Reading tough parts of the Bible

The Bible can be a hard read.  Take Exodus, the great story of God freeing the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, with Moses in the lead, who went before Pharaoh and said “let my people go!”  Great story, right?

I was talking recently with a bring high school student in our church who had been reading Exodus, and got into an interesting discussion about some of the difficult parts of the account.  Specifically, why did God harden the Pharaoh’s heart over and over again.  Every time Pharaoh seemed about ready to let the Hebrews go, the scripture says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh did not let them go.  The thing that happens each time is that Moses has to go back again and say “let my people go!”  Then the really bad thing that happens each time is that God sends another plague to convince Pharaoh to listen to Moses.  There are locusts, frogs, the Nile river turns to blood, and at the very end, every first born animal and child of Egypt dies.

Why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart?

Why did God keep coming back for more?

These are important questions, and they are not easy.  The picture of God trying to increase the conflict is directly at odds with the revelation of God in Jesus, who endured violence rather than inflict it.  In a problem like this, I believe that we need to interpret one part of scripture in light of the other, and I’m always going to start with the character of Jesus.  Jesus shows us that God is not violent.   This is not to say that we should ignore Exodus.  Instead, we should trust God’s Spirit to be present as we interpret Exodus in light of God’s character.  Maybe Exodus is a story about how any change for good is a process, not easily obtained.  Maybe the ancient Jews couldn’t imagine the thought that Pharaoh could have denied God over and over again, and it was easier for them to assume that God had chosen to harden Pharaoh’s heart, even if it made God seem vindictive.  Maybe the Hebrew people started out understanding God as only caring about them, and grew to understand that God cares for all nations, with the help of prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Jonah.

Or, you could say that Exodus paints the truer picture of God, and Jesus is the exception.  It would certainly make it easier to be mean to your enemies.