Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2)
Pride or Arrogance is a characteristic of every individual. Each individual has a level of pride or arrogance in them. The way it is used makes it abusive or in the right sense. Most persons hate to be defeated and so to show their strength in defeat, they find other ways to be relevant and in proving this, they display their arrogance. Arrogance goes with being stiff-necked. In other jurisdictions, it can be expressed as hard-ears.
Some kids can be hard-ears and so can be some adults. Why would a kid be stiff-necked or hard-eared? Bible says that ‘there is foolishness in the heart of a child but the rod of correction takes it away’ (Proverbs 22:15). Children cry over little things such as demands. A child can decide that he wants this and if the parent decides not to give it, they can cry. Children can forcefully claim things and that is a sign of arrogance. You tell a kid to ‘stop’ and he will not stop- a sign of hard ears. Adults get into brawl and wouldn’t be separated.
If you look at the behavior of those kids and adults in situations, you can conclude that something controls their actions. Some parents will scream at their children and they will never stop until they get hurt. Adults will never stop fighting until there is blood-shed. Why? Because there is a drive and that drive is a spirit. Same in the life of Egyptian King Pharaoh, we saw him display arrogance before the leaders of the Israelites when God commanded him to let his people (Israel) leave the oppressive country of Egypt.
In Exodus chapter five, the Egyptian king (Pharaoh) displayed with such impudence, ‘who is the Lord’. It was with such height of disrespect. Those who do not serve the Almighty God still acknowledges that there is a big God somewhere. Within them, they know so they usually will not address Him at all. But for an earthly King to ask with command, ‘who is the Lord’ can indeed incur the wrath of God. No wonder God struck the Egyptians with His heavy hand and in the end, Pharaoh himself acknowledged God when the sea covered his army.
Pharaoh did not regard the Almighty for anything as he questioned why he should obey Him and let Israel go. It was an evident of a King who was full of himself suggesting that, after him, no one existed. The Israelites slavery was so intense that, they were being misused and rundown by the Egyptian soldiers. The reason Pharaoh did not believe the Israelites had a God in the first place. ‘If you have a God, where is your deliverance? Why are you here?
Since Pharaoh displayed absolute ignorance of the God of the Israelites that is the reason God had to show himself in a bigger way to liberate his people. When we are ignorant about a personality, it is better to be reserved in our comments than demonstrating the highest form of disregard. The Spirit of Pharaoh is found in today’s church as some believers will never change upon several warnings from the pulpit. Christians who persistently engage in adultery, fornication, drunkenness, dwelling in the counsel of the ungodly etc. Besides their weakness, there is the tendency to yield to and that is where the spirit of pharaoh faintly dwells- the seed to yield to arrogance.
Disobedience is a sin God really hates- for God to instruct and refuse can come with severe consequences. Pharaoh’s stiff-necked and persistent refusal to let Israel go to worship their God got God really furious and had to unleash the ten plagues. It included the elimination of the first-borns of every Egyptian home. This is the high price you pay when you disobey God in arrogance. If indulge in sin repeatedly as a believer, it can kindle God’s anger against you and comes with great punishment.
