Pharaoh temporarily possessed a knee-knocking fear of God, and therefore was temporarily willing to obey God’s command. However, his fear didn’t translate into a deep respect for God’s love or a desire to know Him.
This is similar to the Israelites, who had a deep respect for God’s love, and a deep fear of His power, so they asked Moses to be their mediator, which is a parallel to Jesus. However, they lost their fear and lost their way. Just like we do...