The Pedagogy of Plagues: A Lesson Written in Locusts Text: Exodus 10:1-20
Introduction: God's Severe Mercy
We live in a sentimental age, an age that prefers a grandfatherly god who is endlessly affirming and never severe. Our generation wants a deity who is more of a cosmic therapist than a sovereign King. And when we come to passages like this one, where God deliberately hardens a sinner's heart in order to visit his nation with catastrophic judgment, our modern sensibilities are offended. We want to skip these parts, or explain them away as some kind of primitive, Old Testament caricature that Jesus came to correct.
But this is a profound error. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He does not change. What we see here in Exodus is not divine petulance. It is divine pedagogy. God's judgments are not temper tantrums; they are lessons. He is a Father, and He is teaching His children. Here, the classroom is the nation of Egypt, the textbook is a series of escalating plagues, and the lesson is for the eternal benefit of Israel's children and their grandchildren. God is teaching them, and us, what it means when He says, "I am Yahweh." He is demonstrating His absolute sovereignty over creation, over kings, and over the false gods that men erect in their rebellion.
A God who will not judge evil is not a good God. And a God who does not teach His children the difference between Himself and the world's idols is not a loving Father. This chapter is a divine object lesson in the nature of true worship, the anatomy of false repentance, and the comprehensive claims of God over every area of our lives. We are meant to pay close attention.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants with firmness, that I may set these signs of Mine among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your son and of your grandson, how I dealt severely with the Egyptians, and how I put My signs among them, that you may know that I am Yahweh.” Then Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, 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 territory. And they shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped, what remains for you from the hail, and they will eat every tree which sprouts for you out of the field. Then your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians shall be filled, something which neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day.’ ” And he turned and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Yahweh their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve Yahweh your God! Who are the ones that are going?” And Moses said, “We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for it is a feast of Yahweh for us.” Then he said to them, “Thus may Yahweh be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! See, for evil is on your faces. Not so! Go now, the men among you, and serve Yahweh, for that is what you are seeking.” So they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence. Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land, all that the hail has left remaining.” So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh directed an east wind on the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt; they were very heavy. There had never been so many locusts, nor would there be so many again. For they covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Thus nothing green was left on tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you. So now, please forgive my sin only this once and entreat Yahweh your God, that He would only cause this death to depart from me.” And he went out from Pharaoh and entreated Yahweh. So Yahweh changed the wind to a very strong west wind which took up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea; not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt. But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart with strength, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
(Exodus 10:1-20 LSB)
For the Sake of Your Grandson (v. 1-2)
The passage opens with God revealing His strategy to Moses. And we must pay careful attention to God's stated purpose.
"Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart... that I may set these signs of Mine among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your son and of your grandson... that you may know that I am Yahweh." (Exodus 10:1-2)
God does not harden Pharaoh's heart arbitrarily, or out of some unmotivated malice. He does it for a clear, pedagogical reason. The plagues are not primarily for Pharaoh's benefit; he is a vessel of wrath being fitted for destruction (Rom. 9:22). The primary audience for this grand, terrible display is the covenant community. These events are designed to be stories, sermons in action, that will be told and retold down through the generations of Israel.
This is the foundation of biblical catechesis. We do not teach our children abstract moral principles or vague spiritual platitudes. We teach them the story. We tell them of the mighty acts of God in history. We recount how God dealt severely with the Egyptians, and how He delivered His people with a mighty hand. We tell them how God crushed the serpent's head in Egypt, and how He crushed it definitively at the cross. The goal of this storytelling is both doxological and epistemological: "that you may know that I am Yahweh." All of history is a sermon preached by God, about Himself, for the benefit of His people.
The Terms of Surrender (v. 3-11)
The confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh gets to the heart of the conflict. The central demand is for humility.
"Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?'" (Exodus 10:3)
All sin, at its root, is a refusal to humble ourselves before God. It is the creature telling the Creator that he knows better. Pharaoh, being a consummate politician, attempts to negotiate. His own servants can see the writing on the wall. "Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?" But Pharaoh's pride is blinding. He offers a compromise, a bargain that is still offered to the church to this day.
"Go, serve Yahweh your God! Who are the ones that are going?" Pharaoh wants to set the terms. He is willing to allow a partial, compartmentalized religious expression. "Go now, the men among you, and serve Yahweh." This is the world's perpetual offer to the faithful. You men can have your little religious club. You can have your Sunday morning services and your Bible studies. But the children, the family, the next generation, they belong to the state. The education of the young, the shaping of the future, that belongs to Caesar.
Moses's reply is the only faithful reply, in his day and in ours. "We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for it is a feast of Yahweh for us." Our worship of God is total. It is comprehensive. It involves our families, our work, our wealth, our children, and our grandchildren. There is no part of our lives that can be cordoned off from the Lordship of Christ. When Pharaoh hears this totalizing, non-negotiable claim, he recognizes it for what it is: a rival claim to his own sovereignty. "See, for evil is on your faces." To the tyrant, comprehensive obedience to God always looks like sedition.
The Uncreation of Egypt (v. 12-15)
Because Pharaoh will not humble himself, the judgment comes. God's Word of judgment is as performative as His Word of creation.
"So Moses stretched out his staff... and Yahweh directed an east wind... and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts." (Exodus 10:13)
God is the Lord of the winds and the swarms. This is His army, and it executes His will with terrifying precision. The language here is one of total conquest and de-creation. The locusts "covered the surface of the whole land, so that the land was darkened." They "ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees." The result was absolute: "Thus nothing green was left."
In the beginning, God spoke and brought forth green plants upon the earth. Here, in judgment, He speaks and takes them all away. This is a direct assault on the entire pantheon of Egyptian nature gods, the gods of the harvest and fertility like Osiris. God is demonstrating that He alone gives, and He alone has the right to take away. The land that was built on rebellion and slavery is being systematically returned to a state of formlessness and void, the tohu wa-bohu of Genesis 1. This is a terrifying, tangible picture of the end result of all sin: utter barrenness and darkness.
Anatomy of a False Confession (v. 16-20)
Under the immense pressure of this judgment, Pharaoh appears to break. His confession is a textbook case of what the apostle Paul calls worldly sorrow, which produces death.
"Then Pharaoh hurriedly called for Moses and Aaron, and he said, 'I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you. So now, please forgive my sin only this once and entreat Yahweh your God, that He would only cause this death to depart from me.'" (Exodus 10:16-17)
Pharaoh uses all the right words. He says, "I have sinned." He asks for forgiveness. He acknowledges Yahweh. But his motivation is transparent. He wants relief from the consequences. He is like a man with his hand on a hot stove. He does not hate the stove or his foolish decision to touch it; he simply wants the burning to stop. He calls the plague "this death," and he wants it to depart. He is sorry for the pain, not for the pride that caused it.
This is not the repentance that leads to life. This is the fear of consequences. And we see the proof of it in the final verse. Moses, as a type of Christ, intercedes. God, in His mercy, hears the prayer and removes the judgment. A mighty west wind drives every single locust into the Red Sea. The relief is as total as the plague was. And what is the result?
"But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart with strength, and he did not let the sons of Israel go."
"But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart with strength, and he did not let the sons of Israel go." (Exodus 10:20)
As soon as the painful consequences are removed, the heart that loves its sin returns to its sin. God's mercy, when it is received by an unrepentant heart, only serves to confirm that heart in its rebellion. In a terrifying display of sovereign justice, God gives Pharaoh exactly what his heart truly desires: more rope, more rebellion, and a clearer path to his final destruction.
Who Gets the Children?
The central conflict in this passage boils down to a negotiation over the children. Pharaoh is willing to let the men go, but he wants to keep the next generation. This is the same battle the church faces in every generation, and especially in our own.
The secular state, through its godless education system and its debauched culture, makes the same offer to Christian parents today. "You can have your Sunday services. You can have your private faith. But give us the children Monday through Friday. We will teach them what is true. We will teach them what is good. We will teach them what a human being is for."
The answer of Moses must be our answer. No. We will not compromise. We will not negotiate. Our children, our families, our work, our lives, every part of them, is for the feast of Yahweh. We will not offer a divided worship. We will not leave our children in Egypt to be catechized by the servants of a doomed Pharaoh.
We do this not in our own strength, but in the name of the one who is greater than Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not just confront Pharaoh; He conquered sin, death, and the devil at the cross. Through His blood, we and our children are brought out of the land of bondage, not to a promised land on earth, but to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. And it is a city where no locusts devour and no darkness can ever fall, because the Lamb Himself is its light.