About Pharoah's Heart
About Pharoah’s Heart
Exodus 3:19 “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go,
no, not by a mighty hand.20 And
I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do
in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.”
Exodus 4:21 “And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return
into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put
in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the
people go.”
Exodus 8:15” But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened
his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.”
A man cannot harden his heart without
God. Once the thought is entertained and
agreed upon, the will is conceived in the heart. A hardening of the heart is simply a phrase
meaning, “to go against God.” However,
it is God who created the spiritual being.
He takes full responsibility for its mechanism. If the man thinks awful things, garbage will come
out his extremities.
So Pharoah and God worked together to keep
shifting him in reverse. It would sound
that Pharoah was God’s puppet without mercy, but this was not so.
Did not God say He raised Pharoah up for
this very purpose? And what have we to
make of this? Did God predestine him, bearing
with longsuffering an object prepared for destruction, that His glory may be
revealed? Well, God indeed put up with
him. The question being if God
handpicked this guy to be deaf and dumb to His spirit before creation. How about, no.
The picture is a horse born wild. Wild on the frontier. God gave him ample space to run. He championed his following herd as the lead
stallion. In time, his influence grew to
dominate all areas about. The Egyptian kingdom,
won from the Hyksos, expanded to become the greatest in the world at that
time. Because, God let it.
It is God who gives permission. He rules the nations. If one exceeds through physical and military
advantages, it is due to man’s cooperation with God. Even Hitler desired an army. He got one because God let him. Quite often God’s reasons are beyond us. But in the case of Pharoah, God’s purpose was
clear. He wanted to convince the
Egyptians that He was more powerful than their gods. That He was Lord.
So up came dummy. An idiot in the spiritual knowledge category. He didn’t entertain repentance until after
the hail plague. When Moses sounded the “all
clear”, God said Pharoah hardened his own heart.
If a man decides against God, God gives
him the freedom to turn his will.
Thoughts and actions must line up.
God is a God of continuity. The
being must function as created. Pharoah
simply exercised his futile will under an omnipotent God.
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