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Could the Pharaoh have done any different?

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Lupac:
Hello. I've been talking with someone, who is a very big believer in "free-will". He stated that he "firmly believes that Pharaoh could have at any time chosen to repent and come to God, and God wouldn't have done anything else to him, but would have accepted him and his repentance."

I tried to tell him differently, but he said something that had me thinking. He said the phrase "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" means that "the idea of Israel's God hardened Pharaoh's heart", and not that God took an active role in hardening his heart. I really don't care to talk to this person anymore, he won't listen, but this question is for me. Do we have proof that God actively hardened the Pharaoh's heart? And that the Pharaoh had no choice in the matter? Thanks. (I'm reading Ray's paper on "free-will" for about the third time, there's so much in it.)

Kat:

Hi Lupac,

Yes there is proof.

Exo 10:20  But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart...

Exo 10:27  But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart...

Exo 11:10  ...and the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart..

There it is, plainly stated in the Scripture. Either you believe what the Scripture says, are you don't.

mercy, peace and love
Kat

Ninny:
Bryant, I have 3 different versions and in each translation
Exo 11:10 Hence Moses and Aaron did all these miracles before Pharaoh. And Yahweh made the heart of Pharaoh steadfast, so that he did not dismiss the sons of Israel from his land. CLV
Exo 11:10 So then, Moses and Aaron, did all these wonders before Pharaoh, - but Yahweh let Pharaoh's heart wax bold, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land. Rotherham's
"...and the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land." Same verse KJV
This tells me that either God DID the hardening of Pharaoh's heart or God allowed the natural tendencies of his heart to go in it's course...as seems to be the case in Rotherham's BUT in any case...Pharaoh was on a course set by God and NO...I don't think he could have changed his mind...God was using the Pharaoh to put the Children of Israel on the course HE was directing...you just have to accept the fact that God is God and HE does according to His OWN will! He directs all of our lives in just this way..there are choices we can make, God is not a micro manager, but the general course of life is set by God! Pharaoh was choosing to go against God, but guess what? IT WAS GOD'S PLAN!!! God used Pharaoh's OWN natural tendencies toward his children and then took it out of Pharaoh's control!  This may just be my opinion, so maybe someone more knowledgeable can help you better!
Kathy ;)   

Marky Mark:
http://bible-truths.com/lake15.html

The Lake of Fire - Part 15

Installment XV - Part A

The Myth of Free-Will Exposed



DID PHARAOH HAVE FREE WILL?

We will now look at some of the most profound and yet most misunderstood and not believed Scriptures in the entire Bible.

"For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Rom. 9:15).

Just who is in control in this statement, puny man or God? Man’s will is not free to contradict what God says He WILL DO.

"So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but OF GOD that shows mercy" (Ver. 16).

What puny man "wills" has absolutely nothing to do with what God WILL DO.

"For the Scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show My powers in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore has He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens" (Vers. 17-18).

Pharaoh did not harden his own heart—God said that He hardened it.

Remember I said that God has a stated will as a goal and an active will in the plan or process of obtaining His stated will? Right here we can see this principle in action:

God states His will:
 
"Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go…" (Ex. 9:1).
 
There is God’s stated will—He wants Pharaoh to "Let my people go…" But does God expect or even want His "will be done on earth" at the time that He declares it? Obviously not. In fact, it is God Himself, Who prevents Pharaoh from doing God’s stated will of letting His people go. Notice it:
 
"And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken unto Moses" (Ver. 12).
Most Christians just plain refuse to believe these very simple Scriptures. Yet the ramifications of these Scriptural truths are enormous. Notice what God did with Pharaoh:

First God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh to "to let My people go." And Pharaoh would have let the Hebrews go. Sure he would, had not God Himself intervened. Why would Pharaoh let them go? Because Pharaoh’s heart was both soft and weak. A soft and weak heart was no match for God. Pharaoh would have caved in and let His people go. But God did not want Pharaoh to let His people go. He asked Pharaoh to let His people go, but He didn’t want Pharaoh to let them go this easily.

Next God has to do something in order to prevent Pharaoh from letting His people go. God actually wants Pharaoh to go against His stated will. God’s stated will is "let My people go," but God doesn’t want Pharaoh to do God’s stated will at this time. He wants Pharaoh to resist God.

God has not changed, God still wants mankind to resist Him. But Pharaoh (just like the rest of humanity) is too weak and soft to resist God. So what does God do? Two things:

"And I will harden [Heb: qashah—to make hard] Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth Mine armies, and My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth Mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them"

After God hardens Pharaoh’s heart [makes it harder than it was], and Pharaoh resists God’s will and refuses to let the Hebrews go, God then puts greater and greater plagues upon Egypt until even hard-hearted Pharaoh gives in and lets the people go. But notice what God does after this.

"For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden [Heb: chazaq—to make strong and courageous] Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so" (Ex. 14:3-4).
Pharaoh was naturally too soft of heart to resist letting the Hebrews go, and so God hardened his soft heart so that he would resist and would not let the people go until God first made a great display of His strength to the Egyptians. And after Pharaoh did let the people go, God wanted Pharaoh to try and follow after them and kill them. But this time we find that Pharaoh’s heart was too weak. And so again, God strengthens and gives courage to Pharaoh’s weak heart, and Pharaoh charges after Israel only to be totally defeated by God in the Red Sea.

Well, there it is. How hard is that to understand? But who will believe it? From Pharaoh’s birth until his death, God had a purpose for Pharaoh’s life, and God controlled every aspect of it. Pharaoh had not "free will" in any of these events. God changes not; He operates the same way in everyone’s life. You will either be a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor, and it is ALL UP TO GOD!





Peace...Mark

arion:
"And I will harden [Heb: qashah—to make hard] Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth Mine armies, and My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth Mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them"


It's really hard to argue with that especially considering that we have several other scriptural witnesses that God himself was the one who hardened Pharoah's heart.  But you should probably save your breath because the 'free willers' won't believe this truth because it torpedos their idol of the heart.  It takes as much a miracle of God to open their hearts to this truth as it did for God to harden Pharoah's heart in the first place.  You can put the truth in front of their noses and they simply can't see it......or won't see it.

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