Exo 10:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him:

I don't believe God would have hardened Pharaoh's heart if he would have not previously rebelled against God and made the tasks of children of Israel hard. The Pharaoh before him actually ordered the killing of innocent children. God was justified in all that happened to Egypt. Here is what Paul says regarding this:

Rom 9:17 For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

I'm sure that God would have preferred that Pharaoh to repent and fear God saving not only himself but all of Egypt. The children of Israel would have been allowed to leave and all be peace between the two countries. But as Romans 9:22 says, God endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath. Their sins and lack of willingness to change made them fit for destruction. There are other verses that says to us that God is not willing that any should perish.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

I never believe that God creates some to go to hell and some to enter heaven. That would not make any sense. Our own rebellion against God condemns us. Some of us listen when the word is preached and others of us do not listen.

Those of us who know the truth should continually seek God in prayer for the lost around us and for our loved ones who are not saved. We must not give up on them. God wants to save them. We must not give up and think they must be the ones fitted for destruction. Look at all the changes Pharaoh had to change his mind but he refused.

What happened to Pharaoh is similar to what will happen in the latter days. When people keep rejecting the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ over and over again, their hearts get harder every time. In the days of the future tribulation it will be harder to be saved but not impossible.

Here is verses that explain further why the heart is hardened. This is talking of the future person who is coming to work the works of Satan. He is the beast or anti-christ. Here is the reason many will be deceived.

2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Why are they deceived?

1. They did not receive the love of the truth.
2. They believed not the truth.
3. They had pleasure in unrighteousness.

These did not want the truth, they did not want to repent of sin because they wanted to keep sinning and not have to turn from it. They will continue on in this way until God sends them a spirit of delusion that they might believe a lie.

When we reject Christ, the way of salvation, we open ourselves up to evil spirits that deceive. We may either end up believing a false doctrine or not believing in God at all.

That is how God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Pharaoh knew better but preferred to continue in unbelief.

The main cause of Pharaoh's stubbornness is he didn't want to let Israel go because the Egyptians didn't want to have to do work themselves. They wanted the slaves to do it.

This is why the south didn't want to give up their slaves in the United States. They were so use to slavery to do the hard work that their lifestyles would change dramatically if they let the slaves go.

There comes a time though when we might have to choose to live in poverty rather than receive the riches of this life and lose our souls. Riches in themselves is not bad but if we get them by using other people, taking advantage of others,  or robbing others, it is wrong. Our attitude must never be to advance financially at the cost to making others lose financially. The Egyptians lived well but at the cost of the Israelites living poorly.  That should never be the case. 

Exo 10:2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.

We still hear the story of the Exodus because of all the things that happened here.

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.
Exo 10:4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:
Exo 10:5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:
Exo 10:6 And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

Locusts really make a mess. There is some that even think the sound the locusts make is, "Pharaoh, Pharaoh." The next time they come I plan to listen and see if that is true. I don't know because I never bothered to go outside and listen. They come only after a few years, some say seven, others 17.

Exo 10:7 And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

The rest of the Egyptians were starting to fear this God of Israel but they had to obey Pharaoh.
In situations where the government forbids the observance of the true God, sometimes people have to choose to believe and serve God or fear the king. If they fear the king, their lives may be spared but they lose their souls for eternity. If they fear God and turn to Him in spite of the fear of death, they are really saved and granted life eternal. There are a few countries in the world today that have the death penalty in place for those that convert to Jesus Christ.

Exo 10:8 And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go?

Here Pharaoh tries to ensure that they return and he doesn't lose his economy plan. Compromise never works in the case of God. We may compromise on labor disputes, congressional decisions and other things but we can't compromise the word of God.

Exo 10:9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.
Exo 10:10 And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you.
Exo 10:11 Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.
Exo 10:12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.
Exo 10:13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
Exo 10:14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.
Exo 10:15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh feared letting them go because the economy would suffer but it suffered anyway. Egypt was being destroyed as Pharaoh's servants had warned him.

Exo 10:16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you.
Exo 10:17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me this death only.
Exo 10:18 And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the LORD.
Exo 10:19 And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.
Exo 10:20 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.

Some Christians who struggle with sin after they have been saved from sin are like Pharaoh in a way. One day they repent and the next day they go back into unbelief. These types are emotional Christians and are not rooted and grounded in the word. They have no assurance of salvation and only feel saved at certain times.

This is why the verse by verse teaching of the word of God is necessary along with our praise and worship services. It is vital for these types of emotional roller coaster Christians. The only trouble is that its hard to get the emotional types to sit still long enough to teach them anything.

Exo 10:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
Exo 10:22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
Exo 10:23 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

Just imagine what this must have been like. They couldn't see to cook, change a diaper, or even move. It must have been scary.

Exo 10:24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the LORD; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you.

Again he tries compromise but as Moses said, they needed the flocks to be able to worship God. Before the Messiah came as the ultimate sacrifice for sins, they had to make animal sacrifices continually to point toward the one that was to come.
Without the shedding of innocent blood there is not remission of sins. When sin entered the world it brought a death penalty. Something had to die for sin not to be held against us. The animals are innocent. The sacrifice had to be pure and innocent so that the sin could be laid upon them and they died for sin. Yet the law could not remove the sin. We needed something more powerful. We needed a sacrifice provided by God Himself, a perfect sacrifice. Only God Himself, who sent His own Son was able to provide the sacrifice that would remove the sin of the whole world. However, the sacrifice only counts toward those the believe in the one who came to die for their sins. Jesus Christ.

It may be that old religions that gave themselves over to human sacrifice may have known that one was to come to be the perfect sacrifice as promised to Adam and Eve,  but they decided by the help of the old deceiver, Satan, to try to do it themselves.  They were supposed to offer clean animals only until God Himself provided the perfect sacrifice for sins.  There are many religions in the world today that try to get to God, man's way instead of God's way and it doesn't save anyone.  The Jews had the only religion that waited on God for His promise to send a deliverer.  The trouble is that somehow they were deceived into thinking the deliverer was to deliver them from Roman oppression instead of a deliverance from sin and they missed His coming.  They didn't believe in Him when He did come. 

Exo 10:25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD our God.
Exo 10:26 Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God; and we know not with what we must serve the LORD, until we come thither.
Exo 10:27 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.

I think Pharaoh knew they were not coming back.

Exo 10:28 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.
Exo 10:29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.

As Pharaoh threatened Moses with death if he shows his face to him again, death will come to Pharaoh's own household. We can't get away with threatening those that truly represent God.

Exodus 11