The Eighth Plague (Exodus 10:1-11)

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh [inside discussion as were plagues 2 and 5 in the second cycle], for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with [and made a fool of] the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.” [God’s interference was for the benefit of future generations that they might know who God really is and how important it was to remain rightly in covenant with him, not just be entertained by stories.]

3 So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? [When people do not acknowledge their position in the created order, they are in rebellion against God and against their very nature as creatures. They must be taught by force who is boss. The Bible teaches that everyone will eventually acknowledge the lordship of God in Isaiah 2:12 and 45:23; Palm 147:6; Zephaniah 3:11-12; Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10; James 4:6, and 1 Peter 5:5.] Let my people go, that they may serve me. 4 For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, 5 and they shall cover the face of the land, so that no one can see the land. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field, 6 and they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants and of all the Egyptians, as neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day they came on earth to this day.’” [This plague, like the last, would be without parallel in Egypt’s history.] Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. [The coming plague is part of a one-two punch to knock out the Egyptian agrarian economy. Moses leaves in a sense symbolically, turning his back on Pharaoh and leaving him to his own downfall.]

7 Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? [What they were saying was that Moses had become a means by which the Egyptians were denied their freedom and trapped in a situation they did not want to be in. The irony is that those who trapped Israel in slavery were now being trapped themselves.] Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. [Pharaoh was ready to let Israelite males leave to worship God. Pharaoh and his advisors were thinking according to the Egyptian style, that women and children need not be involved directly in worship, which was totally different than what God had in mind.] Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?” 8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. And he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But which ones are to go?” 9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” [Nothing less than a complete exodus will do.] 10 But he said [sarcastically] to them, “The Lord be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Look, you have some evil purpose in mind. [In contemporary English: “Yeah, right, if you think I’d ever let you go with everyone, it would be God’s doing, not mine because you have evil in mind.] 11 No! Go, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you are asking.” [Pharaoh will only let the men leave for worship, knowing they will want to return to their families.] And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.