Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 7
On Pharaoh, the speaker says God “hardened” him by letting the cat-and-mouse pattern continue rather than forcing compliance; what does that imply about God’s patience and strategy with evil rulers, and what does it imply about the moral risk of God giving someone “room” to keep resisting?
Another way to ask: The speaker says God hardened Pharaoh by letting Pharaoh keep playing his usual game, not by forcing him. What does that say about how God deals with evil leaders, and what danger comes from God giving someone more time to resist?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
It implies God may strategically tolerate and even “give room” to an evil ruler’s stubbornness to accomplish a larger purpose—like making His name known—rather than immediately crushing resistance. But that patience carries moral risk: when God doesn’t immediately “play hardball,” a wicked person can interpret restraint as weakness and become more hardened.
- He rejects “for this purpose I created you” and reframes: God “raised him up” into the throne, knowing by “foreknowledge… what kind of person Pharaoh was going to be.”
- He says God decided, “I’m going to use the hard-heartedness of Pharaoh to accomplish my will,” so God’s strategy includes using existing evil rather than creating it.
- He describes the pattern: Pharaoh promises, plague is withdrawn, then Pharaoh reneges; God does not strike him dead or blind him though He could have.
- He explains the hardening mechanism: by allowing the back-and-forth, Pharaoh concludes, “This God is weak… he has no punch,” and that interpretation hardens him.
- He points to the broader purpose: God’s acts spread His name; Rahab’s people had “all heard,” and “they were all afraid,” showing ripple effects beyond Egypt.