Death Of Egyptian Firstborns: Is It Fair? (Part 2)

This piece is the second part of a conversation that started last week. To fully understand and comprehend the breadth of the issue you need to read the first part here. The events in Exodus 11 and 12, which culminated in the death of every firstborn son of the Egyptians is the focus of our discussion. I raised three questions in part one and only answer one. The questions were, (1) how is it fair or just for a loving God to kill innocent children? (2) Is this act of brutality consistent with the nature of God? (3) Is the God of the Old Testament the same as the Jesus we see in the New Testament? Last week I attempted to answer the first as comprehensively as I could, and this week I will attempt to answer the other two. 

Is this act of brutality consistent with the nature of God?

The first thing to say is that the events of Exodus, including the death of the firstborns cannot be described as acts of "brutality." To label them as such is to conflate brutality with acts of justice.  When terrorists are cornered and asked to surrender, but refuse and instead opt for a shoot out in an attempt to escape and are eventually overpowered and killed, that is not brutality. They got what they deserve. When a tyrant continues to flex their muscles against a force they consider inferior and eventually lose, their defeat through combat is not regarded as brutality, but the consequence of war. Pharaoh and the Egyptians got what they asked for in that story. Don't forget that God did all He could to get Pharaoh to agree to a peaceful resolution of the matter, but Pharaoh consistently refused. Pharaoh ultimately decided that the stalemate will only be resolved by death - Read part one of this piece for more on this point. 

Secondly, one may say the killing of the Egyptian firstborns is not consistent with God's nature of love. It is true that God is love. He loves everybody, including sinners like Pharaoh. In the exercise of His love, God gave Pharaoh many opportunities to change his mind and allow Israel to leave Egypt peacefully. Pharaoh consistently refused. What happened in the story is the interplay of the attributes of God. For God to be God, He has to be loving, merciful, and just. Sometimes, the way we experience or read about the interplay of these attributes may lead us to think God is inconsistent, but the opposite is the case.

A kind and loving God will not abandon Israel to slavery forever, especially when He had previously promised to bring them out (Gen. 17:13-14; Ex. 3:7-9). Leading Israel out of slavery was a loving thing to do. In giving Pharaoh many opportunities for a peaceful resolution, God was again showing His love to Pharaoh. That love consisted of His mercy. There were at least nine times when Pharaoh said, okay, I will let Israel go, but later changed his mind and refused to let them go. You may say that it was God who hardened Pharaoh's heart. Yes, that's correct, however, God only hardened his heart because it was clear that was the inclination of his heart. God knows what Pharaoh was like, just read this... "Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.' And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD..." (Ex. 14:3-4) God's hardening comes because Pharaoh's heart was evil, deceptive and wicked. And, God had bigger plans than Pharaoh could ever imagine. 

It will not be just for God to leave a tyrant like Pharaoh to keep oppressing a weak and powerless people. Look back throughout human history. Every oppressive regime eventually falls. Where are the great Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires? It is the interplay of God's sovereign attributes of love, mercy and justice that overthrows governments, sets the oppressed free and protects the undeserving. We see this fully at play at the cross. Jesus died for the sins of the undeserving world (mercy). He did this because He loved the world (love) and in the death of Jesus, the wrath of God against sin was satisfied (Justice). That's why John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  At the cross we see all these attributes at play simultaneously, without conflict. It's amazing. 

In saving Israel, God was being kind and loving. In giving Pharaoh many opportunities, God was being merciful. In rescuing Israel from all their enemies throughout their forty year journey from Egypt to the promised land, God was being merciful and faithful to His promise. They did not deserve it. They were rebellious and stubborn and talked about going back to Egypt severally. In killing the Egyptians, God was exercising His Judgement, only after His mercy was consistently rejected. So, mercy had to give way to justice, and to be loving is to be just.  

Is the God of the Old Testament the same as the Jesus we see in the New Testament?

Some have wrongly suggested that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. Nothing can be far from the truth. There is a tendency, even among Christians, to view the God of the Old Testament as vindictive and vengeful, as opposed to the loving, merciful, and kind God of the New Testament. This will suggest that they are either different “Gods” or that God’s attitude improved overtime.  But the Bible is very clear about the unchanging nature of God (Mal. 3:6; John 1:1-3 & 14; Heb. 13:8; Jam. 1:17). In Acts 2, Peter’s address to the crowd indicates that the apostles thought of the Old Testament God as the same who sent Jesus. God introduced Himself as I AM WHO I AM - YAHWEH in Exodus. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not change. 

In conclusion, when Paul dealt with this issue in Romans 9, he (Paul) emphasised God's prerogative to decide whatever He wants. He finished with these texts, which speaks so powerfully and with a sense of finality on the topic. So I am going to leave you with these texts and allow you to ponder them. "One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will? But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" Does not the potter have have the right to make out of the lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath - prepared for destruction? 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 - even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?"  (Rom. 9:19-24)