Bible Commentaries

Exodus 10:16

The words "I have sinned" occur nine times in the Bible, and of the nine we may except two. In the seventh chapter of Micah they are the language not of an individual, but of a Church. And the prodigal's use of them is, of course, not matter of fact or history, but only part of a parable. Of the seven that are left, four are utterly hollow and worthless; in God's scale, wanting, unreal, and unprofitable. One of these was Pharaoh's.

I. At what time God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart began, it is impossible exactly to determine. But, from the first, it was judicial. It is a common story. A sin is indulged till the man is given over to his sin, then the sin is made its own punishment. It was no doubt in consequence of this hardness that Pharaoh's repentance was never anything more than one after a worldly sort. If we allow ourselves to go through hardening processes we shall ultimately put repentance out of our power.

II. Pharaoh's "I have sinned" was—(1) A mere hasty impulse. There was no thought in it; no careful dealing with his own soul; no depth. (2) The moving principle was fear. He was agitated: only agitated. Fear is a sign of penitence, but it is doubtful whether there was ever a real repentance that was promoted by fear only. (3) Pharaoh's thoughts were directed too much to man. He never went straight to God, and hence his confession was not thorough.

III. God accepts even the germs of repentance. Even Pharaoh's miserable acknowledgment had its reward. Twice, upon his confession, God stayed His hand. The loving Father welcomed even the approximation to a grace.

J. Vaughan, Sermons, 7th series, p. 71.

Exodus 10:20

I. The simplest and most patient study of that portion of the Book of Exodus which refers to the Egyptian plagues will lead us to this conclusion, that Moses is the witness for a Divine eternal law, and the witness against every kind of king-craft or priest-craft which breaks this law, or substitutes any devices of man's power or wit in place of it. Moses protested against the deceits and impostures of the magicians, precisely because he protested for the living and eternal Lord. It is a special token of honesty and veracity that Moses records the success of the magicians in several of their experiments. We might fairly have discredited the story as partial and unlikely, if there had been no such admission. Even the most flagrant chicanery is not always disappointed, and in nine cases out of ten, fact and fraud are curiously dovetailed into one another. If you will not do homage to the one, you will not detect the other.

II. Do not the words "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" distinctly describe God as the Author of something in man which is pronounced to be utterly wrong? Is He not said to have foreseen Pharaoh's sin, and not only to have foreseen, but to have produced it?

The will of God was an altogether good will, and therefore Pharaoh's will—which was a bad will, a proud self-will—strove against it, and was lashed into fury by meeting with that which was contrary to itself. These words of Scripture are most necessary to us, for the purpose of making us understand the awful contradiction which there may be between the will of a man and the will of his Creator; how that contradiction may be aggravated by what seemed to be means for its cure, and how it may be cured. However hard our hearts may be, the Divine Spirit of grace and discipline can subdue even all things to Himself.

F. D. Maurice, The Patriarchs and Lawgivers of the Old Testament, p. 172.

References: Exodus 10:22, Exodus 10:23.—J. Burns, Sketches of Sermons on Special Occasions, p. 109. Exodus 10:26.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 309, also vol. xxxi., No. 1830; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 476. Exodus 10:27.—R. D. B. Rawnsley, Sermons in Country Churches, 2nd series, p. 316. Exodus 11:1.—Parker, vol. ii., pp. 57, 313. Exodus 11:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 305; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. x., p. 147.