[XLII. Pharaoh's Refusal]
So Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh and gave him God's message—
"Thus saith the Lord: Israel is My son, even My first-born . . . and I say unto thee, Let My son go that he may serve Me; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy first-born."
Pharaoh was very angry. He did not love the great and holy God who made heaven and earth; but served his own gods made of wood and stone, who could not speak or move.
And he said scornfully, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?"
So Moses did as the Lord had commanded him to do. He told Aaron, his brother, to take the Rod of God, which God had given him to do wonders with, and to cast it down on the ground in front of Pharaoh and his servants.
And when Aaron cast it down, the rod turned into a serpent!
So Pharaoh called his wise men and sorcerers to see what they could do. They were used to playing with snakes, and teaching them tricks; and when they threw down their rods, they also turned into serpents. But such a wonderful thing happened then—Aaron's rod swallowed up all their rods! That was a thing they could not do!
But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not let the Children of Israel go.
So God sent some dreadful plagues on the land of Egypt. He turned all their water into blood; He sent frogs over the land, which came into their houses and got up on to their beds; He sent a great darkness over all the land in the day-time, so that the Egyptians could not find their way about, and many more things which I have not space to tell you.