Exodus 11. Plagues of locusts and darkness.
Part of God's purposes in the plagues in the land of Egypt were to give the children of Israel a history with God so they could tell their children and grandchildren about God's mighty works on their behalf. Verse 2, "and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son's son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord."
Even Pharaoh's servants were getting tired of all of this. Verse 7, "Then Pharaoh's servants said to him, 'How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?'"
Once again after the locusts come, Pharaoh calls "in haste" for Moses and Aaron. He admits he has sinned against God and against Moses and Aaron (verse 16), but it is once again an admittance and not repentance. Verse 20, "But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go."
Then the plagues of darkness comes. Darkness that could "be felt" (verse 21).
Once again Pharaoh tries to get Moses to compromise and not take his flock and herds (verse 24). Once again, Moses doesn't compromise obedience to God's commands (verses 25-26). I love Moses' reasoning, "Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there."
It would surely have been easier to just take the livestock that would be sacrificed into the wilderness instead of taking every animal they owned! The problem was, God hadn't revealed to them yet which animals must be sacrificed. Moses didn't see this an an inconvenience. He saw it as joyful obedience.
