Exodus 8:32

And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also,.... As he did before, when he found the plague was removed, and the flies were gone: neither would he let the people go; through pride and

And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.

Exodus 8:32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.Ver. 32. And Pharaoh hardened.] All blows and pressures were so far from mollifying him, that he hardened and emmarbled more and more.

(32) Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also.—Comp, Exodus 8:15. Again, it is after being impressed, and partially relenting, that Pharaoh hardens his own heart.

Verse 32. Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also] See Exodus 8:15. This hardening was the mere effect of his self-determining obstinacy. He preferred his gain to the will and command of Jehovah, and God made his obstinacy the means of showing forth his own power and providence in a supereminent degree. 1. As every false religion proves there is a true one, as a copy, however marred or imperfect, shows there was an original from which it was taken, so false miracles prove that there were genuine miracles, and that God chooses at particular times, for the most important purposes, to invert the established order of nature, and thus prove his omnipotence and universal agency. That the miracles wrought at this time were real we have the fullest proof. The waters, for instance, were not turned into blood in appearance merely, but were really thus changed. Hence the people could not drink of them; and as blood in a very short time, when exposed to the air, becomes putrid, so did the bloody waters; therefore all the fish that were in the river died. 2. No human power or ingenuity could produce such frogs as annoyed the land of Egypt. This also was a real, not an imaginary, plague. Innumerable multitudes of these animals were produced for the purpose; and the heaps of their dead carcasses, which putrefied and infected the land, at once demonstrated the reality of the miracle. 3. The lice both on man and beast through the whole land, and the innumerable swarms of flies, gave such proofs of their reality as to put the truth of these miracles out of question for ever. It was necessary that this point should be fully proved, that both the Egyptians and Israelites might see the finger of God in these awful works. 4. To superficial observers only do "Moses and the magicians appear to be nearly matched." The power of God was shown in producing and removing the plagues. In certain cases the magicians imitated the production of a plague, but they had no power to remove any. They could not seem to remove the bloody colour, nor the putrescency from the waters through which the fish were destroyed, though they could imitate the colour itself; they could not remove the frogs, the lice, or swarms of flies, though they could imitate the former and latter; they could by dexterity of hand or diabolic influence produce serpents, but they could not bring one forward that could swallow up the rod of Aaron. In every respect they fall infinitely short of the power and wonderful energy evidenced in the miracles of Moses and Aaron. The opposition therefore of those men served only as a foil to set off the excellence of that power by which these messengers of God acted. 5. The courage, constancy, and faith of Moses are worthy of the most serious consideration.

32. hardened his heart] Heb. made his heart heavy, i.e. stubborn, as v. 15a. See on Exodus 7:13.