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Spiritual Gifts, Volume 3
God commanded Moses to say unto Pharaoh, “For this cause have
I raised thee up for to show in thee my power.” This does not mean that
God had given him an existence for that purpose. But his providence
had overruled events that such a rebellious tyrant as Pharaoh should be
upon the throne of Egypt at the time God would deliver the Hebrews.
For this purpose his life had been preserved, though he had justly
forfeited the mercy of God by his crimes. Yet God saw fit to spare
his life to manifest through his stubbornness his wonders in the land
of Egypt. He would cause Pharaoh’s rebellion against him to be
the occasion to multiply evidences of his power for the good of his
people, and that his name might be magnified before the Egyptians,
and brought to the knowledge of those who should afterwards live upon
the earth. The disposing of events is of his providence. He could have
placed a more merciful king upon the throne of Egypt, who would not
have dared to persist in his rebellion with the display of God’s mighty
power manifested before him as it was before Pharaoh. But then the
purposes of God would not have been accomplished. His people would
have been deceived in regard to the sinfulness of the idolatry of the
Egyptians, and would not have experienced in themselves the hard-
hearted cruelty which the idolatrous Egyptians could practice. God
would manifest before them that he hates idolatry, and that he will
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punish cruelty and oppression wherever it exists.
Although many of the Israelites had become corrupted by idolatry,
yet the faithful stood firm. They had not concealed their faith, but
openly acknowledged before the Egyptians that they served the only
true and living God. They rehearsed the evidences of God’s existence
and power from creation down. The Egyptians had an opportunity of
becoming acquainted with the faith of the Hebrews, and their God.
They had tried to subvert the faithful worshipers of the true God, and
were annoyed because they had not succeeded, either by threats, the
promise of rewards, or by cruel treatment.
The two last kings who had occupied the throne of Egypt had been
tyrannical, and had cruelly entreated the Hebrews. The elders of Israel
had endeavored to encourage the sinking faith of the Israelites, by
referring to the promise made to Abraham, and the prophetic words of
Joseph just before he died, foretelling their deliverance from Egypt.
Some would listen and believe. Others looked at their own sad condi-
tion, and would not hope. The Egyptians had learned the expectations