Who hardened Pharaoh's heart? (Part 2)

Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and that is why he would not let the people go. Repeatedly, he hardened his own heart even further (see Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 34, 35; 10:20, 27). However, it is also true that “the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (Exodus 9:12; 10:20, 27; 11:10; see also 4:21; 7:3; 10:1). So how are we to understand this? Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Was Pharaoh’s heart hard because the Lord had hardened it? Or did God harden the king’s heart only as a punishment because Pharaoh had first hardened it himself? There are differences of opinion among commentators.

One viewpoint is that God did nothing to make Pharaoh’s heart hard. Those who take this viewpoint, that Pharaoh’s heart was hard because of his own choice, believe that God was actually trying to bring Pharaoh to repentance. The phrase “so that Pharaoh (or the Egyptians) might know that I am God” or a similar thought, appears frequently (Exodus 7:5, 17; 8:10, 19, 22; 9:14, 16, 29; 11:7). The knowledge of God mentioned is more than intellectual knowledge, so the statement is really an evangelistic invitation. The fact that a “mixed multitude” went up out of Egypt (Exodus 12:38) indicates that there were many Egyptians who did believe, and, therefore, the invitation was evangelistic in its outreach.

Another viewpoint is that God did everything to harden Pharaoh’s heart. Advocates of this viewpoint argue that the Bible says nothing explicit about God trying to bring Pharaoh to repentance. The first time anything is said about Pharaoh’s heart, it is God who is speaking to Moses, and He is saying, “I will harden his heart so he will not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21). Since that is the first reference to this hardening, it is probably right to think that Pharaoh’s later hardening of his heart was the result of God’s prior determination. (Of course, God can harden hearts simply by withholding a softening grace, since our hearts are both hard and also harden naturally apart from any direct action by God or anyone else.)

Furthermore, Exodus 9:16 reports a word of God to Pharaoh in which He says: “I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” The apostle Paul quotes this verse in Romans 9:17, concluding, “Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (Romans 9:18). This means that God is sovereign in the matter of salvation and that He owes no one anything.

Whether God intervened in a positive way to harden Pharaoh’s heart or hardened it merely by allowing Pharaoh to harden it himself is beside the point. In fact, the manner in which Exodus mixes verses about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart and Pharaoh hardening his own heart indicates that the question of which came first was not even an issue with the writer. In the final analysis, God determines all things, regardless of what the immediately preceding cause may be. What matters in everything is the glory of God. As Paul shows in Romans 9, God’s power, wrath and justice are glorified in His passing by the unrepentant, just as His grace, mercy, and compassion are exalted in the salvation of those who are being saved. In this case, God glorified His justice, power and wrath in His judgments upon Egypt. He displayed His mercy in His redemption of the Israelites.

A third viewpoint is that God and Pharaoh were both involved in hardening Pharaoh’s heart. Sincere Christians have debated the question of the sovereignty of God and the free will of man for centuries. It would seem that both are involved here. Still providing for the sovereignty of God in hardening Pharaoh’s heart, there is also a circumscribed area of freedom in which Pharaoh was responsible for his own choice to harden his heart. Though God twice predicted what would be the outcome, yet it was Pharaoh who consistently hardened his own heart during the first five plagues, and only then does the text consistently say that during the second five plagues (six through ten), the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart. God’s purpose of revealing Himself and His power can be effected in more than one way. This is not the only instance of God’s using a ruler to show His power and glory to His own people, as well as to the unbelieving world. In addition to Pharaoh, there are other instances in the Old Testament where God displayed His glory by hardening a heart, i.e., Sihon (Deuteronomy 2:30), the Canaanites (Joshua 11:20), Absalom (2 Samuel 17:14), and Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:15). On the other hand, Cyrus, whose position was similar to Pharaoh’s, also gave glory to God, in the fact that he very responsively and willingly let the people of Judah return to their land (2 Chronicles 36:22-Ezra 1:8; 5:13-6:14; and Isaiah 44:28-45:13). Pharaoh also could have been raised up by God to show His power and to proclaim His name in the same way that Cyrus did, but Pharaoh chose to be obstinate. In either case, the purpose that “they might know that I am God” was effected.

Christians believe in only one God. We are not polytheistic as the Egyptians were. But many things can take the place of God in our lives: our reputations, money, pleasure, another person, even an imagined right to use our time and talents as we ourselves see fit. God will not compromise with idolatry. The first of the Ten Commandments says, “You shall have not other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). What things are functioning as gods in your life? Are you willing to repudiate them?

Our false gods do not go by the name of “gods,” but anything that sets itself up against God is an idol and should be opposed by Christians. Godless philosophies, such as extreme nationalism, secularism, humanism, and materialism are idols that must be opposed, just as Moses opposed the false gods and goddesses of Egypt.

Pharaoh wanted to compromise with God once he understood that he was dealing with a power greater than his own. However, God will not compromise. He is sovereign, and those who oppose Him will be broken ultimately as Pharaoh was. Are you fighting against God in some area of your life, obeying when you must but trying to win as many concessions from Him as possible? It is important that you abandon such folly and give yourself wholly to Him who is all wise, all-powerful and wonderfully good.


(The above information is from BSF Notes, BSF International, Lesson 7, “Battle Against the Gods of Egypt – Exodus 6:28-10:29”

Moses and Jesus

“On that same day the LORD [Yahweh] told Moses, "Go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel."
(Deuteronomy 32:48-52)

Moses, as lawgiver, represents the Torah. The biblical law or commandments are sometimes collectively referred to as “the law of Moses.” Moses was a “type” of the Law. Yet, Moses did not make it to the Promised Land. If even Moses (who was the mediator between God and the Israelites), because of one sin he committed, was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, how much less can the average person expect to enter the eternal Promised Land by their own works?

Earlier in his life, Joshua was called, simply, ‘Hoshea’ (Numbers 13:8,16), meaning “salvation.” But later, Moses changed his name to ‘Joshua,’ meaning “The Lord saves” (or, “the Lord gives victory”). This same name (the Greek form of which is Jesus) was given to Mary’s firstborn son (Matthew 1:21).

The Law cannot save us. Joshua (Hebrew: Hoshea, Yeshua or Jeshua; Greek: Jesus) took over and replaced Moses (who symbolizes the Law) to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Just as Moses is an Old Testament type for the Law, so Joshua is an Old Testament type for Jesus (Yeshua). Jesus alone can lead us into the Promised Land.

Only complete trust in the shed blood of Christ can save a person from God’s wrath and bring them into Heaven, the eternal Promised Land.

Leviticus 11: Ancient Israel's Dietary Laws

Before microscopic organisms or germs were discovered, God gave the ancient Israelites dietary laws which not only had spiritual significance, but would also protect them and help them to survive as a nation. These laws preserved the sanctity of Israel as God's holy people. Though the idea of uncleanness typified sin and defilement, it also protected the Israelites from diseases they may have otherwise become the victims of. Remember, all of this was given by God to Moses and Aaron thousands of years before infectious diseases were discovered, or the microscope was invented.

Following are a few examples:

"The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you." (Lev. 11:6)

Tularemia (also known as rabbit fever or deerfly fever) is an infectious disease in ticks and rabbits that is caused by a bacterium (Francisella tularensis). The disease was first described in Japan in 1837. Approximately 150-300 tularemia cases are reported in the United States annually, with a majority of those from Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. The bacteria F. tularensis is a hazard to laboratory staff that work closely with rabbits. Note: as few as 5-10 bacteria can result in disease.
http://www.beaglesunlimited.net/rabbithunting_tularemia.htm


"And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you." (Lev. 11:7-8)

In ages past, pork could cause trichinosis. Modern food preparation techniques help prevent this. Pigs are also host to various parasites. In addition, pork is unhealthy since its even higher in fat than beef. For an explanation of trichinosis, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis


"But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales—whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water—you are to detest." (Lev. 11:10)

Unclean 'fish' such as eels generally contain more parasites than fish with scales. Even today, shellfish often causes food poisoning and enteritis. For example, see: http://www.ifremer.fr/docelec/doc/1992/acte-1595.pdf


"These are the birds you are to detest and not eat because they are detestable: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey..." (Lev. 11:13)

Carnivorous animals readily transmitted infection in a warm climate where flesh decayed rapidly. Vermin and predatory birds were likely disease carriers.

Those kosher laws from God were like an ancient version of our Food and Drug Administration, protecting public health by preventing the consumption of unhealthy foods. Yet, their purpose was also to maintain spiritual purity, and served as another way to separate Israel, God's chosen people, from the idolatrous and pagan nations around them.

Computer points to one author

“After feeding the 20,000 Hebrew words of Genesis into a computer at Technion University in Israel, researchers found many sentences that ended in verbs and numerous words of six characters or more. Because these idiosyncratic patterns appear again and again, says project director Yehuda Radday, it seems likely that a sole author was responsible. Their exhaustive computer analysis conducted in Israel suggested an 82 percent probability that the book has just one author.” (Omni magazine, August 1982)

Is God Real?

In College, I was required to read a book by Freud that had very strong, convincing 'proof' that God does not exist.

After reading that book, for the very first time in my life, I seriously thought that maybe God does not exist after all...that maybe I had been wrong all along. But then I began to think back on the events of my life...and after a few minutes of serious doubt and unbelief, and thinking that maybe my entire life I had believed a lie, that maybe there was no such thing as 'God' after all, I realized that God really does exist. I was totally confident of this because of the things that had occurred in my life.

There have been many, many things in my life that give me complete confidence that God is real. Many of them, however, are things which I cannot adequately describe in words, because they are so beyond the normal human experience. Other things, taken individually, might be dismissed as mere coincidence; however, such things happen so frequently that the excuse of them being 'coincidences' becomes insurmountably inadequate; taken as a whole, they become overwhelming, glaring evidence of God working in my life. Still more things have happened in my life that are so extraordinary, unusual and miraculous that most people would not believe it. Because of all this, I will try to limit my examples to only those things which most people should, hopefully, be able to logically comprehend or relate to, or at least limit my examples to those things which are not as hard to believe as some of my other experiences. Not only that, but to list everything would take many, many pages of writing. Therefore, please realize that the following examples are only the tip of the iceberg.

Let me just preface it by saying that, just as is true with every born-again believer, I have met, and know, God personally (and please, don't ask me the silly question, "Well, then, what does He look like?", because God is spirit, not flesh; so He obviously does not have a physical body), and I, like every regenerated believer, have a personal, intimate relationship with Christ Jesus, God the Son, Who is my Lord and my Savior. I have been made into a new creation...the old is gone. In addition, God the Holy Spirit lives and dwells in me. God lives inside me! Not in the sense of, "Well, God lives in everyone," because that is not true. Not all people, contrary to popular belief, are children of God. You are only a child of God if you have been born again. Everyone is a creation of God (not a direct creation, like Adam and Eve, but a reproduced creation); but not everyone is a child of God.

Anyway, when I was 19 years old, I repented of all my sins, turned to Jesus, and asked Jesus Christ to forgive my wicked, sinful life; I acknowledged that I was a wicked sinner who deserved eternal torment in Hell, because of my evil, selfish, prideful rebellion against God, my Creator, and against His holy Law. I knew that I fully deserved God's wrath. I asked Jesus to come into my life, and to be my Savior and the Lord of my life from now on. I have surrendered my life and my future to Him. The sacrificial blood of Christ Jesus has cleansed me of all my sins, and because of His sacrifice for me, Christ's perfect righteousness has been applied to my account, so that God the Father considers me to be sinless, holy and perfect. Just as, in the Old Testament, where the broken tablets of the Ten Commandments (broken by Moses because of man's sin, showing man's inability to obey God's Law perfectly) were covered over by the Mercy Seat, and the sacrificed animal's blood covered the Mercy Seat, so that, when God the Father looked down at His Law broken by man, He saw the sacrificial blood between the broken Law and Himself. Similarly, when God the Father looks at me, He sees the sacrificial blood of His Son, Christ Jesus the Messiah, the Lamb of God, the King of all Kings, the Lord of all Lords, God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, the "I Am," the Alpha and Omega, the only Intercessor between God the Father and man, the Second Adam, the One Who always was, Who is, and Who is to come...when the Father looks at me, He sees His Son's blood covering over my sins; He sees the perfect, holy, sinless life of Christ Jesus being imputed to my account; He sees me as a holy saint. Being now a clean, holy vessel, the Holy Spirit indwells me, and I became a living temple of God. The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the last time being around 70 A.D. God now dwells within those chosen, predestined individuals who have been regenerated/born again/made righteous and holy in God's eyes.

Years ago I was hiking with a group in North Carolina. For some reason which I don't even now remember, I got really, really, mad...I was EXTREMELY agitated! In fact, I was SO agitated, angry and irritated, that I took my walking stick and, in a fit of immature anger, smashed it in half against a tree. I was the last one in the line of hikers, so, realizing I could not go on with such an attitude, which would ruin everyone else's (and my) day (because, if I continued with that attitude, I knew people would start saying things like, "What's your problem? Why are you acting like such a jerk?"), I dropped to my knees and quietly (yet very sincerely) prayed. A few minutes later, I didn't stand up...instead, I actually LEAPED up with incredible JOY and EXUBERATION! I was extremely EXCITED and incredibly HAPPY---SO happy, that I lifted up my hands to God, rejoicing, and began jumping up and down for joy! I ran...actually, I BOUNCED...jumping up and down in excitement, to catch up to the rest of the group. God had not only taken away my furious anger, but He had replaced it with His joy. My attitude had been INSTANTANEOUSLY changed, to the very opposite extreme..to a RADICAL degree.

Now, I am the type of person that can nurse a grudge, and I tend to let things boil inside of me, until I explode like a volcano. At that point, I become so enraged, that it takes me a long, long time to cool down. (In the years since, God has been working on me to teach me not to be so much like that.) During that hike, when my furious anger was not only instantly erased, but replaced with ecstatic JOY, that was something that only God could do in me, because there was absolutely NO earthly or natural reason for me to not only stop being mad, but become instantly joyful and exuberantly excited.

Another time...and this happened after I had already been saved...I was deeply burdened with guilt over a specific sin that I had committed...this was the most burdened and guilty I had ever been and felt in my entire life. For the first and only time in my life, I seriously began believing (in ignorance) that I had committed the unpardonable sin. I began to consider that, no matter what I did from that point on...even if I asked for forgiveness...I was still going to burn in Hell forever. Everything that I had done and believed in my life didn't matter, because I had now possibly committed a sin that was absolutely unforgivable. I wondered if, no matter what happened, I was now destined for Hell, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I felt like there was a heavy, black cloud of depression and hopelessness over me. I was so upset and distraught over this, that it actually caused me to throw up!

Well, since I had nothing to lose, I knelt down and prayed. Even though I didn't believe I could be forgiven, I begged for forgiveness anyway, pouring my heart and soul out to the Lord Jesus, turning away from my sin and turning to Him for help. I was completely, totally, deeply sincere with God, and it was a true, heartfelt prayer. Suddenly, and instantly, I felt a huge, gigantic, incredibly heavy weight being lifted off of me! The 'dark cloud' which had seemed to cover me, suddenly vanished!

People often use the phrase, "it was like a heavy weight had been lifted off of me," to the point of being over-used, so that it is almost a meaningless phrase anymore. Well, for the first time in my life, that phrase became real to me. I suddenly felt an unearthly peace...not a peace like you feel sitting in a quiet meadow or beside the ocean as you relax...no, something far deeper. I suddenly knew that all was right with my soul. I was confident that nothing could harm me, because I was restored to God, and He was protecting me. Even someone being rescued after being buried for days by an earthquake could not feel such soul-deep peace. I felt like I had gone from Hell to Heaven in an instant...from a sense of the darkest depression, total futility, and complete hopelessness, to a peace and exhilaration, release and comfort, unlike anything else in the world! And this change had occurred in a split-second!

These are merely a couple examples of many, many events that have happened to me which, especially when you add them all up, provide unmistakable, personally-experienced evidence that God is not only real, but that He lives within me, and that He loves me. May each person reading this (if you have not already surrendered your life to Christ Jesus as your Lord, and become a new creation in Him) repent of their sins and ask Christ Jesus, Who is God the Son, to wash away all your sins, and follow Him forever. If you do so, the Holy Spirit, Who is the Comforter and the Teacher, will indwell you, and you will then KNOW He is real, because you will know Him personally and intimately.

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