Who Hardened Pharaoh's Heart?

"But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” Exodus 7:3-5

Who Hardened Pharaoh's Heart?
By Rev. William Dohle

My wife is a mystery-a-holic.  She loves them!  She reads them and watches them.  She especially likes the mysteries she can't figure out!  The ones where who did what to whom is a mystery to the very end.

Lately the mysteries we've watched have been all televised mysteries:  Sherlock, Elementary, Castle, and Psyche have been among our favorites.

I am not a big fan of mysteries...but living with a big fan, it has worn off on me.

Today's reading brings about one such mystery from the book of Exodus.  A mystery that has no answer...or rather has two answers.  The question:

Who Hardened Pharaoh's heart?

It seems an easy mystery at first glance.  Who hardened Pharaoh's heart?  Pharaoh did!  Pharaoh has free-will, right?  He could change his mind at any time.  He has freedom of choice.  Pharaoh hardened Pharaoh's heart.

And at first glance at least that seems to be true.

We read:

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. (Ex. 8:15)
But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.(Ex. 8:32)
When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts.(Ex. 9:34)

Pretty straight forward, right?  Pharaoh hardened his own heart against the Lord.  That was easy... right??

Not quite.  Because the same Bible, just a few verses later, says...

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses. (Ex. 9:12)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them...(Ex. 10:1)
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.(Ex. 10:20)
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.(Ex. 10:27)
Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.(Ex. 11:10)
The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.(Ex. 14:8)

If we were to count sheer number of references and measure the question that way it would seem that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart!  The Lord did it...not Pharaoh.

Of course we, western, 21st century Christians, don't like that answer.  We'd rather have Pharaoh responsible for what he did.  After all, he had free will, right?  He had the freedom to choose whether to accept God or not.  God couldn't have been frustrating his efforts... could he have?

But on the same token...if God did it...then what do we make of the references that say that Pharaoh hardened his OWN heart?  Do we ignore them or dismiss them?  Didn't Pharaoh have the ability to choose?

This mystery, Who hardened Pharaoh's heart, will never be answered.  It is unsolvable.  Some might point to it as one of the many contradictions of the Bible...but I don't look at it that way.  I see it as a mystery.  A mystery behind our motivations.

What makes someone do something...has always been a question we have asked.  As we ponder why we ask:  Why did the Nazis kill millions of people, walking them to the gas chambers?  Why did the terrorists crash into the World Trade Center?  Why did that boy walk into Sandy Hook Elementary School and kill innocent children?

Confronting why questions brings us to the question of nurture vs. nature.  Was it how they were brought up?  Was it how they were raised?  Did they have any choice in the matter?  Or did the Lord harden their hearts by events beyond their control, moving them in position to act in this way?  Who's truly responsible for our actions?

The Bible points to sin and to death...but tells another story.  Even when God hardens the hearts of the most ruthless of leaders, redemption is still close at hand.   Even when the motivations are unsearchable and unknowable, God still cares for us.  And God will rescue and carry us through, even the hardest of situations.  Why?  Because He loves us!

I wish I knew, God, all the whys in this world, but I trust in you.  I trust that you will redeem me and rescue me even in my confusion and I thank you for your presence.  Amen.

Everyday Plagues

"Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with might acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people, the Israelites."  Exodus 7:4

Everyday Plagues
By Rev. William Dohle

I love Hollywood...don't get me wrong.  I watch more television and movies than many clergy, even those my age.

But sometimes Hollywood gets it wrong. Sometimes to show the drama they have to make it out to be more than it actually was.

That was their mistake in their latest offering on the History Channel, "The Bible."  In typical Hollywood fashion they took artistic liberties in portraying every one of the Bible stories.  Liberties that, I believe, diminished the story itself in many cases.

Take the text we have before us today.  The Ten Plagues.  Countless screenwriters and directors have tried to imagine what the plagues were like.  The show "The Bible" does the same.  Dramatically, Moses approaches Pharaoh time and again and Pharaoh dramatically says "No!"  Then comes the plagues, each of which are more supernatural than the last.  First the river turning to blood, then the death of the animals, then the locusts, then the darkness.  (Yes, the movie takes dramatic liberties with the order of the plagues too.).

This is all well and good...except that I don't think that's how the plagues went.  Oh they happened, don't get me wrong.  And they were God's work.  But God doesn't work in Hollywood style.  He doesn't today, and I don't think he did back then

Why??  Well... for starters when Aaron throws his staff down in front of Pharaoh and it becomes a snake(a miracle the mini-series never shows)...Pharaoh's magicians do the same!  "Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers and the Egyptian magicians did the same thing by their secret art.  Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake." (Ex 7:11-12a).  Or when the river turns to blood, Pharaoh (who is not bathing in it at the time) turns to his magicians who "...did the same thing by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said."(Ex 6:22)  Turns out...Pharaoh's magicians could do this too!

In fact, if you look closely scientifically you will discover most of the plagues Moses brings occur naturally.  There were times(before the dams went up on the Nile) that the river would become like blood because of the silt floating in it.  Even the fish in the river would die because they couldn't breathe.  There were, at those very times, a multitude of frogs that would come up from the river.  Those frogs, when they died on land, would also bring in swarms of gnats and biting flies and those flies would bring the disease that caused the boils and that killed all the livestock in the land.  Even the plague of locusts have been reproduced...TODAY...where in the Holy Land they are suffering from such a plague!

So...what makes the plagues unique or special?  Well... it's not that they happened outside the natural order of things but that nature itself was used by God to free his chosen people, Israel.  God used creation to rescue his chosen people.  He didn't go outside of it.  He didn't send his angels and create a stir.  Instead, God used what was already around them so that "...you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians."(Ex 6:7)  He used what he had already created to rescue and redeem Israel.

Too often we look for some supernatural answer to our everyday problems.  We think that, because we pray, God should move heaven and earth to rescue us.  We wonder why God works plagues back at the time of Moses but doesn't act that way now.  Thinking these things are extra-ordinary, we look for extra-ordinary answers to our own prayers.  A cure no one saw coming.  A surprise gift from a stranger.  A miracle that can't be explained.

But most times God doesn't work this way.  Occasionally, yes, but most of the time God speaks to us through His Word, through His Creation, and through other people.  That is how the love of God is communicated.  That is where the answer comes to our prayers.

We pray for strength...and we find relatives popping up to help us out.  Relatives who take some of the burden so we can rest.  We pray for healing...and we find a new lease on life that helps us appreciate every moment of every day more.  We look for faith...and we are surrounded by our family and friends at church as they pray for us.

God's worked with his creation to save his people Israel, to bring them out of captivity.  God can work with creation in your life too, to comfort you, to strengthen you, and to bring you a future and a hope.

Open my eyes that I may see you working the extraordinary through the ordinary events of my life.  Help me recognize you there and give you thanks.  Amen.

Other-Help From God

"I have made you like God to Pharaoh..." Exodus 7:1

Other-Help From God
By Rev. William Dohle

I am not a real big self-help fan.

There's a time and a place for them, true, but so many of the books on helping yourself, especially the Christian ones, turn my stomach.  They seem so...selfish, as if the only thing that really matters in life to God is YOU being the best YOU you can be.  Ultimately at the center of the universe, what really matters is...you!  God's there to help...but to help YOU.  Listen to the titles of some of the popular books today and see if you can't hear that for yourself...

"I Declare!"

"Change Your Words.  Change your Life."

"The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around What You Want"

"What on Earth Am I Here For?"

The reason I struggle with self-help books isn't because God doesn't want us to be happy.  He does.  It's not because He doesn't promise power.  He does.  But why he promises both of these...that's another question.  In today's reading from Exodus, God promises a whole lot of power to a rather powerless Moses and Aaron.

"See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it."(Ex. 7:1-4)
  
Wow!  What power God has given Moses!  "I have made you like God!"  That's pretty powerful.  And Aaron has been made into Moses' prophet, to say what Moses tells him to.  That's real power there!  Between the two of them, they are to free God's people Israel.

But notice who the power is for.  It's not for Moses.  It's not so that Moses can have a comfortable life or that Moses can earn lots of money, have a big house, a gorgeous wife, a nice life, and go to heaven after he dies.  God doesn't give Moses power for himself.  Instead God has empowered Moses to help others.  Its for the people of Israel, for his countrymen, that Moses will be God.  It's for God's people, Israel, that Moses is given such power and authority.  It's for others...not for himself.

Should Moses ever turn and use his powers for himself, that power will disappear.  God is doing this for Israel.  Not just for Moses.  Moses is included in God's redemption, true, but as part of the larger people of Israel.

The same applies to us too.  The Holy Spirit calls, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps us...but it does so as we are in service to others.  As we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the imprisoned, and welcome the stranger.  In other words: When we are attending to the needs of others.

When we do this, when we attend to those needs, THEN (and only then I would argue) does the power of God rest upon us.  When we turn that power upon ourselves and center the world on us and our problems and our happiness and our own fulfillment, than God's strength wanes.  God himself is seldom to be found in such self-seeking, self-centered living.  Or God is used as anything else.  A means to the end and not the end itself. 

We have given into self-help too much.  We have forgotten that we cannot help ourselves.  Self-help is a lie!  It is God who helps us.  We have forgotten that the focus of our lives is not ourselves.  It is truly God and others.  As the two greatest commandments say: "Love God...and love your neighbor as yourself."  Those are the greatest commandments and the only thing we are truly empowered for in this world.

So try this...invest your life in others.  Get out of the tragic therapeutic circle that centers your attention on yourself and your problems and see how God steps in.  Feed the hungry at your local shelter and see how good it makes you feel.  Give something to someone in need and see how your own day is brightened.  Reach out to others.  Share the power of God.  It's not easy (it certainly wasn't for Moses)...but it's worth it!

I am trapped, Lord, in only thinking of myself instead of thinking of you and others first.  Release me from this trap and empower me to serve.  Amen.

Uh...You're Repeating Yourself...

"Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant." Exodus 6:5

What Did I Tell You Again?!
By Rev. William Dohle

Why...why...why do parents have to repeat themselves over and over and over again??

I always swore I'd never sound like other parents.  "My kids will listen the first time!"  I had visions in my head of my children, the marvel of all, who listen the first time.  I could almost taste the quiet that would descend upon our household.

Ha!  Was I mistaken.  Like other children, my kids have learned the art of selective hearing.

Take the simple chore of doing the dishes.  I start by telling my youngest son to empty the dishwasher.  Then I tell him again...and again...and again.  Finally he gets up to do it.  Then he stops.  Mid-emptying he stops to see what his oldest brother is doing.  And it takes him a little...encouraging...to start up again.

Once it's empty then it's my oldest son's turn.  He usually takes on a little more dramatic of an approach.  He throws himself on the ground and says, "No!"  Then, when he says he's going to do it, he's really not.  You've got to mention it again and again he'll argue about it.  Finally...finally...after a little persuasion he'll get up and do them.  Once he starts...he finishes (usually).  But he always ALWAYS forgets something.  And then you have to remind him to reload said item.

And don't get me started about my daughter.  Unless she WANTS to do it, she doesn't.

So why do parents have to repeat themselves?  Where does this come from?

Maybe the answer to those questions can be found in Exodus.  After Moses has come back to Egypt to speak to the Israelites.  After Pharaoh has increased their load.  Then God does something he's had to do before.  He repeats himself...again!

“I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant." (Exodus 6:2-5)

Now, why would God have had to say this again?  What is the purpose of this happening here and why repeat himself?  And why, after God declares this to be true, does Moses once again repeat his old excuse. 

"If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips."(Exodus 6:12)

Moses repeats this twice to God, as if God didn't hear him the first time at the burning bush or the second time just moments before.

"Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, he said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.” But Moses said to the Lord, “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?"(Ex. 6:28-30)

Why all this repetition?  Maybe we see here God's patience with us and with our own humanity.  We are not super heroes.  We do not possess super-human memory, able to remember in detail what is important in life.  We are human.  And as humans our memory isn't always that perfect.  We forget things.  Or we remember things wrongly.

We need reminders of God's grace and mercy.  We need reminders of who God is and what God's all about.  We need constant reminders of God and his work in this world.

We too need reminders of our own humanity.  Of our limited nature.  Of the fact that we can't do it all or be it all or live it all, as we'd like.  We are those who speak with faltering lips.

That's why we need to gather in worship.  At churches, in whatever denomination, we hear God's Word reminding us over and over again of his amazing love for us.  We are reminded that Christ Jesus died for us and that in his resurrection we are given life.  We confess our sin and remember that we are only human, that we speak to each other and God with faltering lips.  Through Holy Communion, we are given the body and blood of Christ "in remembrance of me", given with forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, to remember and proclaim Christ's death until he returns.

We do the sing the same songs, say the same thing, and do the same actions over and over again so we can remember.  So we can know, as Moses did, that God has not forgotten us.  He remembers his covenant.  He remembers his mercy.  And nothing will separate us from His love!

God, we remember the wrong and forget the right.  We easily forget you and what you gave us.  Remind us again of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Listen up, God!

Even today my complaint is bitter;
    his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
If only I knew where to find him;
    if only I could go to his dwelling!
I would state my case before him
    and fill my mouth with arguments.  Job 23:1-3

Listen up, God!
By Rev. William Dohle

Every so often, a question comes to me that really makes me think.  That question came yesterday, sitting with a friend as he struggled with life.  The question echoed in my soul, for it is a question that I've wrestled with too.  What is that question?  The man asked me:

Is it alright to be angry with God??

As I struggled with trying to answer that question, I was reminded of the times when I was angry with God.  I have, in the past, struggled with God's inaction in my life.  God can feel so distant sometimes, especially when prayers go unanswered.  Unanswered prayers lead to disappointment lead to frustration lead, sometimes to anger and to times when I've wanted to just cry out against God.

Is it alright to be angry with God??  "Yes it is..." I told him, then I tried to explain.

Anger and disappointment are things we struggle with in life.  We struggle with expressing them to our co-workers and our boss.  We hesitate and wrestle with speaking these words to our loved ones.  And, as for God, we're terrified to express our anger and disappointment with him.

"It must be me God," we tell Him.  "I don't have enough faith.  I haven't prayed hard enough.  I just don't want the right things!"

But speaking words that don't express our emotions betrays the relationship we have with God.  If God is here FOR US and if God is love and grace...then God can take our anger!

Imagine a relationship in which you didn't get angry with them.  Every mistake was your fault.  Every problem yours to bear.  When you asked the person for something and they didn't respond as you thought, your only course of action was to think it was your fault.  You did something wrong to cause their silence.

That would be no relationship worth having!

A relationship involves being happy... and sad...and angry...and grumpy...and loving...and forgiving...and all of that.  A relationship involves a whole rainbow of emotions.  Even anger.  And anger, expressed right, is healthy in a relationship.  Even a relationship with God.

If you want an example of that... look to Moses!  Moses struggled with God.  Wrestled with God.  Moses' relationship with God wasn't dependent upon him.  If it was, Moses would have left a LONG time ago.  No, Moses relationship with God was dependent upon God.  And because of that, Moses was free to be as angry as he needed to be.

"Moses returned to the Lord and said “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?  Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.” Exodus 5:22-23

Can you hear the anger in these words?  Can you hear the hurt, the frustration, and the disappointment?  God SAID he'd rescue his people...and he hasn't at all.

Of course, in retrospect, we can see that God rescuing his people wasn't enough.  He was to show Pharaoh who was God of the heavens and the earth.  In his showdown with Pharaoh(which is what is coming next) God would finally answer for all Israel: "Is our God stronger than Pharaoh?"

But here... in this time with Moses... Moses is angry and disappointed and upset with God!

And... God doesn't care!  God doesn't seem to mind Moses' anger.  He doesn't say: "Hey, buddy, if you had done what I told you, how I told you then you wouldn't be in this mess."  He doesn't say: "Hey, Moses, why didn't you pray to me BEFORE we went to Pharaoh?  It's your own fault!"

God doesn't say either of these to Pharaoh...and he doesn't say it to us too!  God still takes our anger, as he took Moses' anger.  His shoulders are wide enough for your burdens.  His feelings are strong enough for your complaints.

Look at his Word.  Read the Scriptures.  Just about everyone in them struggled with their anger with God...but God loved them just the same.

And he loves you too!

So... let it all out, he can take it!  Write an angry letter to God, read it aloud, and throw it away.  He won't hold it against you.  Take a walk and rail to the heavens.  It's fine.

And after you express your anger, just sit there in the silence that follows.  Sit in the quiet and wait.  God will show up, as He showed up to Moses.  God will speak his words of peace and hope and love into your heart.  God will assure you of His presence and of his grace.  And He will continue to walk with you, even if you're still angry, all because He loves you!

I read about Moses, God, and wonder how you loved him.  And then I think about my own life and wonder the same about me.  Assure me of your love and grace, even as I struggle with expressing my anger and disappointment with you.  Amen.