Post by James Blankenship on Apr 10, 2012 7:55:09 GMT -5
I held off on adding to this category, until now, because this was going to be the most thorough.
If one reads the bible, we see God interacting with the world, in 3 different manners:
Christ Jesus, (God the Son), interacted with man on a 1-1 basis.
The Holy Spirit, (God the Holy Spirit), interacts with Believers, by directing those who have chosen to surrender their lives to Christ, by choosing to accept His free gift of forgiveness.
God the Father interacts with man through His Law & sheer raw power.
What is the Law?
The 10 commandments & the laws set down by God throughout the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & the recap of all those laws in Deuteronomy.
Now, I must address this particular issue, that so many atheists/non-believers consistently keep bringing up.
What about all those people that God killed in killed in the Flood, & Sodom & Gomorrah? I thought God said, Thou Shall not Kill?"
Yes, He did set down that law-in the Book of Exodus. the Flood happened in the book of Genesis, years before.
God did not "kill" anyone in the flood, because His law had not been set down yet.
It has to be remembered that God is 100% perfect, & nothing evil can exist in His presence.
I talked about this here:
solascripturaalone.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=sin&thread=25&page=1
The Flood happened for one simple reason: Mankind had so rebelled, by their own choice, (otherwise known as free will.)
See my post on free will here:
solascripturaalone.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=choice&action=display&thread=11
Let's take a look at the flood story.
The entire story of Noah can be found here:
classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206:1-8:22&version=NIV
Genesis 6:12-13 (New International Version)
12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
Did anyone FORCE the world to corrupt itself? No Man CHOSE to!
Now, many atheists/non-believers will ask, well if God knew this was going to happen, why the need for a flood?
Water in the Bible is a symbol of cleansing-baptism, as an example.
Than many atheists/non-believers will say, well what about all the babies that died in the flood? They didn't do anything wrong.
We have to remember here that God is Omniscient, that is all knowing. How do we know this?
www.gotquestions.org/God-omniscient.html
WE also have to remember that since God IS omniscient, He KNEW what these children & babies would grow up into. He knew that they would be the same as their parents, & just as evil.
WE also have to remember that families were extremely close knit back in Old testament times, much more so than know. The parent was responsible for the child, & as such, all would be judged equally, because GOD judges all equally.
I can hear many atheists/non believers saying, "but God played favorites with choosing the Israelites."
God had decided that it was through the Israelites that the means for ALL men to come back to Him would be through them-the promised Messiah.
But we see, all through the Old Testament, that the Israelites were no better than those people before the flood, many, many times, & when they DID stray from the law, they were punished, just as those before the flood.
I am being quite honest, when I say that we cannot completely understand why God chose the israelites as His chosen people. The Bible isn't explicit about why.
But the Bible says that He DID choose them, and that is enough. Further speculation would be pointless, because we simply don't know.
What happened in the flood was not for God's benefit, but for mans. Specifically Noah, & His family. God doesn't have to explain Himself or His reason for doing anything to sinful creatures such as ourselves. The flood was a righteous judgement from God, because God is Righteous.
Ok, getting back to topic.
Than we have the story of Sodom & Gomorrah., which is found here:
classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2018:16-19:29&version=NIV
First we see Abraham, & how much God cared for him, that he wouldn't hide what he was going to do.
classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2018:16-33&version=NIV
What do we see in verses 32?
" 32 Then he said, May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?
He answered, For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.
But we all know the story-there weren't even 10 righteous people there.
In an entire city!
Next we come to the most important issue of this story, the people themselves.
Look what we see here:
Genesis 19:4-5 (New International Version)
4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom”both young and old”surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.
Let's look at how some other versions of Scripture state these verses:
Genesis 19:4-5 (New American Standard Bible)
4 Before they lay down, (A)the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5 and they called to Lot and said to him, (B)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.â€
Genesis 19:4-5 (The Message)
4-5 Before they went to bed men from all over the city of Sodom, young and old, descended on the house from all sides and boxed them in. They yelled to Lot, "Where are the men who are staying with you for the night? Bring them out so we can have our sport with them!"
Genesis 19:4-5 (Amplified Bible)
4But before they lay down, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, all the men from every quarter, surrounded the house.
5And they called to Lot and said, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know (be intimate with) them.
Genesis 19:4-5 (New Living Translation)
4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. 5 They shouted to Lot, Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!
Genesis 19:4-5 (English Standard Version)
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5(A) And they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight?(B) Bring them out to us, that we(C) may know them."
Genesis 19:4-5 (Contemporary English Version)
4Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house 5and started shouting, "Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!"
Genesis 19:4-5 (New King James Version)
4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.
Genesis 19:4-5 (King James Version)
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
I could post more versions, but it is obviously agreed that the men, & notice, that NO WOMEN are mentioned, that the sin of Sodom & Gomorrah was homosexuality.
Again, the Law of God, 'THOU SHALL NOT KILL', had not been set down yet.
This, like the Flood, was a righteous judgement, because the men of Sodom & Gomorrah were doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, & since the Lord is Holy, NO sin, could stand in His presence. Their sin was so great, that by the very nature of it, was an abomination in God's eyes.
As humans, we cannot judge what God does, because we are NOT God, & we will never BE God. Only if we were sinless, which we aren't, can we judge God.
The story of Pharaoh, I dealt with here:
solascripturaalone.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=choice&action=display&thread=11
Now, as to all the other people that God ordered the israelites to destroy, there IS a reason that God ordered it.
Let's start here:
Genesis 17:1-9 (King James Version)
Genesis 17
1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
Here we see God establishing his covenant with Abraham-the man from from whom would come the nation of the Israelites, & the people to whom the Messiah, whose line, Christ would come from.
God set aside the Israelites to he a Holy people, & to walk in His ways.
And that is the key here.
From Exodus 3:1-Deuteronomy 33:8, (that's 4 books here, people!), The Israelites are referred to as a holy people over 150 times!
And what did it mean to be Holy to these people.
To follow the 10 commandments & the laws set down from God, TO THE LETTER!
They were, in essence, God's representatives, and as long as they followed God's Laws, they were as holy AS God.
When they did, God blessed them.
When they didn't, God punished them
The people who God ordered destroyed, were as anathema to the Israelites, as sin is to God Himself.
By God's very nature, he could NOT let there be ANY interaction, between the people the Israelites can in contact with, & the Israelites, because he knew, that when that would happen, & it did, that the Israelites would not be fulfilling the path that God had set for them-to be a Holy People.
ALL traces of anything contrary to God, HAD to be eliminated, for their could be nothing that would contaminate the purity that God demanded of His chosen people.
ALL TRACES!
God is holy, so those who followed God, must be just as Holy.
Now, let's jump ahead to the story of Ananias & Saphira.
WE see their story here:
classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%205:1-10&version=NIV
What do we see here?
WE see, as Peter put it:
Acts 5:4-5 (New International Version)
4 Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
Did God kill Ananias?
NO.
We have to remember what had happened before that event.
People were coming to know Christ.
Miracles were happening right & left.
In short: God's power was being displayed as it had been in Old Testament times.
Ananias was well aware of all that was happening, because He was one of the people who came to know Christ, otherwise he wouldn't have sold his property.
But Ananias recognized the truth of what Peter said, so great was that realization, that shock of the knowledge of what he did killed him.
And the same thing happened to his wife here:
Acts 5:8-10 (New International Version)
8 Peter asked her, Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?
Yes,she said, that is the price.
9 Peter said to her, How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
What have we seen here?
Did God kill anyone?
No. Every instance where people died was because of God's Holiness. Israel was pure, when they obeyed the Law, & nothing unclean was allowed to contaminate it.
Abraham was righteous in God's eyes, & Lot was spared, while Sodom & Gomorrah paid the price, because of God's Righteous judgement.
Pharaoh's people paid the price of the death's of their firstborn, because Pharaoh CHOSE to refuse to let the Israelites go.
Ananias & Saphira died, because the sin of ther lie, could not stand up against God's truth.
This is the Power of God the Father.
It is one of righteousness.
it is one of purity.
It is one of obedience.
But did God the Father kill anyone.
Based on all the scriptural evidence i have presented? No.
And for those who will throw this verse against me:
Exodus 12:29 (New International Version)
29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
This happened according to the rules that God had laid out for Pharaoh, God, by His very nature cannot go against what He decrees.
This wasn't like the flood.
This wasn't like Sodom & Gomorrah.
This was because of Pharaoh's decision to disobey God. The blame for the death of the firstborn of Egypt rests only with Pharaoh.
In every way, Pharaoh, (through his refusal to obey God) said: "go ahead God, I give you permission to kill the firstborn of all my people-I am NOT going to obey you.
God simply gave Pharaoh what He asked for.
God is not responsible for what happened. Pharaoh was.
James
If one reads the bible, we see God interacting with the world, in 3 different manners:
Christ Jesus, (God the Son), interacted with man on a 1-1 basis.
The Holy Spirit, (God the Holy Spirit), interacts with Believers, by directing those who have chosen to surrender their lives to Christ, by choosing to accept His free gift of forgiveness.
God the Father interacts with man through His Law & sheer raw power.
What is the Law?
The 10 commandments & the laws set down by God throughout the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & the recap of all those laws in Deuteronomy.
Now, I must address this particular issue, that so many atheists/non-believers consistently keep bringing up.
What about all those people that God killed in killed in the Flood, & Sodom & Gomorrah? I thought God said, Thou Shall not Kill?"
Yes, He did set down that law-in the Book of Exodus. the Flood happened in the book of Genesis, years before.
God did not "kill" anyone in the flood, because His law had not been set down yet.
It has to be remembered that God is 100% perfect, & nothing evil can exist in His presence.
I talked about this here:
solascripturaalone.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=sin&thread=25&page=1
The Flood happened for one simple reason: Mankind had so rebelled, by their own choice, (otherwise known as free will.)
See my post on free will here:
solascripturaalone.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=choice&action=display&thread=11
Let's take a look at the flood story.
The entire story of Noah can be found here:
classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206:1-8:22&version=NIV
Genesis 6:12-13 (New International Version)
12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
Did anyone FORCE the world to corrupt itself? No Man CHOSE to!
Now, many atheists/non-believers will ask, well if God knew this was going to happen, why the need for a flood?
Water in the Bible is a symbol of cleansing-baptism, as an example.
Than many atheists/non-believers will say, well what about all the babies that died in the flood? They didn't do anything wrong.
We have to remember here that God is Omniscient, that is all knowing. How do we know this?
www.gotquestions.org/God-omniscient.html
Omniscience is defined as the state of having total knowledge, the quality of knowing everything. For God to be sovereign over His creation of all things, whether visible or invisible, He has to be all-knowing. His omniscience is not restricted to any one person in the Godhead-”Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all by nature omniscient.
God knows everything (1 John 3:20). He knows not only the minutest details of our lives but those of everything around us, for He mentions even knowing when a sparrow falls or when we lose a single hair (Matthew 10:29-30). Not only does God know everything that will occur until the end of history itself (Isaiah 46:9-10), but He also knows our very thoughts, even before we speak forth (Psalm 139:4). He knows our hearts from afar; He even saw us in the womb (Psalm 139:1-3, 15-16). Solomon expresses this truth perfectly when he says, For you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind (1 Kings 8:39).
God knows everything (1 John 3:20). He knows not only the minutest details of our lives but those of everything around us, for He mentions even knowing when a sparrow falls or when we lose a single hair (Matthew 10:29-30). Not only does God know everything that will occur until the end of history itself (Isaiah 46:9-10), but He also knows our very thoughts, even before we speak forth (Psalm 139:4). He knows our hearts from afar; He even saw us in the womb (Psalm 139:1-3, 15-16). Solomon expresses this truth perfectly when he says, For you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind (1 Kings 8:39).
WE also have to remember that since God IS omniscient, He KNEW what these children & babies would grow up into. He knew that they would be the same as their parents, & just as evil.
WE also have to remember that families were extremely close knit back in Old testament times, much more so than know. The parent was responsible for the child, & as such, all would be judged equally, because GOD judges all equally.
I can hear many atheists/non believers saying, "but God played favorites with choosing the Israelites."
God had decided that it was through the Israelites that the means for ALL men to come back to Him would be through them-the promised Messiah.
But we see, all through the Old Testament, that the Israelites were no better than those people before the flood, many, many times, & when they DID stray from the law, they were punished, just as those before the flood.
I am being quite honest, when I say that we cannot completely understand why God chose the israelites as His chosen people. The Bible isn't explicit about why.
But the Bible says that He DID choose them, and that is enough. Further speculation would be pointless, because we simply don't know.
What happened in the flood was not for God's benefit, but for mans. Specifically Noah, & His family. God doesn't have to explain Himself or His reason for doing anything to sinful creatures such as ourselves. The flood was a righteous judgement from God, because God is Righteous.
Ok, getting back to topic.
Than we have the story of Sodom & Gomorrah., which is found here:
classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2018:16-19:29&version=NIV
First we see Abraham, & how much God cared for him, that he wouldn't hide what he was going to do.
classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2018:16-33&version=NIV
What do we see in verses 32?
" 32 Then he said, May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?
He answered, For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.
But we all know the story-there weren't even 10 righteous people there.
In an entire city!
Next we come to the most important issue of this story, the people themselves.
Look what we see here:
Genesis 19:4-5 (New International Version)
4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom”both young and old”surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.
Let's look at how some other versions of Scripture state these verses:
Genesis 19:4-5 (New American Standard Bible)
4 Before they lay down, (A)the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; 5 and they called to Lot and said to him, (B)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.â€
Genesis 19:4-5 (The Message)
4-5 Before they went to bed men from all over the city of Sodom, young and old, descended on the house from all sides and boxed them in. They yelled to Lot, "Where are the men who are staying with you for the night? Bring them out so we can have our sport with them!"
Genesis 19:4-5 (Amplified Bible)
4But before they lay down, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, all the men from every quarter, surrounded the house.
5And they called to Lot and said, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know (be intimate with) them.
Genesis 19:4-5 (New Living Translation)
4 But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. 5 They shouted to Lot, Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!
Genesis 19:4-5 (English Standard Version)
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. 5(A) And they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight?(B) Bring them out to us, that we(C) may know them."
Genesis 19:4-5 (Contemporary English Version)
4Before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house 5and started shouting, "Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!"
Genesis 19:4-5 (New King James Version)
4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.
Genesis 19:4-5 (King James Version)
4But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter:
5And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
I could post more versions, but it is obviously agreed that the men, & notice, that NO WOMEN are mentioned, that the sin of Sodom & Gomorrah was homosexuality.
Again, the Law of God, 'THOU SHALL NOT KILL', had not been set down yet.
This, like the Flood, was a righteous judgement, because the men of Sodom & Gomorrah were doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, & since the Lord is Holy, NO sin, could stand in His presence. Their sin was so great, that by the very nature of it, was an abomination in God's eyes.
As humans, we cannot judge what God does, because we are NOT God, & we will never BE God. Only if we were sinless, which we aren't, can we judge God.
The story of Pharaoh, I dealt with here:
solascripturaalone.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=choice&action=display&thread=11
Now, as to all the other people that God ordered the israelites to destroy, there IS a reason that God ordered it.
Let's start here:
Genesis 17:1-9 (King James Version)
Genesis 17
1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
9And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
Here we see God establishing his covenant with Abraham-the man from from whom would come the nation of the Israelites, & the people to whom the Messiah, whose line, Christ would come from.
God set aside the Israelites to he a Holy people, & to walk in His ways.
And that is the key here.
From Exodus 3:1-Deuteronomy 33:8, (that's 4 books here, people!), The Israelites are referred to as a holy people over 150 times!
And what did it mean to be Holy to these people.
To follow the 10 commandments & the laws set down from God, TO THE LETTER!
They were, in essence, God's representatives, and as long as they followed God's Laws, they were as holy AS God.
When they did, God blessed them.
When they didn't, God punished them
The people who God ordered destroyed, were as anathema to the Israelites, as sin is to God Himself.
By God's very nature, he could NOT let there be ANY interaction, between the people the Israelites can in contact with, & the Israelites, because he knew, that when that would happen, & it did, that the Israelites would not be fulfilling the path that God had set for them-to be a Holy People.
ALL traces of anything contrary to God, HAD to be eliminated, for their could be nothing that would contaminate the purity that God demanded of His chosen people.
ALL TRACES!
God is holy, so those who followed God, must be just as Holy.
Now, let's jump ahead to the story of Ananias & Saphira.
WE see their story here:
classic.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%205:1-10&version=NIV
What do we see here?
WE see, as Peter put it:
Acts 5:4-5 (New International Version)
4 Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.
Did God kill Ananias?
NO.
We have to remember what had happened before that event.
People were coming to know Christ.
Miracles were happening right & left.
In short: God's power was being displayed as it had been in Old Testament times.
Ananias was well aware of all that was happening, because He was one of the people who came to know Christ, otherwise he wouldn't have sold his property.
But Ananias recognized the truth of what Peter said, so great was that realization, that shock of the knowledge of what he did killed him.
And the same thing happened to his wife here:
Acts 5:8-10 (New International Version)
8 Peter asked her, Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?
Yes,she said, that is the price.
9 Peter said to her, How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.
10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
What have we seen here?
Did God kill anyone?
No. Every instance where people died was because of God's Holiness. Israel was pure, when they obeyed the Law, & nothing unclean was allowed to contaminate it.
Abraham was righteous in God's eyes, & Lot was spared, while Sodom & Gomorrah paid the price, because of God's Righteous judgement.
Pharaoh's people paid the price of the death's of their firstborn, because Pharaoh CHOSE to refuse to let the Israelites go.
Ananias & Saphira died, because the sin of ther lie, could not stand up against God's truth.
This is the Power of God the Father.
It is one of righteousness.
it is one of purity.
It is one of obedience.
But did God the Father kill anyone.
Based on all the scriptural evidence i have presented? No.
And for those who will throw this verse against me:
Exodus 12:29 (New International Version)
29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
This happened according to the rules that God had laid out for Pharaoh, God, by His very nature cannot go against what He decrees.
This wasn't like the flood.
This wasn't like Sodom & Gomorrah.
This was because of Pharaoh's decision to disobey God. The blame for the death of the firstborn of Egypt rests only with Pharaoh.
In every way, Pharaoh, (through his refusal to obey God) said: "go ahead God, I give you permission to kill the firstborn of all my people-I am NOT going to obey you.
God simply gave Pharaoh what He asked for.
God is not responsible for what happened. Pharaoh was.
James
