It's easy to become accustomed to the simple version of the narrative - Moses' cry of 'LET MY PEOPLE GO', an obstinate old Pharaoh - widely popularised and turned into gospel music, then into a Hineni chant?!
When Israel was in Egypt's land
Let my people go
Oppress'd so hard they could not stand
Let my people go
Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt's land
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go
But it's a little more complicated than that.
(And no, this isn't that excellent d'var about Pharaoh's hard heart - this is about the glossed, nuanced negotiation that doesn't humanise Pharaoh - in fact, it emphasises his intractibility. Not through the way he says no, but the way he says yes!)
וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו ה' אֱלֹקֵ֤י הָעִבְרִים֙ שְׁלָחַ֤נִי אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־עַמִּ֔י וְיַֽעַבְדֻ֖נִי בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר וְהִנֵּ֥ה לֹא־שָׁמַ֖עְתָּ עַד־כֹּֽה׃
And say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let My people go that they may worship Me in the wilderness.” But you have paid no heed until now.
[Post-snake, no formal miracles]
(כא) וַיִּקְרָ֣א פַרְעֹ֔ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֖ה וּֽלְאַהֲרֹ֑ן וַיֹּ֗אמֶר לְכ֛וּ זִבְח֥וּ לֵאלֹֽקֵיכֶ֖ם בָּאָֽרֶץ׃ (כב) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֗ה לֹ֤א נָכוֹן֙ לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת כֵּ֔ן כִּ֚י תּוֹעֲבַ֣ת מִצְרַ֔יִם נִזְבַּ֖ח לַה' אֱלֹקֵ֑ינוּ הֵ֣ן נִזְבַּ֞ח אֶת־תּוֹעֲבַ֥ת מִצְרַ֛יִם לְעֵינֵיהֶ֖ם וְלֹ֥א יִסְקְלֻֽנוּ׃ (כג) דֶּ֚רֶךְ שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֔ים נֵלֵ֖ךְ בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר וְזָבַ֙חְנוּ֙ לַֽה' אֱלֹקֵ֔ינוּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר יֹאמַ֥ר אֵלֵֽינוּ׃ (כד) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר פַּרְעֹ֗ה אָנֹכִ֞י אֲשַׁלַּ֤ח אֶתְכֶם֙ וּזְבַחְתֶּ֞ם לַה' אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר רַ֛ק הַרְחֵ֥ק לֹא־תַרְחִ֖יקוּ לָלֶ֑כֶת הַעְתִּ֖ירוּ בַּעֲדִֽי׃
[Post blood, frog, lice and wild animals]
(21) Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go and sacrifice to your God within the land.”
(22) But Moses replied, “It would not be right to do this, for what we sacrifice to our God ה' is untouchable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice that which is untouchable to the Egyptians before their very eyes, will they not stone us!
(23) So we must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to ה' as our God may command us.”
(24) Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to your God ה' in the wilderness; but do not go very far. Plead, then, for me.”
וַיּוּשַׁ֞ב אֶת־מֹשֶׁ֤ה וְאֶֽת־אַהֲרֹן֙ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֔ם לְכ֥וּ עִבְד֖וּ אֶת־ה' אֱלֹקֵיכֶ֑ם מִ֥י וָמִ֖י הַהֹלְכִֽים׃ וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה בִּנְעָרֵ֥ינוּ וּבִזְקֵנֵ֖ינוּ נֵלֵ֑ךְ בְּבָנֵ֨ינוּ וּבִבְנוֹתֵ֜נוּ בְּצֹאנֵ֤נוּ וּבִבְקָרֵ֙נוּ֙ נֵלֵ֔ךְ כִּ֥י חַג־ה' לָֽנוּ׃
[As above, now featuring pestilence, boils, hail-fire, locusts...]
So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh and he said to them, “Go, worship the LORD your God! Who are the ones to go?” Moses replied, “We will all go, young and old: we will go with our sons and daughters, our flocks and herds; for we must observe the LORD’s festival.”
[Post-darkness - showing the severity of this plague]
Pharaoh then summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD! Only your flocks and your herds shall be left behind; even your children may go with you.” But Moses said, “You yourself must provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer up to the LORD our God; our own livestock, too, shall go along with us—not a hoof shall remain behind: for we must select from it for the worship of the LORD our God; and we shall not know with what we are to worship the LORD until we arrive there.”
ONLY LET YOUR FLOCKS AND YOUR HERDS BE STAYED. Since the Israelites were keepers of cattle, and all their wealth and belongings consisted of cattle, Pharaoh thought that they would not leave all their possessions and flee from the country. Even if they were to flee, he would be left with their great wealth, as they were very rich in cattle.
גם טפכם, also your children. It is somewhat strange that Pharaoh mentioned first who could not go before conceding that the children could accompany their parents. Perhaps Pharaoh was clever enough to first spell out the conditions under which permission would be granted for the Israelites to leave [The author presumably refers to the halachah that unless the condition is mentioned first and not as an afterthought it is not binding. Ed.]. According to the above we may understand the verse as Pharaoh saying: "go and serve the Lord as you have said, i.e. the men and not the children; if you fulfil the following condition namely that your livestock stays in Egypt, I am even prepared to let you take your children along. If you do not agree to this condition I do not revoke my permission, but then only your menfolk may go because they are the ones who perform the religious rites you spoke about." Perhaps the Gentiles generally consider that any condition in a commercial transaction has to precede the main part of an agreement and not merely appear as a codicil.
With regard to matters that do not involve monetary claims, anyone who makes a condition counter to that which is written in the Torah, his condition is void. And any condition that is preceded by an action, i.e., the agreement is formulated with the promise of an action followed by a statement that this action will be carried out only under certain terms, the condition is void and the promise remains intact. The condition must be stated before the action. And with regard to any condition that one can ultimately fulfill, but he stipulated with him initially, i.e., in practice the action is performed first, followed by the fulfillment of the condition, nevertheless, because it was formulated in the proper manner, with the condition first, his condition is valid. If the condition cannot be fulfilled at all, once the action has been carried out the condition is void.
Moses said to them, “If every shock-fighter among the Gadites and the Reubenites crosses the Jordan with you to do battle, at the instance of ה', and the land is subdued before you, you shall give them the land of Gilead as a holding.
Even the second paragraph of the Shema is like this...does secular law agree?
'If the aim is to avoid a condition that hasn't been considered, there are other mechanisms. Don’t quote me on this, but when you sign a contract [in Australia] - normally there will be a clause called the entire agreement clause. Nothing you relied on before or after the contract is part of the contract if it is not written down in what you have just signed. If you want to change it, variations have to be in writing and signed by both parties - and if the contract isn’t possible, it’s frustrated. And this isn’t legal advice, and I love you but do your own research.'
- Friendly Anonymous Lawyer
(The 1938 Ottawa Citizen, May 31, 1938)
[Immediate reply to the above]
Pharaoh said to him, “Be gone from me! Take care not to see me again, for the moment you look upon my face you shall die.” And Moses replied, “You have spoken rightly. I shall never see your face again!”
והנה לא הקשה ה' את לבו לעשות כן אלא עד כלות ט' מכות ולא נשארה אלא מכת בכורות, ולזה אמר משה כן דברת לא אוסיף עוד
Since Moses was aware that there was only one plague to follow and that G'd would not need to harden the heart of Pharaoh again in order to have an excuse to inflict further plagues upon him, he was able to respond immediately: כן דברת לא אוסיף עוד ראות פניך, "you are quite right; I am not going to see you again, ever."
He summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go, worship the LORD as you said! Take also your flocks and your herds, as you said, and begone! And may you bring a blessing upon me also!”