Exodus 10 Devotional

No Terms for Surrender

“So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.”Exodus 10:3 (BSB)

God puts a question to Pharaoh in this chapter: how long will he refuse to humble himself (10:3)? But Pharaoh keeps negotiating. First only the men may go (10:11). Then locusts strip every green thing from the land (10:15), and darkness covers Egypt for three days while the Israelites have light in their homes (10:22-23). Now Pharaoh offers more: the children may go, but the flocks must stay (10:24). Moses refuses to leave a single animal behind, because Israel does not yet know what the LORD will require in worship (10:26).

Pharaoh wanted to give up as little as possible and keep the rest on his own terms. God does not bargain over his people or over the worship he is owed. He also tells Moses why the signs are happening, so that Israel will tell their children and grandchildren what the LORD did (10:1-2). Since he rescues the whole person, nothing in your life needs to be left behind in Egypt.

To think about: What part of your life have you been trying to keep back from God, and what would it mean to bring it along?