Exodus 10:3

Exo 10:3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.

Ver 3. How long wilt thou refuse?] God thinks long of the time that men misspend and waste in wicked courses. {Jer 4:14; Jer 13:27} It is a savoury saying of Bernard, Totum vitae meae tempus perdidi, quia perdite vixi: the time of my looseness I have utterly lost.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo_10:3-6

To-morrow will I bring the locusts.

Humiliation before God

How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me?

I. I shall show our need of humiliation before God.

1. Let us inquire how we have acted toward God. As our Creator, our Governor, our Benefactor.

2. Let us inquire how we have acted toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Was made flesh. Died for us.

3. Let us inquire how we have acted toward the Holy Spirit. Rebelled, vexed, grieved, quenched.

II. I shall show wherein true humiliation consists.

1. In confession of our sin before God. Fully and unreservedly. With deep and ingenuous sorrow.

2. In believing application to God through Christ for pardon of our sin.

3. In renouncing our sins and commencing a course of obedience to God.

III. I shall show the evils of delaying true humiliation before God.

1. The guilt (Rom_2:4-5).

2. The folly. Stronger than He?

3. The danger. Pharaoh. Manasseh.

(1) Repentance is never too late.

(2) Repentance is never too soon. (G. Brooks.)

The delay of soul humility

I. In what does soul-humility consist?

1. It does not consist in mournful verbal utterances, k humble word may conceal a proud spirit.

2. Nor in outward manifestations of repentance.

3. It is rather evinced in calm resignation to the will of God as revealed in His Word, and as made known in the conscience by the Holy Spirit.

II. How is soul-humility to be obtained?

1. By having a clear conception of the will of God and of the beauty of truth.

2. By allowing the varied discipline of life its due effect upon the soul. Pain ought to humble a man, reminding him of his mortality.

3. By submitting to the gentle influences of the Holy Spirit.

III. Why is soul-humility so long delayed?

1. Because men will not give up their sins. Humility is the outcome of purity.

2. Because men will not yield to the claims of God.

3. Because men are rendered proud by exalted social position.

4. Men can give no reason for the delay of soul-humility.

Humility is the richest and best ornament of the soul, and no good excuse can be assigned for neglecting to wear it. This ornament is but seldom seen in this vaunting age. It is welcome to the eye of heaven.

Lessons:

1. Soul-humility should be manifested by man.

2. Gods ministers should enforce it.

3. Gods people should cultivate it.

4. Its absence cannot be excused. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The plague of locusts threatened

I. It was threatened in case that Pharaoh would not give the Israelites the freedom demanded by God (verse 4). The good have in God a stern Defender.

II. That some men are much more sensitive to the threatenings of God than others (verse 7).

III. That Divine threatenings must make ministers faithful in the discharge of their duty (verse 9). Denounce all attempts at moral compromise. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

To-morrow

1. A judgment.

2. A mystery.

3. A crisis.

4. An anxiety.

5. A hope. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

If thou refuse

1. Then man can refuse to obey God.

2. Then man can dare the judgments of God.

3. Then man takes a great responsibility upon himself. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The locusts

1. Very grievous.

2. Darkening the light.

3. Devouring the fruit.

4. Entering the houses. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Good men should leave sinners u, hen they have declared the message of God

1. As a reproof.

2. As a contempt.

3. As a prophecy.

4. As a relief. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Locust-scaring gods

The Egyptians, in common with other nations whose ideas of religion were derived originally from Egypt, had particular deities to whom they appealed for help in times of particular necessity. There is reason to believe that they had gods to whom they looked for protection against locusts as well as against flies and vermin. Strabo, speaking of certain gods whose titles were derived from insignificant objects, says: The inhabitants of Mount Åta worshipped Hercules under the title of Hercules Cornopion, because he had delivered them from locusts. So the Erythraeans, who live near Melius, worship Hercules Ipoctonus, because he destroyed the ipes, or worms, which are destructive to vines: for this pest is found everywhere except in the country of the Erythraeans. The Rhodians have in their island a temple of Apollo Erythibius, so called from erysibe (mildew), which they call erythibe. Among the AEolians in Asia one of their months is called Pornopion, for this name the Boeotians give to parnopes (locusts), and sacrifices are performed to Apollo Pornopion. The locust was esteemed sacred in Greece, and the Athenians wore golden cicadae, or grasshoppers, in their hair, to denote the antiquity of their race, as αὐτόχθονες, of the land itself, or aborigines. Early historians tell us that the Greeks came originally from Egypt; Cecrops, the first king of Attica, was from Sais; Cadmus, from Thebes; and Danaus and Lynceus, with their colonies, from Chemnis. The locust-scarers of Greece and Asia were, therefore, in all probability, gods of the Egyptians in time of Pharaoh, and were put to shame, with the rest of their deities, by this unprecedented and miraculous visitation. Thus the winds from the four corners of heaven obey the command of Jehovah. As far as man is concerned, nothing is more uncertain, nothing more absolutely beyond control: the wind bloweth were it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth (Joh_3:8). But God directeth it under the whole heaven; He calleth it, Awake, O north wind, and come thou south (Son_4:16); He gathereth the wind in His fists (Pro_30:4); He bringeth it out of His treasuries (Psa_135:7). At Gods command the east wind brought the locusts, in twenty-four hours, from the uttermost parts of the east, collecting them, it may be, from the far-off deserts of Arabia and Persia; and at Gods command the west wind carried them away again, as far as the Red Sea. There they all fell down and perished. I am tossed up and down as the locust (Psa_109:23), says David. These creatures were tossed up and down by the wind wherever God would send them. He had used them as His scourge, an instrument of punishment, in which He could have no pleasure; and when their ungrateful task was done, He drowned them in the sea. To those same depths the infatuated king who refused to be warned by the chastisement was presently to follow them, and with his miserable people, in their turn, to perish. (T. S. Millington.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 10:3. How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself? — By this it appears that God’s design was not to harden Pharaoh, but to humble him by these extraordinary judgments. It is justly expected from the greatest of men that they should humble themselves before the great God, and it is at their peril if they refuse to do it. Those that will not humble themselves, God will humble.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_10:3

THE DELAY OF SOUL-HUMILITY

I. In what does soul-humility consist?

1. Soul-humility does not consist in mournful verbal utterances. Pharaoh had given utterance to sad and mournful words. He had spoken in doleful language of his afflictions and of his sin. But he was at the same time far from being humble in soul. His pride was not subdued. Nor was he willing to yield to the demands of heaven. And so we cannot judge the temper of the soul from the utterance of the lips. A humble word may conceal a proud spirit. And it often happens that those who talk the most about humility have the least of it.

2. Soul-humility does not consist in the outward manifestations of repentance. Pharaoh had, to all outward appearance, been a true penitent. But humility of soul does not consist in loud confessions of evil, or in sending for the minister of God in the hour of peril. It is rather evinced in calm resignation to the will of God as revealed in His Word, and as made known in the conscience by the Holy Spirit. True humility of soul is unpretentious. It is modest. It seldom speaks of self. It does not parade its religion. It yields implicitly to the will of heaven.

II. How is soul-humility to be obtained?

1. By having a clear conception of the will of God and of the beauty of truth. Those who see clearly the will of God in reference to their life and being will have a real incentive to humility. They will view the power of God as contrasted with their own weakness; the wisdom of God as contrasted with their own ignorance; and the littleness of their life will indeed beget a proper spirit of humility. And let men get but a clear vision of the unveiled Truth, and they must be humble. A proud soul cannot have beheld the inner glory of truth, or it would pay immediate homage.

2. By allowing the varied discipline of life its due effect upon the soul. If Pharaoh had allowed the sad discipline to which he had been subjected its proper influence upon him, he would indeed have been humble before God. The plagues were sent to humble the proud Monarch. But in vain. And so, the discipline of life is intended and calculated to humble the soul; and if men would reverently submit to it, and co-operate with its holy purpose, they would attain this glorious issue. Pain ought to humble a man. It should remind him of his mortality, and of his return to the dust.

3. By submitting to the gentle influences of the Holy Spirit. A man who has the Divine Spirit within him, will be humble in all his dispositions and activities. Spiritual influences produce humility; they permeate the discipline of life, and render it effective and remedial; they lead the soul to the cross, where humility is the condition of all good. Are we clothed with humility?

III. Why is soul-humility so long delayed?

1. Because men will not give up their sins. Sin as a dominant influence cannot co-exist with true humility. If sin is in the soul humility will be absent. Pharaoh was covetous; he did not wish to give up his profitable slaves. He was self-willed, and did not like to be defeated in any of his national plans. Unless sin is given up, humility will never be put on. Humility is the outcome of purity.

2. Because men will not yield to the claims of God. God has claims upon men. They are unheeded. They are rejected. They are rejected in a spirit of defiance and self-sufficiency. They are the most humble who accept the claims of God and obey them. They give proof of their humility.

3. Because men are rendered proud by exalted social position. Kings are in danger of pride from the fact of their elevated position, and from the servile flattery to which they are exposed. Hence social position may delay the advent of humility to the soul.

4. Men can give no satisfactory reason for the delay of soul-humility. Humility is the richest and best ornament of the soul, and no good excuse can be assigned for neglecting to wear it. This ornament is but seldom seen in this vaunting age. It is welcome to the eye of heaven.

LESSONS:—

1. Soul-humility should be manifested by man.

2. God’s ministers should enforce it.

3. God’s people should cultivate it.

4. Its absence cannot be excused.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Exo_10:3. God’s true servants make no delay in keeping His commandments.

God’s servants use His name in their message, which the wicked make a reproach.

God by His ministers expostulates bitterly with sinners for their delay of humbling themselves under judgments.

God will never cease demanding His Church from the wicked world, till it be freed.

How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself?

1. Till I plague thee more?

2. Till thou are destroyed?

3. Till thou hast no opportunity to do so?

4. Have you not delayed long enough?

5. Can you gain any advantage by delay?

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

The end of affliction is, to humble ourselves with true repentance under the hand of God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 3. How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself] Had it been impossible for Pharaoh, in all the preceding plagues, to have humbled himself and repented can we suppose that God could have addressed him in such language as the preceding? We may rest assured that there was always a time in which he might have relented, and that it was because he hardened his heart at such times that God is said to harden him, i.e., to give him up to his own stubborn and obstinate heart; in consequence of which he refused to let the people go, so that God had a fresh opportunity to work another miracle, for the very gracious purposes mentioned in Ex 10:2. Had Pharaoh relented before, the same gracious ends would have been accomplished by other means.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3–6. The announcement of the plague to Pharaoh.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh,.... As the Lord commanded them, for what is before said to Moses was designed for Aaron also, his prophet and spokesman:

and said unto him, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews; as the ambassadors of the God of Israel, and in his name said:

how long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? to acknowledge his offence, lie low before God, and be subject to his will; he had humbled himself for a moment, but then this did not continue; what God expected of him, and complains of the want of, was such a continued humiliation before him, and such a subjection to him, as would issue in complying with what he had so often demanded of him, and is as follows:

let my people go, that they may serve me; see Exo 9:1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself! The confession recorded in Exo_9:27 had been a distinct act of self-humiliation; but it had been cancelled by subsequent self-assertion (ib. 34, 35). And, moreover, humility of speech was not what God had been for months requiring of Pharaoh, but submission in act. He would not really "humble himself" until he gave the oft- demanded permission to the Israelites, that they might depart from Egypt.

Vers. 3-6. God"s long-suffering towards the wicked has a limit.

long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself?" (ver. 3). "The goodness of God endureth yet daily." His forbearance and long-suffering are wonderful. Yet they have a limit. God will not proceed to judgment

I UNTIL THE SINNER HAS HAD FULL OPPORTUNITY FOR REPENTANCE. Pharaoh had been first warned, (Exo_5:3) then shown a sign; (Exo_7:10-12) after this, punished by seven distinct plagues, each of which was well calculated to strike terror into the soul, and thereby to stir it to repentance. He had been told by his own magicians that one of them, at any rate, could be ascribed to nothing but "the finger of God". (Exo_8:19) He had been impressed, alarmed, humbled so far as to make confession of sin (Exo_9:27) and to promise three several times that he would let the Israelites depart from Egypt. (Exo_8:8, Exo_8:28; Exo_9:28) But all had been of no avail. No sooner was a plague removed at his humble entreaty than he resumed all his old pride and arrogance, retracted his promise, and showed himself as stiff-necked as at the first. The time during which his trim had lasted, and God"s patience endured, must have been more than a year surely ample opportunity!

II UNTIL IT IS MANIFEST THAT THERE IS NO HOPE THAT HE WILL REPENT. "What could have been done more in my vineyard, that I have not done to it?" God asks in Isaiah. (Isa_5:4) And what morecould he have done to turn Pharaoh from his evil ways, that he had not done on this occasion? Exhortations, warnings, miracles, light plagues, heavy plagues, had all been tried, and no real, permanent impression made. The worst of all was, that when some kind of impression was made, no good result ensued. Fear abject, servile, cowardly fear was the dominant feeling aroused; and even this did not last, but disappeared the moment that the plague was removed. Pharaoh was thus constantly "sinning yet more". (Exo_9:34) Instead of improving under the chastening hand of God, he was continually growing worse. His heart was becoming harder. His reformation was more hopeless.

III UNTIL GOD"S PURPOSES IN ALLOWING THE RESISTANCE OF HIS WILL BY THE SINNER ARE ACCOMPLISHED. God intended that through Pharaoh"s resistance to his will, and the final failure of his resistance, his own name should be glorified and "declared throughout all the earth". (Exo_9:16) It required a period of some length a tolerably prolonged contest to rivet the attention both of the Egyptians generally, and of the surrounding nations. After somewhat more than a year this result had been attained. There was, consequently, no need of further delay; and the last three plagues, which followed rapidly the one upon the other, were of the nature of judgments.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? - It is justly expected from the greatest of men, that they humble themselves before the great God, and it is at their peril if they refuse to do it. Those that will not humble themselves, God will humble.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

As Pharaoh had acknowledged, when the previous plague was sent, that Jehovah was righteous (Exo 9:27), his crime was placed still more strongly before him: "How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me?" (לענת for להענת, as in Exo 34:24).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

listen

This word adds emphasis to what is said next. AT: "Pay attention to what I am about to tell you" (See: Imperatives - Other Uses)

translationWords

Aaron

God

Hebrew

humble

people of God

worship

locust

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

לענת Translate as the Targum: TO BE HUMBLED. It is of the same derivation as עני poor, so that the passage signifies, “thou refusest to be poor and lowly before Me”.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND MOSES AND AARON CAME IN UNTO PHARAOH. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra commented: “We know that Moses never came to Pharaoh without being accompanied by Aaron, who was the interpreter. Scripture here makes a point of mentioning Moses and Aaron in order [to make clear] that Pharaoh’s command that both of them be brought again before him and his final act of driving them out, Verse 11. — something he had not done previously — [applied to the two brothers alike].”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.