Finally, Pharaoh relents. After three plagues and countless annoyances, Pharaoh agrees to let the nation of Israel perform their sacrifices. The only catch is that they have to do it within Egypt’s borders.
Still, it’s a remarkable development that Pharaoh even relents in the first place. Turning the water to blood couldn’t do it. The frogs couldn’t do it. The gnats couldn’t do it. It took a fly plague to do it.
At first glance, it seems like a reasonable compromise. Instead of wandering off for a “three-days journey” to sacrifice to God, Pharaoh tells them to perform their sacrifices inside the land. It’s convenient for everyone, right?
Moses flatly refuses for two very good reasons.
First, they can’t perform the sacrifices that God is requiring inside Egypt, because the nature of those sacrifices will be offensive to the Egyptians (Exodus 8:26). Many of them involve sacrificing cows, an animal the Egyptians hold sacred. If Israelites started burning them by the hundreds, a civil war would most likely erupt.
Second, Moses says that they must offer sacrifices as God commanded them. No less than total obedience will be acceptable to God, who views sacrifices as secondary to following His will (1 Samuel 15:22).
No, Moses says. Either we leave for our three-journey, or we don’t leave at all.
To his credit, Pharaoh actually relents further, allowing them to go into the wilderness, as long as they don’t wander too far away. He doesn’t want to take his eyes off of them and let his major labor force escape into the void.
This seems agreeable enough, and on the way out, Moses agrees to “make supplication” on behalf of the flies in Egypt. God hears the prayer, removes the plague, and, to absolutely nobody’s surprise, Pharaoh, again, refuses to let the people go.
This is all right in line with the heart of Pharaoh, who constantly changes his mind once the danger is past. But it also reveals his short-sightedness—the belief that he can somehow “manipulate” God into removing the danger while keeping the Israelites hostage.
It’s a dangerous game, and one he will eventually lose in spectacularly tragic fashion.
