Exodus 8:25-29 "And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me. And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD."
The plague of flies certainly had Pharaoh’s attention. At this point, Moses and Aaron were certainly not among Pharaoh’s favorite people. He understood that he needed Moses to mediate for him with the LORD. Pharaoh still did not recognize God as being the God, but rather only the God of the Hebrews.
Pharaoh tried to strike a compromise with God through Moses and Aaron. He offered them the opportunity to sacrifice (worship) their God in the land of Goshen where they dwelled in Pharaoh’s bondage. This was not according to God’s command. Neither would the Egyptians tolerate them sacrificing sheep. Some scholars think this was due to their worshipping cattle, but whatever the reason, we know that the Egyptians held shepherds in low esteem (Gensis 43:32, 46:34).
Moses presented Pharaoh with reasons that he could understand for their insistence on going three days journey into the wilderness. Moses said if they did this in the land then the Egyptians would rise up against them and stone them. This did not detract from the real reason for Moses’ determination to go into the wilderness. This was God’s command and, therefore, the thing that Moses insisted on.
Seeing that Moses would not be swayed, Pharaoh agreed (again) to let them go and worship “their” God. However, he cautioned Moses not to go one step more than the three day’s journey he had asked for. Pharaoh felt that he needed to appear to have some measure of control over the situation. But he still had to ask Moses to pray for him.
Moses was bold before Pharaoh in this instance. He said to him “Pay attention (Behold).” Moses did not ask Pharaoh if he could leave, but instead told him he was going. He told him he would pray to God to remove the plague of flies. Then Moses gave Pharaoh a warning: “let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more.”
It is human nature to want things our way. We need to feel like we are in control of our lives. Our carnal selves will often try to bargain with God to try and get our way by offering Him less than He commands. However, the man of God knows better. The man of God knows that we need to pay close attention to all that God requires of us. May we be bold in obedience and not deal deceitfully.