Exodus 12:29–32

And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the LORD as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”

Yes, he really did end with, “and bless me also.” After all they’ve been through—especially after kicking them out saying, “on the day you see my face you shall die”—what could have possessed Pharoah to say something that stupid?

“Sure, I enslaved you and mistreated you and wouldn’t even give you a three-day weekend to sacrifice to the LORD. Then you destroyed most of the country. So now I’m finally going to let you go.

But no hard feelings, right?”

Wow. When God said He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, that just sounded like Pharaoh would be mean.

But there’s something more to this. Might he actually be schizophrenic or something?

No. The Bible never indicates that his behavior is anything more than just a hardened, sinful heart. There’s no demon possession and no clinical psychosis. He’s not hearing voices (other than his advisers pleading with him to get a clue).

He’s normal.

This is scary. Pharaoh’s crazy behavior is just an example of plain old sin. He’s not really any different from you and me. This highlights one of the key, recurring lessons of scripture.

Sin is nuts.

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! — Romans 7:24–25a

This passage is so shocking that many commentators think Paul is writing about his pre-conversion self.

But he’s not. The verbs are all in the present tense. Paul is writing about himself at the time he’s writing. If that’s what the saved version of Paul is like, what chance have we of getting through to the unsaved? Won’t their sin block all of our arguments?

Exactly. Conversion is supernatural. It was supernatural with you, right?

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.