The Confession of Pharaoh
C. Bradley, M. A. Exodus 9:27-28 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous… I. THE RESEMBLANCE OF THE CONFESSION BEFORE US TO THE LANGUAGE OF TRUE CONTRITION, IS CLOSE. 1. It was open, made not to a partizan or friend in the secrecy of retirement, but to Moses and Aaron in public; to the very man whose presence was likely to fill the sinner with the greatest shame, and to require of him the most mortifying concessions. 2. It was accompanied also with a sense of guilt, and that not confined to one transgression only, but extending to the general conduct of himself and his subjects. 3. It is remarkable too that, like David, he considered his guilt as an offence against God. 4. But this was not all. The confession of Pharaoh included in it an acknowledgment of the justice of God in inflicting these judgments. They were great and heavy, but he does not complain of their severity. He complains only of his own sins, which had so justly drawn them on his head. "The Lord," he says, "is righteous, and I and my people are wicked." 5. There were also some good resolutions connected with the confession of Pharaoh. II. PHARAOH WAS NOT A PENITENT, THOUGH HE BORE SO STRONG A RESEMBLANCE TO ONE. His confession was sincere, but it was not godly. It resembled the language of true repentance, but at the same time it differed essentially from it. 1. In attempting to trace this difference, we may observe that it was a forced confession, extorted from him by the suffering he endured, and the fear of still heavier judgments. The point to be ascertained is not what kind of men we are in affliction or in sickness, in the house of God or in the society of His servants; but what is the frame of our minds when these excitements are withdrawn? What are we in retirement? What are we in our families? What are we in daily intercourse with the world? 2. The confession of Pharaoh differed from true confession in this respect also — it was unaccompanied with humiliation before God. He repeatedly besought Moses and Aaron to entreat for him, but he disdained to bend the knee himself. He trembled at the judgments of the Lord, but though they laid waste his country and cut off his first-born, he still refused to humble himself before Him. This spirit of independence is the bane and curse of our fallen nature. The very essence of our depravity consists in it. We will not have God to reign over us. Judgments can terrify, but they cannot humble us. 3. The confession of Pharaoh was defective also in another respect — it was not succeeded by an entire renunciation of sin. The true penitent does not ask, "How far may I indulge my lusts, and yet be safe? How much love may I have for the world and yet escape condemnation?" but, "What right hand have I yet to cut off? What right eye have I yet to pluck out? What lurking sin still remains to be discovered and overcome?" 4. But even if the confession of Pharaoh had not been defective in these things, there was yet another point of difference between it and a genuine confession, and that a most important and ruinous difference — it was not habitual and lasting. The convictions from which it sprung were as temporary as the judgments which gave rise to them, so that he who feared and trembled one hour, hardened his heart the next. Repentance is not an act, it is a habit; not a duty to be performed once in a man's life, and then to be thought of no more; it is to be our daily work, our hourly employment. III. Such was the confession of Pharaoh. THE LESSONS IT TEACHES ARE OBVIOUS. 1. It shows us, first, the great need we have of self-examination. We may have confessed our sins from our heart; but has that heart been humbled, lowly, obedient? Instead of going about to establish our own righteousness, are we submitting ourselves to the righteousness of God? Are we praying, as well as trembling? 2. This shows us also the extreme depravity of the human heart. We need the transforming power, the effectual working, of the Holy Ghost. We must seek repentance as a gift of mercy at the throne of God. 3. We may see, further, the folly of trusting in convictions. Remorse is not penitence. Conviction is not conversion. Fear is not grace. 4. But while we are reminded of the folly of trusting in convictions, we are at the same time taught the guilt and danger of stifling them. They cannot save the soul, but they are designed to make us feel our need of salvation, and to lead us for it to the great Saviour of the lost. 5. There is yet another lesson to be learned from this subject. It seems indeed, on the first view, to speak to us only of the depravity of man and the awful justice of God, but to what subject of meditation can we turn, which does not remind us of the Divine mercy? A hardened Pharaoh, as well as a weeping Peter, declares to us, that the guilty will never seek pardon in vain. (C. Bradley, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. WEB: Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.