<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nExodus 5:1\u00a0 <\/span>Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, \u201cThus says the LORD, the God of Israel, \u2018Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.\u2019\u201d But Pharaoh said, \u201cWho is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.\u201d Then they said, \u201cThe God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.\u201d But the king of Egypt said to them, \u201cMoses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>2 Kings 18:35<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>2 Chronicles 32:15<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Now, therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you in this fashion, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Psalms 10:4<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, \u201cThere is no God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Psalms 12:4<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0those who say, \u201cWith our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Psalms 14:1<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b> The fool says in his heart, \u201cThere is no God.\u201d They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Romans 1:28<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Jeremiah 44:16-17<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAs for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The fundamental demand of God to Pharaoh (through His messengers Moses and Aaron) was\u00a0freedom\u00a0for\u00a0His people. God asserted that Israel belonged to\u00a0Him, not Pharaoh; and therefore, that they should be free. Those who belong to God should be free, not bound. Moses relayed the demand God first gave him back at\u00a0Exodus 3:18<\/span><\/a>. God presented the smaller request to Pharaoh first so that the request would be as appealing and as easy to accept as possible. He did this so Pharaoh would have no excuse at all for refusing God and hardening his heart. (Guzik)<\/p>\n
Pharaoh treated all he had heard with contempt. He had no knowledge of Jehovah, no fear of him, no love to him, and therefore refused to obey him. Thus Pharaoh’s pride, ambition, covetousness, and political knowledge, hardened him to his own destruction. What Moses and Aaron ask is very reasonable, only to go three days’ journey into the desert, and that on a good errand. We will sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Pharaoh was very unreasonable, in saying that the people were idle, and therefore talked of going to sacrifice.\u00a0(Henry)<\/p>\n
The request was put in this form to try Pharaoh, and that he might be the more inexcusable in refusing to grant what was so reasonable. (Gill)<\/p>\n
A hardened heart can be softened or made more hard by the Word of God. \u201cFor the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.\u201d (1 Corinthians 1:18) The Word of God is Light unto the soul receptive to it. The eyes to their hearts and minds are not closed even though they are walking in darkness.\u00a0 <\/span>When the Light of the Gospel is flamed they see it and run toward it to get out of the darkness that has given them no satisfaction or comfort. However, there are those whose eyes are purposely closed. They are not searching for Light. They are content in darkness and choose to live it in.\u00a0 <\/span>Should the Light be flamed before their very eyes they do not see it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
We do not know how or when the Light of God\u2019s Word will soften a hardened and blinded soul. God\u2019s Word can soften the most hardened soul of whom we would think it not possible.\u00a0 <\/span>Likewise, it can harden the softest heart that chooses to reject it. The mystery of the power of God\u2019s Word never ceases to amaze me.\u00a0 <\/span>I am in awe of its power. Let us never be so careless as to think the Word of God is powerless against the vilest of people.\u00a0 <\/span>As we pray for those who walk in darkness, (family, friends, neighbors, leaders) let it be in line with God\u2019s Word softening their hearts and minds to the Savior and the Good News of the Gospel, with receptive hearts to the salvation of their souls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Exodus 5:1\u00a0 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, \u201cThus says the LORD, the God of Israel, \u2018Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.\u2019\u201d But Pharaoh said, \u201cWho is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do … Continue reading “41.h. \u201cWho is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5417,4880,5586,403,3629,4983,227,16367,1059,119,76,171,78,6630,4936,6202,340,16,796,183,16366,16365,2359,117,5911,5418,1952,1423,2614,270,701],"class_list":["post-160857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-aaron","tag-abominable","tag-acknowledge","tag-burdens","tag-debased-mind","tag-deceive","tag-delivered","tag-do-not-believe","tag-egypt","tag-fool","tag-god","tag-good","tag-hebrews","tag-hezekiah","tag-israel","tag-jerusalem","tag-kingdom","tag-listen","tag-lord","tag-master","tag-mislead","tag-moases","tag-my-hand","tag-obey","tag-pestilence","tag-pharaoh","tag-pride","tag-seek","tag-sword","tag-wicked","tag-wilderness"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160857"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160974,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160857\/revisions\/160974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}