Exodus 10:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:
2  And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.
3  And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.
4  Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:
5  And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:
6  And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.
7  And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?
8  And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go?
9  And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.
10  And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you.
11  Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12  And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.
13  And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
14  And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
15  For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
16  Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.
17  Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and intreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.
18  And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the LORD.
19  And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.
20  But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.

The Bible tells us that the LORD is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The Bible also tells us that the LORD is merciful:

Nehemiah 9:17  And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.

There were people in Bible times who refused the longsuffering of the LORD. They also refused His mercy. They were the losers. There are still many people today who refuse the longsuffering of the LORD and they also refuse His mercy. They are much like Pharaoh. They set their own terms of what they accept and they expect God to conform to their standards.
The LORD showed Moses that He does not need to conform to man’s standards. Moses needed to be transformed into that person that God designed him to be. Pharaoh refused to submit and he would be broken and destroyed. Pharaoh was the physical head of his nation for a time. Yet he was the biggest fool his nation ever had. He saw first hand, the power of the LORD. He saw that the LORD can destroy everything, and he also saw that God can protect things and people in the midst of His destruction. The Hebrews also saw this same thing. The one, Pharaoh was destroyed while the other, the Hebrews were given further opportunity to be transformed. The difference was in their hearts. God knows the heart of each one. He knows those He can work with and He knows those who have chosen to reject Him.
In verse 1 of our text, the LORD told Moses that He had hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the heart of his servants. Yet Moses was told to go in unto Pharaoh. The LORD was not finished showing His power and glory to those people. He would heap up wrath against Pharaoh and his servants. Life was extremely hard for them, and in the end they perished. Their eternity is gnashing of teeth and weeping. What an absolutely terrible choice they made.
In verse 2 of our text we read that Moses would have something to tell his son and his son’s son. God wants fathers to remind their children of the greatness of the LORD. The world wants our sons to know about cars and football and other frivolous things. What they need to know is the LORD and when that is in Its rightful place, the other things will not take priority.
In verse 3 we read that Moses and Aaron were not tired of listening to the LORD. They were not on a pity party. They were not looking for short term results. They were willing to trust in the LORD even though they were not seeing success at this time.
Once again Moses and Aaron reminded Pharaoh that the Hebrews were the LORD’s people. Pharaoh was asked how long he was going to resist the LORD? The LORD also warned Pharaoh that there was further trouble coming ‘tomorrow’. This time it would be locusts. They would cover the face of the earth. These locusts would come and take over where the hail left off. They would destroy all that was left of the crops.
These locusts would also take over the houses of the Egyptians. They would be stepping on them and they would be all over the place. Just think about what Pharaoh was willing to deal with. He could not win. He could not find a place of refuge because he rejected the God of refuge.
We read in verse 7 that Pharaoh’s servants had a little more insight than he had. They counselled him to finally give up. Pharaoh needed to know that Egypt was destroyed because of his rebellion. Pharaoh listened with half an ear. He called Moses and Aaron back. He wanted to bargain with them. He was not ready to humble himself. He probably reasoned that his compromise was a pretty good thing and the LORD should be happy with that. He would learn further that the LORD does not need to compromise and He does not need to accept man’s twisted logic.
Moses laid down the standard of the LORD and Pharaoh rejected that standard. The result was that the LORD brought the plague of locusts upon the land. The situation in Egypt was dire. The locusts devoured everything in their sight. The trees were stripped bare and the crops were devastated. There was nothing left to harvest.
Pharaoh again reacted in a mocking manner. He pleaded for forgiveness for this one sin. Again, he was not ready to surrender to the LORD. Moses was willing to intercede on behalf of this rebellious king. The LORD was also willing to remove the locusts from the land. It did not make any difference, because the heart of the king was not changed. His heart could not be changed. As we have already noted, he had crossed the line. He made his choice and God was not yet finished with him.
What an awful way to live. You would think that Pharaoh would have given up already. However, we can look beyond Pharaoh and we can see how many others have done exactly like Pharaoh. We have noted how the leaders in our country are no different than Pharaoh. We can see that the majority of the citizens of this country are blindly following the corrupt leadership of our leaders.
It is interesting to me to listen to commentators talk about what is going on and even those who can see failure in our leaders, seem puzzled as to why those people would make such bad decisions. They also assume that they know better and they would deal with things in a better way. They refuse to realize that if the LORD does not build the house, they labour in vain that build it. A life lived without the LORD is not worth living. There will be a lot of noise and a lot of activity, but in the end nothing good will come of it. The only answer is to submit to the will of the LORD and know His peace and blessing.
Pastor Bartel