Pharaohsees

I was thinking about Pharaoh the other day, and it struck me how much like some so-called Christians he was ... or how much like him they are. Think about it.

The first part of Exodus -- Exodus 1-14 -- is the story of the battle of wills between Moses and Pharaoh. Okay, not quite. It is the battle of wills between God and Pharaoh. Spoiler alert: God wins. But Pharaoh's approach is classic.

In Exodus 5 Moses and Aaron walk into Pharaoh's office and tell him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness'" (Exo 5:1). There's the command. There's the point. There's the issue. Either obey God or don't. But it is couched in religious terms. "... that they may celebrate a feast to Me ..." Still, it is God vs Pharaoh; nothing less. So Pharaoh turns them down cold. "Get back to your labors" (Exo 5:4). He even made their work harder by making them meet the same quotas while getting their own supplies (Exo 5:7-8). The upshot was that God's people complained ... about God's messengers (Exo 5:21). So the showdown began in earnest.

God had Moses and Aaron turn the water to blood (Exo 7:17-18). Then it was frogs (Exo 8:5-6). So Pharaoh repented (Exo 8:8) and told Moses they could go (Exo 8:8), but when Moses rescinded the frogs, Pharaoh rescinded his permission (Exo 8:15). Then came the gnats (Exo 8:16-18) and the flies (Exo 8:20-24), and Pharaoh repented. Almost. "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land" (Exo 8:25). You see, the instruction was that he had to let them go. Pharaoh would allow them to sacrifice -- because, hey, Pharaoh was in favor of a good religion -- but on his terms. Not away from Egypt. Moses turned him down. And Pharaoh repented. Sort of. "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away" (Exo 8:28). Again, not what God commanded. Religious enough. Giving in a bit. Just not what God commanded. So when Moses removed the flies -- when things became comfortable again -- Pharaoh removed his permission (Exo 8:31-32). So God delivered dead livestock (Exo 9:1-7), boils (Exo 9:8-12), and massively destructive hail (Exo 9:13-26).

Listen, then, to Pharaoh's repentance. It's good. "I have sinned this time; the LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. Make supplication to the LORD, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer"  (Exo 9:27-28). Sounds good. Sounds right. Complete. And Moses stopped the storm. And Pharaoh rescinded his permission (Exo 9:29-35). So Moses promised a locust plague that would destroy every crop they had. And Pharaoh repented. Kind of. "Go, serve the LORD your God! Who are the ones that are going?" (Exo 10:8). Moses required everything -- families, livestock, the works. And Pharaoh balked. The men could go, but they would leave their children and women (Exo 10:10-11). So the locust came (Exo 10:13-15). And Pharaoh repented (Exo 10:16-17). Until it got comfortable again. Then he didn't (Exo 10:18-20). (There is a pattern, isn't there?) Next up was darkness (Exo 10:21) ("a darkness that could be felt" -- yikes!) and Pharaoh told them they could go be religious, but to leave their livestock (Exo 10:24). Moses turned him down.

The last one we all know. An angel of death came through, killing all the firstborn. Pharaoh finally repented fully ... right? Well, it seemed that way. He let them go with everything. The people even made donations to get them to leave. But it wasn't a full repentance because after they left, Pharaoh gathered his army and pursued them. And, of course, in the end he pursued them to his own death, drowning in the Red Sea.

How is that like so many of the so-called Christians around? There are a couple of items. How many times did Pharaoh repent? Quite a few. Sounds real. The right words and all. But when it came down to "Do exactly what God said," it was a no-go. That's not repentance. When things were pointed and painful, there was repentance, but when the pain subsided, it was gone in a flash. That's not repentance. It looks like it and it sounds like it, but in the final analysis Pharaoh only made a show of surrendering command to God. Then there was the religious aspect. Pharaoh didn't give any indication that he didn't want them to be religious. "Go and sacrifice to your God," he told them. Religious, see? It's just that every time he told them that, he did so without full surrender. "Go, but not very far." "Go, but stay in the land." "Go, but leave your families." "Go, but leave your livestock." Always religious, but always on his terms. Always under his control. This was a contest between Pharaoh's authority and God's authority, and Pharaoh made every attempt to appear as if he was giving into God's authority without ever really doing so.

And the so-called Christians of today? They give every indication of repentance. They use the right words, say the right things, really seem sincere. Well, of course, they're not going to go so far as to agree fully with God's commands. "No women in church leadership? That's not right." "Wives, submit to husbands? No way." Pick your pet slight of God's instructions. They will sound agreeable and still hold out. When things are uncomfortable they pray and weep and repent. When things are comfortable, it's all gone. And aren't they religious? Sure! Except it is always on their own terms. "Yes, we believe the Bible." See? Very religious. But then, "Well, mostly. Well, okay, somewhat. Well, to be honest, we believe it as we interpret it, and we interpret it as we feel comfortable." You know, these two -- Pharaoh and so many self-identified Christians of the day -- look a lot alike.

But, think about it for a moment. Isn't that what the Pharisees looked like? They liked repentance ... when it served their purposes. They loved to be seen as religious ... when it served their purposes. They would believe, but on their own terms. They would do what was right as long as people were looking. A lot like Pharaoh and today's nominal Christians. Hey, Pharaohsees, right? Okay, I made that word up. But the principles are from Scripture and the practices are from the religious all around us. And the result is the same. Pharaoh died at God's hand. It's what we can expect in eternal form for all who feign repentance and religion without actually possessing either.