Beginning of the End

Pharaoh at Last Relents

All Egypt trembled under the divine judgment. Pharaoh quickly sent for the two brothers: “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” BOE 130.3

Moses knew that the struggle was not over. Pharaoh’s confessions and promises were not the result of any radical change in his mind but were forced from him by terror and anguish. Moses promised, however, to grant his request, because he wanted to give him no reason for further stubbornness. The prophet went out, ignoring the fury of the storm, and Pharaoh and all his attendants were witnesses to the power of Jehovah to preserve His messenger. Moses “spread out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth.” But no sooner had the king recovered from his fears than his heart returned to its rebellion. BOE 130.4

Then the Lord set out to give unmistakable evidence of the difference He placed between Israel and the Egyptians. He would cause all nations to know that the Hebrews were under the protection of the God of heaven. Moses warned the monarch that a plague of locusts would be sent, which would cover the earth and eat up every green thing that remained. They would fill the houses, even the palace itself. He said that this would be a disaster such as “neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day.” BOE 130.5

The counselors of Pharaoh were horrified. The nation had suffered great loss in the death of the cattle. Many of the people had been killed by the hail. The forests were broken down and the crops destroyed. The Egyptians were quickly losing all that they had gained by the work of the Hebrews. The whole land was threatened with starvation. Princes and officials crowded around the king and demanded, “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 know that Egypt is destroyed?” BOE 131.1

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron again and said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?” BOE 131.2