1.27.25 ~ The Mindset of Pharaoh
Good morning!
Thank you for taking time to pray for me yesterday! The three studies at the 3 different churches were wonderful. It's been said that the speaker is only as good as his audience...in this case, when you have hungry, pure hearted individuals (Matt. 5:6, 8)...the rest was as simple as 'open your bibles to' ... God did the rest :-)! Amazing people.
This week's Scripture study of Bo/come takes us into the beginning of this season/moed/appointed time (Ex. 12; Gen. 1:14; Lev. 23:4-8; 1 Cor. 5:7-8). Please be in prayer for everyone as they prepare their hearts for the upcoming feast season preparation.
As we all know, this journey in Messiah is full of revelation. He's constantly breaking down our 'confirmation biases' and He's unveiling new dimensions of His love and plans for us. Last week I shared with you how God hardened/chazak, literally encouraged Pharaoh's heart to make a decision on his own that there is only one God (Ex. 8:10). In this week's study, God let's Pharaoh's impenitent heart go it's own direction and he hardens/kvad his heart in order to show His signs and wonders so that you will tell it to your children and your grandchildren how I played with Egypt and then you, God's people, will know that I am God (Ex. 10:1-2).
Why did the agenda shift? Why is the Almighty giving up, as it were, upon plan A— educating Egypt that there is only one God/Elohim? And the answer seems to be, Pharaoh himself has given up on that concept. At the end of the seventh plague, the froggies, we saw that Pharaoh had finally recognized the truth that God was right and He was wrong. For the first time, he had understood that God was the righteous one, while he and his people were the wicked ones (Ex. 9:27). But the heart refused to bow completely. Now it's time for plan B.
Moses and Aaron come into Pharaoh for the 8th plague. They ask, 'how long will you withhold yourself?' Who talks like that to the King of Egypt? The most powerful sovereign of the world? You think Pharaoh is going to give in when you talk like that? Then again, that's the whole point. Plan B is: God is going to play off of Pharaoh's ego, because it was Pharaoh's ego that's the problem. Why didn't Pharaoh give in after the seventh plague? After all, he realized that he was the creature and God was the Creator and a creature needs to follow the dictates of his Creator. Pharaoh couldn't handle that.
Maybe a better question is: 'why don't I'? Maybe we have the same mindset as Pharaoh sometimes too?? I resemble this too often on my journey.
In the Egyptian view, Pharaoh himself was a deity within the pantheon of gods. For a deity within the pantheon of gods to realize that he is just a creature in service of his Creator, that's a real step down. Pharaoh realized it! And what didn't allow him to continue to hold to it, is his sense of self. His sense of self is leading him to deny Me (Matt. 16:24-27)?
And like us, his sense of self will be his downfall! He is not going to have a chance to give in anymore, because his sense of self is not going to let him. God, the Savior of this family abuse situation, will use his sense of self, his ego, against him.
We might think, "how could he"? Let's put ourselves in his shoes for a minute and it may help us identify why we do it as often as we do it (speaking of me, myself and I). What if in front of his servants 'someone' say things like "how long are you going to withhold yourself from being crushed before me?" Woe! Now he's embarrassed in front of his leaders. He can't give in then. And then, to add injury to insult, the next thing Moses and Aaron say, 'if you continue to withhold yourself like this, tomorrow I am going to bring locusts. Locusts will eat up every single shred, every last crop.
What's the GNP of Egypt based upon? What do they live off of? It's an agrarian society. Locusts are the economic atom bomb. But Pharaoh doesn't back down. That's what a self-inflicted, hard heart will do. Moses and Aaron exit 'stage left' and then the servants of Pharaoh get in on the act.
They echo Moses' words exactly, 'until how long are you going to withhold yourself from being subjugated? A little bit more politely they say, how long is this guy Moses going to be a thorn in our side? Can't we just let these people go? Don't you know that we've lost? We can never compete against this power that is up against us. Political control over Pharaoh's servants is beginning to slip out of Pharaoh's grasp. His own servants are up against him. And they beg for him to let them go worship God (Ex. 10:7).
The next event is really interesting. and they brought/vayushav Moses and Aaron back into Pharaoh. Who brought them back in? Surprise! The servants who are trying to broker a deal. Pharaoh responds, 'ok boys you can go serve God on that mountain, but who's going to go with you'? What is Pharaoh doing now?
In Pharaoh's eyes, ego looked like a point of strength for him. It was the last point of strength he could hold on to. What in the end will keep Pharaoh from recognizing God? He takes refuge in his own ego. It's his last fortified castle when everything else has fallen in his theological framework. As we can all testify, taking refuge in our own ego is never a strength.
This week's Scripture study of Bo/come takes us into the beginning of this season/moed/appointed time (Ex. 12; Gen. 1:14; Lev. 23:4-8; 1 Cor. 5:7-8). Please be in prayer for everyone as they prepare their hearts for the upcoming feast season preparation.
As we all know, this journey in Messiah is full of revelation. He's constantly breaking down our 'confirmation biases' and He's unveiling new dimensions of His love and plans for us. Last week I shared with you how God hardened/chazak, literally encouraged Pharaoh's heart to make a decision on his own that there is only one God (Ex. 8:10). In this week's study, God let's Pharaoh's impenitent heart go it's own direction and he hardens/kvad his heart in order to show His signs and wonders so that you will tell it to your children and your grandchildren how I played with Egypt and then you, God's people, will know that I am God (Ex. 10:1-2).
Why did the agenda shift? Why is the Almighty giving up, as it were, upon plan A— educating Egypt that there is only one God/Elohim? And the answer seems to be, Pharaoh himself has given up on that concept. At the end of the seventh plague, the froggies, we saw that Pharaoh had finally recognized the truth that God was right and He was wrong. For the first time, he had understood that God was the righteous one, while he and his people were the wicked ones (Ex. 9:27). But the heart refused to bow completely. Now it's time for plan B.
Moses and Aaron come into Pharaoh for the 8th plague. They ask, 'how long will you withhold yourself?' Who talks like that to the King of Egypt? The most powerful sovereign of the world? You think Pharaoh is going to give in when you talk like that? Then again, that's the whole point. Plan B is: God is going to play off of Pharaoh's ego, because it was Pharaoh's ego that's the problem. Why didn't Pharaoh give in after the seventh plague? After all, he realized that he was the creature and God was the Creator and a creature needs to follow the dictates of his Creator. Pharaoh couldn't handle that.
Maybe a better question is: 'why don't I'? Maybe we have the same mindset as Pharaoh sometimes too?? I resemble this too often on my journey.
In the Egyptian view, Pharaoh himself was a deity within the pantheon of gods. For a deity within the pantheon of gods to realize that he is just a creature in service of his Creator, that's a real step down. Pharaoh realized it! And what didn't allow him to continue to hold to it, is his sense of self. His sense of self is leading him to deny Me (Matt. 16:24-27)?
And like us, his sense of self will be his downfall! He is not going to have a chance to give in anymore, because his sense of self is not going to let him. God, the Savior of this family abuse situation, will use his sense of self, his ego, against him.
We might think, "how could he"? Let's put ourselves in his shoes for a minute and it may help us identify why we do it as often as we do it (speaking of me, myself and I). What if in front of his servants 'someone' say things like "how long are you going to withhold yourself from being crushed before me?" Woe! Now he's embarrassed in front of his leaders. He can't give in then. And then, to add injury to insult, the next thing Moses and Aaron say, 'if you continue to withhold yourself like this, tomorrow I am going to bring locusts. Locusts will eat up every single shred, every last crop.
What's the GNP of Egypt based upon? What do they live off of? It's an agrarian society. Locusts are the economic atom bomb. But Pharaoh doesn't back down. That's what a self-inflicted, hard heart will do. Moses and Aaron exit 'stage left' and then the servants of Pharaoh get in on the act.
They echo Moses' words exactly, 'until how long are you going to withhold yourself from being subjugated? A little bit more politely they say, how long is this guy Moses going to be a thorn in our side? Can't we just let these people go? Don't you know that we've lost? We can never compete against this power that is up against us. Political control over Pharaoh's servants is beginning to slip out of Pharaoh's grasp. His own servants are up against him. And they beg for him to let them go worship God (Ex. 10:7).
The next event is really interesting. and they brought/vayushav Moses and Aaron back into Pharaoh. Who brought them back in? Surprise! The servants who are trying to broker a deal. Pharaoh responds, 'ok boys you can go serve God on that mountain, but who's going to go with you'? What is Pharaoh doing now?
In Pharaoh's eyes, ego looked like a point of strength for him. It was the last point of strength he could hold on to. What in the end will keep Pharaoh from recognizing God? He takes refuge in his own ego. It's his last fortified castle when everything else has fallen in his theological framework. As we can all testify, taking refuge in our own ego is never a strength.
When our ego keeps us from recognizing a truth that we would otherwise see, that's not a strength at all. It's a weakness and it will be turned against us. It will become our Achilles heel and that's what it became for Pharaoh and his kingdom. Ultimately, his dominion is destroyed, but it is destroyed through something as simple as his own inability to give in to the truth. Something, with hindsight, that too many can identify with!
Happy 2nd day of the week!
Shalom from Utila Cays, Honduras
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