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.

25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God.

26 Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an 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.

I wonder how the darkness must have affected the people psychologically. Speaking for myself, it sounds like a period of intense loneliness and despair. To all of a sudden have my sight cut off, and to have no one to help me because they are all just as blind as me, and to be unable to tell day from night, or do any work, in many ways I am sure this would break me.

It comes as little surprise then that Pharaoh sounded quite humbled in this conversation. His choice of words were much more subdued than before. There was no more melodramatic confession of sin, no vain promises, no begging for the Lord’s mercy. In as few words as possible he simply told Moses to go into the wilderness.

And yet…even in this moment Pharaoh was still holding something back. Previously Pharaoh said he would let the Israelites go if they left behind their women, children, and flocks. Now he allowed for the women and children, but he was still trying to restrict their flocks.

As with every time before, Moses neither tried to haggle or compromise. In no uncertain terms he reiterated that all of their flocks must come with them: “there shall not an hoof be left behind,” and that was that. In almost every other relationship in life we try to meet one another somewhere in the middle. But with God, we either meet His terms fully and completely or we accept the consequences that follow.