The 1998 holiday season saw the release of an animated film entitled: “The Prince of Egypt”.  It tells the story of Moses, and how he freed the Israelites from slavery under the tyrannous rule of Pharaoh.  It is an inspiring, heart-warming story.

    Well, I hate to be the one to put a damper on this uplifting, time-honored tale, but I wanted to point out a few things that the filmmakers left out about dear old Moses.  As it turns out, Moses was one of the most blood-thirsty, cruel, callous, tyrranous and ignorant leaders the world has ever had the misfortune of producing. Yes, this Moses was a real bastard.

    But first, we need an indictment of his god.  In Exodus, when Moses attempted to free the Israelites from captivity, who stood in the way of their freedom?  Who was the one who defied Moses' request to release his people?  Who was the one who was responsible for the plagues brought upon Egypt, the suffering, the death?  After the first of God's plagues, the people of Egypt were willing and eager to let the Israelites go, but it was Pharaoh who would not release them.  And in answer, God unleashed the 10th plague, and every firstborn child in Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh to the child of the prisoner in the dungeons, was killed.  Why did God, in his wisdom, desire to kill every baby in Egypt, instead of taking out his wrath on Pharaoh himself, the one person who stood in the way?

    Hold on... forget that.  Why do you think Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites?  Why would he let his people suffer through these awful plagues?  Why would he let all the children die (one in every household, according to the bible)?  Was it rebellion and pride, as some Christians suggest?

    No.  Someone was pulling Pharaoh's strings.  Who was it?  Was it... Satan?  No.  It was "Our Heavenly Father".  Let God himself confess it to you.  He said to Moses:  (Ex. 4:21) "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go."

    Just so there was no confusion, God repeats his confession in Exodus 7:3, 9:12, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, and 14:4.

    Some Christians will say that, just as clay hardens when left out in the hot sun, that some folk's hearts just harden in God's presence.  Well, that's a good try, but it fails to conform with the bible.

    In the first place, that just isn't the case with Pharaoh. God says that he WILL harden Pharaoh's heart, SO THAT Pharaoh will not let the people go.  Let God again confess his crime- He tells Pharaoh in Ex. 9:15-16: "But I have raised [Pharaoh] up for this very purpose; that I might show [him] My power, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth."  Plain and simple!  God deliberately used Pharaoh, made him unresponsive to Moses’ pleas for freedom, so that God could unleash all ten plagues on the innocent Egyptians, in order to “show His power”.  Pharaoh had no choice in the matter- no free will.  The Lord sounds more  like a heartless megalomaniac, than an altogether kind, loving and just father.

    In the second place, God is everywhere, all at once (according to the bible).  If Pharaoh's heart was going to be hardened by the presence of God, then it would have happened far earlier than the Moses incident, because Pharaoh, (and all of us, presumably) are always in God's presence.  So why would God need to make that proclamation about hardening his heart?

    In the third place, the heart is a muscle. Just what exactly did God mean when he said he would harden Pharaoh's heart?  Give him arterial sclerosis?

    God wanted to perform all ten plagues- he didn't want to stop short and leave the show unfinished.  He wanted to rain down unbelievable suffering on innocent people- he wanted to kill thousands of innocent children- and he would not let anything get in his way!  He had no intention of letting the Israelites out of Egypt before His bloody work was done.

    God created some human beings for the sole purpose of destroying those human beings, in order for the purpose of impressing other human beings with his awesome power to destroy...  Altogether kind, just and loving?  Or a bloodthirsty monster?  Would you teach this one to your kids?

In the New Testament, Paul DEFENDS this act, and Predestination, in Romans Chapter 9:

14   What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
15   For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
16   It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
17   For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
18   Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
19   One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?"
20   But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"
21   Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
22   What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-- prepared for destruction?
23   What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared IN ADVANCE for glory...
 

    But we're not finished discussing our old buddy Moses.  Let's discuss some of his kind and wonderful deeds.

    1) The golden calf party

Kill people who change to a different religion, even members of your own family.

    2) The destruction of Hesben

    3) The destruction of Besha

    4) The stoning of the stick gathering man

According to Moses, picking up sticks on Sunday and murdering your father on Monday are equal crimes in the eyes of God.  Both of these awful crimes carry the death penalty.  And we know Moses was serious about enforcing also, as we have the account in the Old Testament of Moses ordering his followers to stone to death a man who had been seen picking up sticks on the sabbath.  What would we, in our modern society, do with such a man as Moses?

    5) Moses' instructions to Joshua concerning the killing of those inhabiting Canaan

Basically, spare no one that breathes... kill men, women, children, babies, the old, the infirm.  Take no prisoners.  Make no treaties with them.  Kill them for defending their homes.  Kill them for defending their families.  Take the land under their feet, and murder every human being you see, without question, without thinking.

 

    I wonder what will be the next dubious hero the spin doctors of Hollywood will offer our children in the form of an animated movie... Adolph Hitler perhaps?
 

    For much more of the stories of Moses told in glaring, unbiased detail, purchase The Bible Stories Your Parents Never Told You by Michael Scott Earl, available at REASONWORKS.COM