I have raised you up for this very purpose. (Exodus 9:16)Did you notice how the magicians matched Moses miracle for miracle at the beginning? (Okay, I know Aaron's rod/snake ate their snakes.) One thing I'd never thought of before was that even though the magicians could unleash some pretty amazing stuff, once it was out of the box, they couldn't put it back in. Pharaoh pleaded with Moses: Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me.
With the gnext plague (gnats), the magicians tried but couldn't produce. Then with the flies is where things get really interesting. God made a distinction between the Egyptians and the Israelites. From that point on, the plagues were specifically aimed at Pharaoh and his people.
Here's our highlighted verse in its entirety, with God speaking to Pharaoh: But 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.
Do you remember the words of Mordecai to his niece Esther? Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14)
The further my walk takes me, the more I realize the importance of submitting my will to God. Esther and Pharaoh were both raised up by God to save the Jews and to bring him glory in the process. Esther submitted; Pharaoh did not. How would his story be different if he had?
Your thoughts?
"But the Lord hardened Pharoah's heart"....again and again. Did Pharaoh have much choice in all this?...or is this just to show us this is all part of God's plan to save the Israelites and give Glory to the Lord in the process?
ReplyDeleteCraig asks an important question. What about free will? That's a bigger question than we can address in this little comment window, but here are some thoughts:
ReplyDeleteThere are 10 plagues. There are 10 times that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is attributed to God. There are 10 other times where Pharaoh hardened his own heart. In fact, the first 6 times Pharaoh's heart was hardened, it doesn't say anything about God causing it.
I do believe in free will, however I think the only true freedom is walking in submission to the will of God. Once we harden our hearts, how much freedom can we really know?
Surely mine is not the only opinion.
I've wondered about this one occasionally as well, Pharaoh, Judas... people who laid the foundation for their own 'flaw' themselves. To me it appears the "God did this" part of it was merely when he used what they had made themselves into as a tool for his purposes, not that He was *responsible* for them *being* that way. Just one idea. I'm sure there are tomes out there arguing various aspects of this. - Amy
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