Reading for Week of 10/1/23

Did God harden poor little pharaoh’s heart and then punished him and the entire country of Egypt for it?

NO!

God simply do what we do all the time which is use a known course of action to to accomplish a purpose. For example, a father warned his 12-year-old daughter not to be too friendly with a neighbor boy because he might think she liked him and try to move on that. The daughter responded as though she were 50 years old and knew “all about boys,” so her father needed not be involved. The father decided to let his daughter learn a lesson on her own and not say anymore. Sure enough, six months later, the daughter apologized to her dad as it happened exactly as the father had said. Here we have an example of a father using a very predictable course of action to accomplish the purpose of teacher his daughter a lesson. However, no one would say that the father “hardened” his daughter’s heart. No one would say that the father “caused” the boy to like his daughter. No one would say that the father “engineered” and “manipulated” and “planned” the entire experience. No, the father simply knew what would happen, he predicted what the boy and the girl would choose to do, and used it to teach his daughter a lesson. In the same way, God knew pharaoh would be stubborn and not let Israel go, so He used Pharaoh and Pharaoh’s chosen course of action for His purposes. God knew Pharaoh would sin and harden his own heart (Exodus 9:35). That God did harden Pharaoh’s heart is part of His, again, using Pharaoh’s chosen actions.

We all have a God-given free will. God does not “force people” to do evil. He does not create some people specifically to go to hell as Calvanism says. The use of Calvanists of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart as “proof” that God forces people to do evil and that He creates some to go to hell and that there is nothing those people can do to be saved is completely inaccurate and flies in the face of a holy, loving God who has given free will to people and “not intending any to be lost.” 2 Peter 3:9