled fact before we can have any right or full sense of responsibility.
- Offer — Pharaoh's last deal was to free the people but keep their wealth. If he could not keep them, he would send them out crippled and stripped bare.
- Refusal — Moses gave up nothing. The flocks stood for everything Israel owned, and Pharaoh's terms were the first draft of splitting life into "sacred" and "secular."
- Reason — the herds were the raw material of sacrifice. Leaving them would have destroyed the whole purpose of going out.
- Reach — God's claim covers what we own as well as who we are. Any hoof left behind might be the very one He would demand.
- Result — we learn what God asks only outside Egypt. Redemption must be a settled fact before we can feel our responsibility.
But Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart stubborn, and he would not let them go.
Egypt has just come through three days of darkness, and Pharaoh offers one last deal: the people may go, but the animals stay. Moses refuses, and this verse puts that refusal in God's hands — so how is Pharaoh to blame?
One writer reads the three days of darkness as God's last appeal. Moses' answer ended the bargaining:
This darkness was God's final appeal to repentance. For three days they stayed shut in, and all business stopped. That awful darkness covered every class: rich and poor, king and beggar, the learned and the ignorant. The suspense must have been frightful. What was to come next? God waited, and in that silence and darkness appealed to their conscience. How slow God is to judge; it is His strange work. In infinite patience He waited before He dealt the final blow to Egypt. Pharaoh made his last objection and compromise in verse 24, but Moses answered, "Not a hoof shall be left behind."
This phrase comes up again and again in these chapters. One commentator refuses to soften it. He traces what follows when a man resists God's testimony:
There is no need at all for anyone to try to avoid the full, plain sense of this most solemn statement. If a man resists the light of divine testimony, he is left with nothing but judicial blindness and hardness of heart. God leaves him to himself, and then Satan comes in and carries him headlong to ruin. There was plenty of light for Pharaoh. It was enough to show him the extravagant folly of his course. He was trying to hold back people God had commanded him to let go. But his heart was really set on acting against God. So God left him to himself, and made him a monument for the display of His glory "through all the earth."
The hardening is not where Pharaoh's story begins. It follows testimony already given and already thrown away:
Unbelief never begins as the result of God's judicial hardening. But let there be no doubt that there is such a thing as hardening. Two mistakes are equally wrong. One says this hardening comes before God gives His first testimony to men. The other denies God's righteous right, as sovereign, to harden a man after he refuses that testimony.
God struck, then lifted the blow. Neither move changed Pharaoh:
Pharaoh hardens his heart in more than one way. He refuses to bow under the plagues. He also keeps on in his course after God answers his cry and lifts the plague. God's severity in sending the plague has no effect on him. Neither does God's goodness in taking it away. Nothing moves a heart set on doing evil.
Exodus does not name just one actor behind the hardening. One writer counted the instances:
To sum up: nine instances attribute the hardening of Pharaoh to the Lord. One more speaks of the Egyptians in general. Four attribute it to Pharaoh himself, and five do not say who did it.
The same writer names other cases of this hardening, and marks what always comes first:
There are five outstanding instances of this solemn hardening on God's part: the Gentile world (Romans 1:28), Pharaoh or Egypt (Exodus 9:12), the kings of Canaan (Joshua 11:20), Israel (Isaiah 6), and Christendom (2 Thessalonians 2). This hardening comes before destruction. But it follows much patience on God's part. It comes only after man's incurable unbelief and stubborn refusal to accept God's testimony.
The refusal did not slow God down. It gave Him room:
Our chapter closes with Pharaoh brushing aside everything that had been said. Here, for the second-to-last time, we read of the Lord hardening his heart. His stubbornness, however, would only give further occasion for God to multiply His wonders in the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh's rage in the next verses threatened Moses with death. The outcome reversed it:
Moses answers him with words of solemn weight: "As you say! I will not see your face again." But it was not Moses who died. It was Pharaoh, a victim of his own folly.
- Light first. God sent plague after plague, then three days of darkness, to appeal to Pharaoh's conscience — all before any word of hardening.
- Refusal next. Neither God's severity in sending the plague nor His goodness in removing it moved a heart set on evil.
- Hardening after. Hardening follows refused testimony — for Pharaoh, and for the other cases Scripture names. It never comes first, and it never creates unbelief.
- Both true. Exodus credits the hardening nine times to the Lord and four times to Pharaoh. God's right to harden and Pharaoh's own guilt both stand.
- Glory last. Pharaoh's stubbornness only multiplied God's wonders. The king who threatened Moses with death died himself.
And Pharaoh said to him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Moses said, Thou hast spoken rightly I will see thy face again no more!
These few words are the last Moses ever speaks to Pharaoh's face. They sound like simple agreement with a threat, but commentators read them as the moment talks end and judgment begins.
Pharaoh had offered to let the people go, but without their animals. One writer explains why Moses refused.
Pharaoh called for Moses and told the Israelites to leave with their wives and their little ones, but they had to leave their flocks and herds behind. Moses could not agree: all must go, not a hoof must be left behind — it was God's redemption.
Older translations render Moses' reply as "You have spoken well." Another writer sees the talks collapse here, and hears in his answer a prediction of who would really die.
Moses would not compromise on this point, and that plainly angered Pharaoh. His heart was still hardened by the Lord, so he broke off all negotiation here. God had presented His ultimatum. Pharaoh rejected it and threatened to kill Moses, who had brought it to him. In reply to that threat Moses spoke as a prophet, and foretold Pharaoh's doom in a veiled way. It was not Moses who was about to die, but first Pharaoh's firstborn and then Pharaoh himself.
Moses had once been hesitant and timid. Now a king promises to kill him if he shows his face again.
Pharaoh had used his royal power harshly and as he pleased, and had no doubt condemned others to death. Now he warns Moses, "…take care never to see my face again, for on the day you see my face you shall die." But Moses is unafraid. His earlier hesitation and timidity are gone. He is in intelligent communion with the mind of God, whose servant he is, and his calm, dignified manner matches the solemnity of the occasion. In Hebrews 11 Moses is named among that famous group of witnesses whose lives gave such convincing proof of the power of faith: "By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible."
The New Testament looks back on this scene as an act of faith. Hebrews 11:27 says Moses "left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king." One writer places that moment here, and applies it to our own day.
Here Moses deliberately leaves Egypt behind. He will work with it patiently no longer; he gives it up to the judgment of God. Pharaoh and his armies were soon drowned in the Red Sea… And today the world is no longer on probation, as though God were working with it to change its attitude. It stands under a definite sentence of judgment that nothing can turn aside. So faith leaves the world behind, and gives it up to the judgment it has earned by its rebellion against God.
Ending the interview did not end the errand. Moses still had one warning to deliver.
Pharaoh had declared that Moses would die if he dared to see his face again. Moses replied, "As you say! I will not see your face again." Then he went on: "Thus says the LORD: About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill."… And then, in great anger, Moses left the king.
The warning about the firstborn is recorded in the next chapter. The same writer suggests how the two scenes fit together.
This is in Ex. 10:29; but in Ex. 11:4-8 it is clear that Moses told Pharaoh of the death of the firstborn, which may have been on the same occasion by a message direct from God.
Pharaoh later sent for the men he had banished. Even then, Moses' words held.
Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. No doubt he did not actually see them (Ex. 10:29), but gave them the urgent message that Israel was to get out of Egypt. This was not only permission given, but a command that would allow no delay.
- Refusal. Pharaoh's last offer held back Israel's flocks. Moses would not bend, so the king ended the talks with a threat of death.
- Rupture. Moses simply agreed. God had given His terms, Pharaoh had rejected them, and nothing was left to discuss.
- Reversal. The threat rebounded. The one who said "you shall die" lost his firstborn, and then his life in the Red Sea.
- Resolve. The man who once hesitated now answers a king without fear, delivers God's final warning, and walks out.
- Renunciation. Hebrews 11:27 calls this faith leaving Egypt. Writers apply it to anyone who stops trying to reform the world and leaves it to God's judgment.