Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD." 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? Let my people go, that they may serve me. For if you refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country, 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, 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.'" Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?" 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?" 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." But he said 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. No! Go, the men among you, and serve the LORD, for that is what you are asking." And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
Exodus 10:1-11
One would have thought that with the mounting intensity of the judgments upon him, Pharaoh would have learned by this time the folly of pitting himself against the will of the Lord. But there is something essentially irrational about the course of sin which makes a man act against all reason. This is brought into even greater relief by the attitude of the king's servants (7). They at least could see the disastrous effects of Pharaoh’s obstinate and implacable resistance to the will of the Lord. But he was prepared to let Egypt be destroyed, and himself also, rather than capitulate. It is at this point that we see just how much of hell there is in the human heart that has set itself against God. The evil of the pit has always the seeds of self-destruction within it. But Pharaoh makes a gesture and proposes a further compromise. The men of Israel may go to make sacrifice, but their families and their flocks must remain in Egypt (10, 11). Moses, however, will have none of this; no partial exodus could be of any avail, either to God or to Israel. It was to be a complete deliverance. Nor does Moses argue or plead with Pharaoh, but sternly announces what will happen if he continues to resist. The hour-glass of Pharaoh’s life is fast running out.