Who petrified Pharaoh's heart?

Reading 18 - Ten Plagues
(Click here to read Exodus 6:28 - 11:10)


Have you managed to read all this? It's definitely one of the longer - if not the longest - of the Essential 100 readings. But it wouldn't really make much sense if you missed any of the plagues out, would it?


This is another great Bible story, which provides both comedy and tragedy. At the centre of the story are two people in confrontation. Both have a lot to lose. If Moses fails to extricate the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, his mission will have failed and God will be dishonoured. If Pharaoh relents, he will have lost a very valuable economic asset.


It's worth trying to see the situation from Pharaoh's point of view. He has a lot to lose if his suspicions of a mass, um... exodus are correct. Initially at least, his people were behind him, concerned at the growing power of this minority group of immigrants. If he failed, his authority could be questioned. Not only that, but the honour of Egypt's gods was at stake: were they to be thought less powerful than the God of the Israelites?


These factors might have justified Pharaoh's initial response to Moses and Aaron's request, and his later offer to allow the menfolk to go into the desert to worship God could be interpreted as a concession. But the Bible has a different explanation: Pharaoh had a hard heart: it was 'unyielding' (7:14). After each of the first five (and the seventh) plagues the Bible reminds us of this. Despite all the indications of God's power and authority, Pharaoh refuses to acknowledge Him and change his ways.


As even his officials begin to doubt his hard line strategy, though, the reason given for Pharaoh's intransigence changes: after plagues 6, 8, 9, and 10 it is the Lord that hardens his heart. How can we interpret this? Does God make certain people obdurate when it suits his purposes? I don't think so. Despite all the signs that should have convinced Pharaoh of the error of his ways, (and the advice of his officials, 9:20) he refuses to change and so God accepts this situation and it is in that sense that he hardens Pharaoh's heart.


Many of us have hardened hearts: hearts that fail to respond to God's call to love and serve others, no matter who they are. Pray that your heart will remain open and malleable to His grace. 

"Who am I....?"

Reading 17 - The Burning Bush
(Click here to read Exodus 3:1 - 4:17)


This passage is about identity: the identity of God and the identity of Moses.


Moses had been brought up in the Egyptian court, but we are given no clues to his understanding of the Israelites' God. It might be assumed that Jethro, the 'priest of Midian' had inculcated some knowledge of the Lord, but we are not told. In this passage, God goes to great lengths to identify himself to Moses: three times he tells him that he is "the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob", (verses 5, 15, 16).


But this doesn't seem to be enough for Moses; he wants to know God's actual name - who is this God who is calling him to lead a people that he has, so far, had little to do with and who have no knowledge of him?


Names in ancient culture meant much more than a convenient label. They signified something about the nature, personality and authority of the person. To know someone's name gave you some authority over them. [See Genesis 32:27 and Mark 5:9] In my experience of working with children, being able to address a child directly by his or her name gives an added sense of authority and control and makes it (marginally) more likely that they will listen!


Astonishingly, God grants Moses' impertinent request and reveals his name as 'I AM' - a profoundly simple but infinitely rich statement.


In verse 11, Moses asks, "Who am I?" and receives the answer "I will be with you." This really means "I AM will be with you". Moses' identity is not to be found in who he is, but in the God in whose name he speaks - it is God who makes Moses what he is. When he goes to lead the Israelites and to represent them before Pharaoh, he isn't to speak as a clever politician or a seasoned military leader with a proven track record, but as the one whom 'I AM' has sent, entirely dependent on Him for his authority and power.


The Bible is full of stories of people who seemed inadequate and not the best choice for key roles, and yet God chose them to do great things so that it might be to His glory and not theirs. Moses certainly doesn't get carried away with the honour God is bestowing: four times he tries to wriggle out of the responsibility he is being given, so much so that even God gets angry (4:14)!


Our God has revealed not just his name but his character and personality vividly in the life of Jesus, our Saviour and Redeemer. And he stills calls people like Moses to to great things, with the promise that "I AM will be with you".


What is he calling us to do in his name and in his power?

Coincidence, or God-incidence?

Reading 16 - Birth of Moses
(Click here to read Exodus 1:1 - 2:25)


Do you believe in coincidence, seredipity? Most of us regularly (although perhaps not often), experience situations when we recognise happy (or unhappy) convergence of factors that we might not have expected. An unexpected call from a friend we'd just been thinking about, perhaps, or a sudden urge to check something just before it caused a problem.


As believers in an all-seeing, all-powerful God, we must ask ourselves how many of these seemingly random coincidences are, in fact, ordained by the Lord. It would be a little naive to attribute every one to Him, but He might have a hand in rather more than we are accustomed to think.


The story of Moses early life is full of such coincidences. Kept out of the hands of the Egyptians for three months, cast on to the waters of the Nile in a paper basket, discovered by a princess, nurtured by his own mother, educated at the court of the Pharoah. At each point of his early life there was the potential for catastrophe, yet he survived. Not only that, he received a schooling in Egyptian culture and politics that was unique among his fellow Israelites and was an ideal preparation for his later confrontations with the Pharoah.


His intemperate murder of an Egyptian and it becoming common knowledge forced him to flee from Egypt into Midian, something he would never have done by choice. Then he stops at a well just as a group of women are being harried by other shepherds, so that he is able to help them. Their father, Reuel, whose name means 'Friend of God' is the local priest and Moses becomes part of his family. We cannot say how much Moses learnt from Reuel (also named Jethro), but it seems likely that he was strongly influenced by this priest during the many years he was with him.


Was this all just coincidence? Or does it show the hand of God?


Were the events which shaped (and continue to shape) our own lives just the result of random chance, or are they inspired and directed by God? If so, how does that make us feel?


Moses certainly wouldn't have chosen to be exiled in Midian, but it was there in the desert that God worked on him, moulding his character so that he could become a great leader of his people. Not that Moses realised it at the time, of course, as we shall see next week...

The end of the story - reconciliation

Reading 15 - Joseph reveals his identity
(Click here to read Genesis 45:1 - 46:7)


Finally, we come to the 'happy ending' we've been waiting for so long!


The evidence of Judah's changed character (it was Judah that suggested selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites in the first place, [37:26]) causes Joseph to cry out and weep loudly as he reveals who he is. At this point we might expect the brothers to breath huge sighs of relief, but they are terrified. Whether this was because they thought it was another trick by this very odd Egyptian, or because they were acutely aware of Joseph's power and the possibility that he might use it to exact revenge for his enslavement, we don't know.


Joseph seeks to reassure them, and goes so far as to claim (rightly) that this whole episode has all been part of God's plan (although he doesn't explain why he didn't just get Jacob and his sons back to Egypt after the first visit).


In a 'fairy-tale' ending, Joseph is reunited with his half-brothers and his brother Benjamin, and in true Hollywood style, they go back to Canaan and Jacob laden down with gifts and the assurance of safety and protection. Joseph even tells them to leave all their 'stuff' behind, because 'the best of Egypt will be yours'.


Characteristically Jacob, who has previously declared himself at death's door, makes a rapid recovery and climbs aboard the charabanc to Egypt where, initially at least, his clan enjoys great favour and riches.


We often use the phrase 'God moves in a mysterious way' when we spot the resolution of an issue through unexpected means, but this is, perhaps, to limit God's powers. God is moving all the time to ensure his purposes are fulfilled. Whether we recognise his hand or not, or simply put it down to a coincidence, or 'good fortune', we can be sure that He is at work. He doesn't stop if we aren't paying attention, for which we should be immensely grateful!