The Egyptians got nailed by God and the Israelites, let's face it, life completely sucked for them. If only Pharoh would have been wiser, then he could have prevented so many misfortunes from coming to his people. The word says that he hardened his heart, and not just once, but multiple times. Why did he do this? What did that mean? It meant that in his heart he was directly opposed to God, in every way possible. He did this because he was a proud man, after e was the king of all of Egypt, why should he heed anything that anyone said to him, he was the wisest and most powerful in all the land. I actually found it humorous that Pharoh's magicians actually tried to mimic the miracles that God performed. The poor fools never stood a chance in the first place. The rods turning into snakes was actually one of my favorite miracles. I can't believe that so many curses feel on the Egyptians and still Pharoh resfused to let God's people go, you would have thought that he would have learned his lesson after the first few plagues and after all that he had to see his people go through on his behalf. But no, he was a very prideful man, so his people suffered for it. God's wrath was great against the Egyptians indeed, yet He could have done much worse to them. My other favorite plague was the three days of darkness. And even after Pharoh's son was killed he still hesitated to let the Israelites go. One more comment on the plagues. I believe that the magicains believed that they could copy the plagues because their own personal gods would help them, which is understandable, but completely false, sice God is the only god that is real. Finally God moved Pharoh's heart, and the Isrealites were free to go. Yet shortly after their departure, Pharoh's heart hardened again, and he chose to pursue the Israelites which led to death of even more of his people, since God let the Red Sea fall on the Egyptians. If only Pharoh had been more open to God then he would have helped prevent so many burdens and deaths to his people.
I also commented on Rachel's blog, Name Game.
You answered what I was curious about toward the end of my blog: what happened after God hardened Pharoah's heart and led His people out of Egypt. Figures. :P
ReplyDeleteThis is probably a far-fetched idea, especially to someone like Pharoah, but why not befriend God in order to gain His friendship and, thusly, His power? I would think that might be a consideration of someone seeking absolute power: if a greater power exists, then harness that greater power through whatever means possible. It would certainly be better than denying fact, and it would have a greater probability of success.
God would not have gone through with such a thing, but it's at least an idea Pharoah should have considered.