Locusts & Darkness (Exodus 10)

Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart apart from his free will (Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8; 14:7)? Did Pharaoh’s heart just grow hard (Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35)? Did Pharaoh harden his own heart (Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34)? Did God only harden what Pharaoh had already decided of his own stubborn free will? Let’s look at Exodus 10.

Locusts

Does it sound like God has just about given up on Pharaoh? Sometimes the stubbornness seems to be Pharaoh’s own.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. I’ve made him and his officials stubborn so that I can show them my signs and so that you can tell your children and grandchildren how I overpowered the Egyptians with the signs I did among them. You will know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 10:1-2 CEB)

What message did Moses and Aaron deliver from God to the king?

Moses and Aaron went to the king and told him that the Lord God of the Hebrews had said: How long will you stubbornly refuse to obey? Release my people so they can worship me. Do this by tomorrow, or I will cover your country with so many locusts that you won't be able to see the ground. Most of your crops were ruined by the hailstones, but these locusts will destroy what little is left, including the trees. Your palace, the homes of your officials, and all the other houses in Egypt will overflow with more locusts than have ever been seen in this country. (Exodus 10:3-6a CEV)

Did Pharaoh recall Moses after consulting with his advisors? Did he only allow the men to go?

Then he turned and left Pharaoh’s presence. Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long must this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may worship Yahweh their God. Don’t you realize yet that Egypt is devastated?” So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship Yahweh your God,” Pharaoh said. “But exactly who will be going?” Moses replied, “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds because we must hold Yahweh’s festival.” He said to them, “May Yahweh be with you if I ever let you and your families go! Look out—you are planning evil. No, only the men may go and worship Yahweh, for that is what you have been asking for.” And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence. (Exodus 10:6b-11 HCSB)

What plague did God bring this time? Did anything green remain?

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt. (Exodus 10:12-15 ESV)

Did the same story of Pharaoh’s vacillating repentance play out?

Pharaoh quickly called Moses and Aaron and said, “I’ve sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Now, please forgive my sin only this time, and pray to the Lord your God that he would at least remove this from me.” Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. Then the Lord brought a very strong west wind that took the locusts and drove them into the Reed Sea. Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt. But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn and he would not let the Israelis go. (Exodus 10:16-20 ISV)

Darkness

What punishment did God send this next time around?

And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: 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. (Exodus 10:21-23 KJV)