And Pharaoh sent, and called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time Jehovah is the righteous [one], but I and my people are the wicked [ones].
The thunder and hail have crushed Egypt, and Pharaoh sends for Moses and Aaron to admit that he has sinned. His words are true, yet the chapter ends with him as hard as ever — which raises the question of what a confession is worth.
Every word Pharaoh said was true. What was missing was intent:
This terrible blow so alarmed Pharaoh that he called for Moses and Aaron (v. 27). He told them, "This time I have sinned," and admitted that the Lord is righteous and that he and his people are wicked. He need not have said this at all, though it was true. But he should have meant it when he promised to let Israel go if God stopped the plague (v. 28).
The confession came wrapped in a bargain, and Moses saw through it:
The blow was so terrible that it frightened Pharaoh. As verse 27 shows, he was ready to make some confession of wrongdoing, and to promise to let the people go, if only this dreadful scourge would stop. Moses, however, was not deceived by this fresh profession of repentance and piety.
Pharaoh is not an ignorant man who needs information. He states his own guilt and keeps going:
So the wickedness of Pharaoh is brought to light. He sees and admits his guilt, and yet keeps on in his evil course — his open hostility to the Lord. Despite his confession, as soon as the Lord answered Moses' plea, he went back to his hardened ways.
Two lists run through Scripture, and the same sentence stands at the head of both:
Many people in Scripture take the place of saying, "I have sinned." It is very striking that not all of them get cleansing. David (2 Samuel 12:13), Nehemiah (Nehemiah 9:33), Job (Job 40:4; 42:6), Isaiah (Isaiah 6:5; 64:6), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:7, 20), Daniel (Daniel 9:5), Micah (Micah 7:9), the prodigal son (Luke 15:21), and the thief on the cross (Luke 23:41) all took the place of sinners. They all got cleansing or blessing. But look at Pharaoh (Exodus 9:27; 10:16), Balaam (Numbers 22:34), Achan (Joshua 7:20), Saul (1 Samuel 15:24; 26:21), Shimei (2 Samuel 19:20), and Judas (Matthew 27:4). These all confess they have sinned, yet they perish… There was no hatred of the sin. There was no desire to turn from it and give it up.
Take one name from each list, and the difference shows:
Others have said the same, but to no purpose. God reads the heart, and He knows a person's motive. Pharaoh could say, "This time I have sinned" (Ex. 9:27), when the thunder and hail alarmed him and he wanted them gone. Yet he had not repented. He sinned still more and hardened his heart once the mighty thunderings had stopped. He confessed the same a second time, when the locusts had destroyed every plant the hail had spared. But his only aim was to get rid of that plague (Ex. 10:16-17)… David's case was very different. He was not thinking of his standing before other people, or how to save it. He saw and confessed what his guilt was before God.
The test is not the admission but what happens to the sin afterwards:
Pharaoh is the classic example of the sinner who defies God, yet is quite ready to act humble if that helps him escape the punishment he deserves. We must remember this word: "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain 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.
Pharaoh's heart grew harder not only under the blow but under the relief he begged for:
When each blow stops, it shows that God is willing to withdraw His hand from judgment, and that judgment is strange work to Him. Pharaoh hardens his heart not only by refusing to bow under the plagues. He hardens it by keeping on in his course after God answered his cry and lifted the plague. So neither God's severity in sending the plague, nor His goodness in lifting it, has any effect on a man whose heart is set on doing evil.
- Alarm. The storm frightened Pharaoh into speech; the confession came out of the hail, not out of his heart.
- Accurate. Every word he said was true, which is why true words alone prove nothing about a man's heart.
- Motive. He wanted the thunder stopped, not his sin dealt with — and Moses was not deceived.
- Test. The line runs between confessing and forsaking. The same three words brought David and the thief blessing, but left Pharaoh, Saul and Judas where they were.
- Aftermath. When the relief came, the heart hardened again — so neither God's blow nor God's kindness moves a will fixed on evil.
Intreat Jehovah that it may be enough, that there be no more thunder of God and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer!
Hail and fire have broken Egypt, and Pharaoh begs Moses and Aaron to stop the storm — offering again the release he has already promised and taken back. It sounds like surrender, but can a man admit his sin, call God righteous, and stay unchanged?
The thunder Pharaoh wanted silenced has a name in the Hebrew text.
The terrible hail came with fire (lightning) that ran along the ground, and with thunder. Hebrew calls these "the voices of God." The storm is a picture of God's wrath in judgment. Revelation mentions hail again and again, calling it "the plague of hail" (Rev. 8:7, 11:19, 16:21). The plagues of Egypt will come again on this earth during the great tribulation. Pharaoh used the name "Jehovah" and the name of God (Elohim). "Plead with Jehovah that there be no more voices of God" (literal rendering). What a desperately wicked thing the human heart is. He sinned more after this than before.
Pharaoh said the right words. God still read his heart.
Others have said the same thing, yet to no purpose; for God reads the heart, and He knows the motive of the creature. Pharaoh could say, "I have sinned this time" (Ex. 9:27). He was alarmed by the thunder and hail and wanted them removed. Yet he had not repented: once the mighty thunderings had stopped, he sinned still more and hardened his heart.
Nobody made Pharaoh say any of this.
This terrible affliction alarmed Pharaoh so much that he called for Moses and Aaron (v. 27). He told them, "I have sinned this time," and admitted that the Lord is righteous and that he and his people are wicked. He need not have said this at all, though it was true. But he should have meant it when he promised to let Israel go if the plague stopped (v. 28).
Writers describe the same split in the man: guilt openly owned, and the course of life unchanged.
He even confessed that he had sinned, and that the Lord was righteous, and once more promised that he would let the people go, provided there might be no more mighty thunderings and hail. (Ex. 9:27-28.) The iniquity of Pharaoh is thus brought to light. He sees and admits his guilt, and yet keeps on in his evil course — his open opposition to the Lord.
The request "plead with the LORD" was granted, though the man making it had already been told he would not keep his word.
Moses, however, was not deceived by this fresh show of repentance and piety. He told him plainly that he knew he would not keep his promise. Yet he went out as an intercessor and spread his hands out to the Lord, and the plague stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Both in its coming and in its stopping it proved itself to be an act of God.
Why would God answer a plea He knows is hollow?
It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there is even the slightest turning of heart to Him, He is ready to hear — even though He knows the turning is not real. That is a striking testimony that He does not want the sinner to die.
Pharaoh's cry was aimed at the hail, not at his heart.
I appeal to experience. Does a person who looks back at his own mind not know that he came to an inward state of hatred of sin, self-judgment and confession of sins, with humbling and self-loathing? In a word, was repentance not produced in his soul? It may have come through the terrors of the law, with fear and dread; yet, if real, it always came with some drawing to God as good, some love of holiness, some sense of responsibility in grace whatever the terror. For mere terror of consequences is not repentance at all.
Relief is the real test, and not for Pharaoh only.
When sober, man has to admit that God's judgment on him is just. But that does not make him love God. On the contrary, it hardens his heart... And when relief comes, if the patience of God has prolonged the day of salvation, it only finds the sinner's heart harder and further from God. "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil." (Ecc. 8:11.)
- Voices. Hebrew calls the thunder "the voices of God." Pharaoh asked for God's voice to stop.
- Confession. Every word he said was true. But God reads the heart, and fear is not repentance.
- Bargain. Nobody asked Pharaoh for this promise. He offered it himself, so he should have meant it.
- Answer. Moses prayed for him anyway, and God heard. He does not want the sinner to die.
- Relief. The storm stopped, and that was the real test. A heart that only feared punishment came out harder than the hail found it.