1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have 1hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.”
3 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, `How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. 4 `For if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. 5 `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 is left to you from the hail–and they will eat every tree which sprouts for you out of the field. 6 `Then your houses shall be filled and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians, 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. 7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed?” 8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the LORD your God! Who are the ones that are going?” 9 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 we must hold a feast to the LORD.” 10 Then he said to them, “Thus may the LORD be with you, if ever I let you and your little ones go! Take heed, for evil is in your mind. 11 “Not so! Go now, the men among you, and serve the LORD, for that is what you desire.” So they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
Pharaoh was trying to bargain with God again, and strike a compromise. God doesn’t do compromise, and He doesn’t want us to compromise either. The results of Pharaoh’s attempted bargain will not take long to show up. Likewise, when we compromise, the results can be disastrous.