We usually think of the Pharaoh who held the Israelites in
bondage in Egypt as a bad guy (not that I’m going to argue he’s good…) It seems odd that he would be shown all these
signs and plagues, and once each one is over, he refuses to let the children of
Israel go, after saying he would. Why did he keep
hardening his heart?
I think it might be useful to think about what factors might
have contributed to his hard heart because they may show us factors that cause us to harden our hearts.
One factor that easily comes to mind is that the Pharaoh saw
that once the Israelites were gone, a very profitable source of cheap labor
would be gone too. It would be logical to his self-interest and the interest of
his kingdom that he would try to prevent that. He would try to intimidate or
jolly Moses along in hopes of not losing control of Israelite labor. Lesson: Loss of material advantages can often
prevent us from responding to the Lord’s call if we value the advantage over
obedience.
A second factor that might not be so obvious is that God’s
actions may have run contrary to Pharaoh’s notions of how a god acts. Pharaoh
has his gods, Moses has his God. This conflict could be seen as a cosmic battle
between Pharaoh’s gods and Moses’ God. What is Pharaoh going to think of a God
that says, “Let my people go”? He’s
going to think Israel’s God is weak. (“A god that asks permission for his
people to leave? Right. Make me!”) However, in the whole story, we see a God that allows people their
agency—even hostile rulers—and lets them make decisions to respond to His
requests or commands…or not. And with
the plagues that steadily increase in severity, we see that God is
long-suffering, willing to wait for people to make the right choice, but
ultimately, He can’t be frustrated and He can’t be toyed with.
Another thing we notice about Pharaoh is that when the
crisis of a plague is upon him, suddenly he sees the necessity of letting
Israel go, or requesting Moses to stop the plague, but as soon as the plague
has stopped, he reneges and doesn’t follow through. Once the pain is gone, all
thoughts of changing or acting as promised stop. There’s a nice lesson from
this—when we’re going through a crisis, it is easy to make all kinds of
resolutions that we’re going to change once things get back to normal, but when
conditions improve, it is really easy to say, “Oh, I don’t need to do that
after all; I’m okay now.” This is the same way Pharaoh hardened his heart.
Let’s review the plagues and see in what ways Pharaoh tries
to put Moses off.
1) Moses’ first request is polite, with no plague. Pharaoh,
in response, gets tough and makes the Israelite tasks harder by depriving them
of ready straw for making bricks while not diminishing their quota they have to
provide. In effect, he rewards good with evil, so the Lord has to get tougher.
Ever after, Pharaoh can’t do anything to punish the Israelites because of the
crisis of plagues. Lesson: Sometimes we
might consider spiritual impressions to change to be some sort of internal
rebellion in ourselves or lack of discipline against a comfortable or tolerable
status quo, so we tighten the screws and double down on what we’re doing
instead of listening.
2) Then there is the miracle of the rods turning to snakes,
the water of the river turning to blood, and the frogs. But because Pharaoh’s
magicians seem to be able to do the same, Pharaoh hardens his heart. He still
things his gods are just as powerful as Israel’s god. We don’t hear anything
about the river and waters being healed; we only hear of the request to send
away the frogs. (But you can notice that Pharaoh doesn’t actually say he’ll let
the Israelites go once the frogs are gone.)
Lesson: Sometimes we refuse to listen to spiritual impressions or signs
we need to change or act because we think they are coincidences or something
caused by others.
3) Then there is the plague of lice, which the magicians can’t
duplicate, so they tell Pharaoh it is Israel’s God at work. Still, Pharaoh
hardens his heart, and we don’t see him asking for that to be removed, so maybe
he thought it was a small enough problem that everyone could just deal with it.
4) Next comes the plague of flies, and Pharaoh tries to
dictate the terms by which the Israelites will act. Moses’ request from the
beginning has been that the Israelites be allowed to go out into the wilderness
to sacrifice to God (and then not be expected to return.) The Pharaoh says at
this point, “Oh, sure you can sacrifice, but do it here in Egypt.” Moses says, “No,
we can’t do that, since our sacrifice is abomination to the Egyptians; they
will stone us.” (see Ex. 8:26) and he says the Israelites must go at least
three days journey into the wilderness. Pharaoh says “That’s fine; just don’t
go very far. And pray for me.” So Moses prays for the flies to go away, which
they do, and again Pharaoh hardens his heart.
Pharaoh’s problem here was that he thought that if the intent
of letting the Israelites go was sacrifice, then they should be able to do that
anywhere. So why not Egypt? He forgot that the Egyptians did not approve of
sacrifice, so requiring that would create a hostile, unbelieving environment
for what should be a sacred, believing rite.
Lesson: Sometimes we try to dictate the terms of our obedience to the
Lord. We try to choose the time and place that is most convenient, when
sometimes those very inconveniences we try to ignore are what contribute to the
sacredness of the experience.
5) Then there is the plague on the Egyptian cattle, and the
boils on man and beast, but Pharaoh’s heart is still hardened. And he doesn’t
seem to ask for any reprieve from these. He must have felt that was another
thing people could just handle. Lesson: Sometimes we think we can deal with a
problem instead of fixing it as we’re prompted to, and it just causes pain for
everybody.
6) Then there is the hail, which is mixed with fire. (This
may be ball lightning, which still hasn’t been studied much.) It so happens
that the Egyptians who believed Moses could save their cattle and servants by
bringing them into the house, but apparently Pharaoh didn’t care enough. Still,
he asks Moses to stop the hail. Here he tries confession. “I have sinned this
time: the LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.” (Ex. 9:27) He promises
to let the Israelites go afterward, but when the Lord stops the hail, Pharaoh
hardens his heart again. So his confession was fake. You can also see that
because he says, “I have sinned this
time” (emphasis added). He doesn’t admit that his previous refusals to let them
go are also sins. Lesson: Confessing a sin doesn’t do any good unless there is
a commitment to act differently and follow-through.
7) The next one is an interesting case. Moses tells Pharaoh
that there will be a plague of locusts if the Israelites aren’t let go. Pharaoh
responds by telling them that only the men can go (see Ex 10:8-11) and then
kicks Moses out so he can’t protest. Pharaoh is trying to hold the Israelite
families hostage to ensure the return of the men. Also, he is trying to stop
the conversation there so that there is no time for Moses to protest and
announce the plague. I notice his servants figuring it out; they know Egypt is
in trouble, but Pharaoh doesn’t realize it or refuses to see it. Lesson: Censoring the Lord’s messenger doesn’t
mean you’re off the hook. Also, sometimes it becomes obvious to others around
us that we are ignoring the Lord and on the wrong track, while we flail around
trying to avoid the inevitable.
Anyway, Moses is in a tricky spot here. Do they take what
Pharaoh offers, or do they stick to their guns? The Lord tells Moses to stretch
out his hand over Egypt and bring the locusts. And they come. Lesson: Partial obedience doesn’t fool the
Lord. He knows when full obedience is being held back.
After the locusts come, Pharaoh says, “I have sinned against
the LORD your God and against you. Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin
only this once, and entreat the LORD your God, that he may take away from me
this death only.” (Ex. 10:16-17)
Interesting that now Pharaoh admits he sinned against the
Lord and against Moses. He has to up
his contrition rhetoric to try to get Moses to believe him. (We only see this
is rhetoric in hindsight, though, in the moment it could have been sincere, so
he has to be believed.) But there are things he says which make us question his
sincerity, especially since he says, “Forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this
once.” Even though Pharaoh has seen the Lord remove FIVE plagues, he has this
idea that he only has to repent once and then everything will be okay after
that. (What? Does he think no more plagues are possible and he’s seen the
worst?) He doesn’t realize the principle that believers know-- all of us keep
transgressing in ways we hadn’t anticipated, so we continue to need repentance.
Also there’s another principle that Pharaoh depended upon, but which we
sometimes forget (to our torment)—the Lord continues pardon as often as we repent.
If the Lord removed plagues at Pharaoh’s request (knowing how hard-hearted
Pharaoh was), how much more merciful will He be our complete sincerity and
humility? So much more.
The Lord removes the locusts. But then Pharaoh hardens his
heart again.
8) The next plague, Moses brings without going to Pharaoh. It
is three days of darkness. This time Pharaoh says he will let the Israelites
go, but they must leave their cattle in Egypt. He’s still trying to keep
hostages, still only trying to get by with 2/3rds obedience. But since the effect of leaving the cattle
means the Israelites would have to go back to Egypt to keep them or stay in the
wilderness impoverished, Pharaoh’s agreement is actually not obedience at all,
just a complete sham. Lesson: Hypocrisy doesn’t cut it with the Lord either.
Moses holds the line—everyone and everything they own is
going with them. Pharaoh does not agree to that and says the next time Moses
sees him, Moses will die.
So it has come to threats. Pharaoh seems to think that Moses
is the problem and if Moses is gotten rid of, then everything will be okay. The
problem is, this has just raised the stakes. Those who dig a pit for others
will fall into said pit themselves. So, the Egyptians get the plague of the
death of the firstborn. Lesson: Getting rid of the leader who transmits the
commands of the Lord does not let you off the hook of following those commands.
Let’s sum up what we’ve learned, in a more organized
fashion.
Sometimes we have troubles accepting messages from God
because:
·
It forces us to sacrifice material advantages
·
It runs counter to our notions of what we think
God would tell us.
·
We think it is just self-generated or foolish
dissatisfaction.
·
We think it is coincidence or easily duplicated by
others.
·
Or we think we can deal with the pain instead of
changing.
Once it becomes clear the message really is from God, we
still might drag our feet in the following ways:
·
The end of a crisis causes our urgency to fade
and our motivation to drop.
·
We might confess our sins of disobedience, but
still not change.
·
We might think we can get away with a show of
obedience while not actually obeying.
·
We might think we can dictate the terms of the
obedience, choosing what’s most convenient.
·
Or we might think that partial obedience is acceptable.
·
We might shorten, edit, re-interpret away the
message.
·
Or (the unthinkable) threaten the messenger.
I bet these types of reasons look pretty familiar. But if we
recognize ourselves here, recognizing there’s a problem is the first step to
fixing it.
What I keep coming back to in this story is how long-suffering
and merciful the Lord was with Pharaoh and how that means we can absolutely
count on the mercy of the Lord if we repent sincerely and obey completely.
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