Exodus 6: 10-13: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses spake before the LORD, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”
If the Israeli slaves were unwilling to listen to the Lord when He told them that He remembered the promise that He had made 430 years before why would Pharaoh listen? The Lord’s foremost aim was to let the Egyptians know that He is the Lord. He was going to set Israel free but He was acting in grace to allow the Egyptians to come to know Him and to accept that He is the ruler of all the earth not just the God of the Hebrews. Moses didn’t understand the full plan and was concerned that Pharaoh wouldn’t listen. However, the Lord wanted to put Pharaoh, and all Egypt, in a position to make the choice for themselves so He didn’t let Moses make that decision on their behalf. The same is true today; we are called to accept the constraints of the Great Commission (see Matt 28: 19, 20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”, Mark 16: 15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” and Acts 1: 8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”) rather than make the decision on behalf of other people. If we follow the Lord’s command in this respect then people will use the words of John 4: 42 ], later (“And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”). Our task is to respect the integrity of our own faith rather than second guess other people and freely give ground to the enlightened when they have no empirical basis for destroying the integrity of our faith.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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