1. Belief in God, He called Him the Lord your God. He spoke of Him as of a stranger. Now, it is impossible that any person or child can love the Lord until he feels himself reconciled to Him by faith, until he can call Him the Lord my God.

2. Pharaoh had humbled himself before men, rather than before God.

3. He besought the prayers of others, instead of praying for himself.

4. He asked the forgiveness of the servants of God, instead of seeking pardon from God Himself. If he had said, like David, "I acknowledge my sin unto the Lord," he might have added like him, "And Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."

5. Pharaoh did not concern himself about the salvation of his soul. He intreated, not that he might be delivered from sin, but only that "this death" should be taken away from him; he did not think of eternity, but only of the plague under which he was suffering.

6. Lastly, remark that the king still cherished secret designs in his heart; his submission was not unreserved. We have begun as it were to repent; but as long as we are not willing to renounce all, to follow Jesus, our repentance is of no avail. Pharaoh said, "Go ye, serve the Lord, only let your flocks and herds be stayed." His heart was not yet submissive, thus his repentance was vain.

(Prof. Gaussen.)

     6021   sin, nature of
     6632   conviction

Exodus 10:13-23

     1416   miracles, nature of

A Poor Man's Cry, and what came of It
On this occasion I want to speak of what happens to those who do return to God; because many have newly been brought, through mighty grace. Some of them I have seen; and I have rejoiced over them with exceeding great joy. They tell me that they did distinctly lay hold on eternal life last Sabbath day; and they are clear about what it means. They came out of darkness into his marvellous light; they knew it, and could not resist the impulse at once to tell those with whom they sat in the pews, that …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture.
"He hath hardened their heart."-- John xii. 40. The Scripture teaches positively that the hardening and "darkening of their foolish heart" is a divine, intentional act. This is plainly evident from God's charge to Moses concerning the king of Egypt: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not harken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Exposition of Chap. Iii. (ii. 28-32. )
Ver. 1. "And it shall come to pass, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." The communication of the Spirit of God was the constant prerogative of the Covenant-people. Indeed, the very idea of such a people necessarily requires it. For the Spirit of God is the only inward bond betwixt Him and that which is created; a Covenant-people, therefore, without such an inward …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament