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Question 539

Why did God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and refused to let the Israelites to leave Egypt?  

 

Answer to Question 539

On most of the occasions after a plague Pharaoh hardened his own heart, but on a couple of occasions it does say that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh. This would not have been against Pharaoh’s will, he would have hardened his own heart again, but it seems that God allowed him to continue to harden his heart so that the last few plagues could be unleashed bringing God’s full glory into view. 

 

God's main purpose for the plagues was not to persuade Pharaoh; he could have done this in an instance and makes this clear to Pharaoh before he sent the hail thunderstorm. He told Pharaoh that he could stretch forth his hand and wipe out not only Pharaoh but all his people from the face of the earth, but he had been preserved alive so that he could witness the power of God and so that God's fame may resound throughout the world. Thus the plagues were not to persuade Pharaoh. The main purpose was twofold. The first to show Pharaoh, Egypt and all the other gentile nations that the God of the Israelites was the only true God. All the other gods of the Egyptians and other nations were false and in vain and their priests and magicians were helpless against his power.

 

The plagues were not let loose at random; each plague mocked one of more of the Egyptian gods. The Nile turning into blood was an attack on Hapi the god of the Nile; the plague of frogs was an attack on Heket the god of fertility who had a head of a frog; the plague of lice was an attack on Geb the god of the earth; the plague of flies an attack on Khepri the god of creation who was represented with a head of a fly or beetle; the livestock disease was an attack on many gods Hath the goddess of protection, Bat the cow headed goddess, Apis the sacred bull, Buchis and Mneuis also gods of bull cults; the plague of boils again attacked more than one god, Isis the goddess of medicine and peace, Imhotep who was a real person and later worshipped as a physician god and Thoth the god of magic and healing; the hail thunderstorm attacked Nut the sky goddess, the plague of locusts attacked Seth the god of crops; the three day darkness attacked Ra the god of the sun who was also the chief god of the Egyptians and the death of the firstborn attacked Pharaoh himself who was considered a god and his firstborn son would become a god after him. Thus each plague mocked and humiliated the Egyptian deities; the nine plagues destroyed their property, their agriculture, their livestock and their health, but where were the gods they so proudly worshipped to protect them against these destructions? The second purpose for the plagues was to permanently impress upon the Israelites the power of God. Living among the Egyptians, the Israelites had adopted many of their gods as their own and had forgotten the God of their fathers. By God triumphing over the gods of Egypt, a world power at that time, the chosen people of God would be strengthened in their faith and would not be tempted to follow the deities that God put to shame. As a result of their strengthened faith they would manifest God's great power over the Egyptian gods and cause his name to be declared among the nations, so that other people would discuss it for many generations afterwards.