Why Did God Harden Pharaoh?

I wrote on Romans 9. over eight years ago. I now have some related observations.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
Romans 9:16–18 ESV

Does the Bible tell us about some of the results of God showing his power in Pharaoh and getting his name proclaimed in all the earth?

Miracle Birth

Monday we celebrate the most important miracle birth in the Bible. Three days after the longest night of the year (in the northern hemisphere) we remember the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary.

What are the precedents to, and what is the meaning of, the event?

John Murray for Paedobaptism even if it demanded Paedocommunion

It is objected that paedobaptists are strangely inconsistent in dispensing baptism to infants and yet refusing to admit them to the Lord’s Table …

At the outset it should be admitted that if paedobaptists are inconsistent in this discrimination, then the relinquishment of infant baptism is not the only way of resolving the inconsistency. It could be resolved by going in the other direction, namely, that of admitting infants to the Lord’s Supper.

And when all factors entering into this dispute are taken into account, particularly the principle involved in infant baptism, then far less would be at stake in admitting infants to the Lord’s Supper than would be at stake in abandoning infant baptism.

This will serve to point up the significance of infant baptism in the divine economy of grace.

[John Murray, Christian Baptism (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1980). pp. 73-74; emphasis added. Note that John Murray opposed paedocommunion.]

Is Physical Culture ESSENTIALLY Shallow?

I criticized moralism related to body composition in my last post. I have some further thoughts on the matter, and this is one of them:

The moralism sometimes works the other way: instead of demanding that Christians meet a standard for “physical health” (appearance), one deems gym culture inherently “unspiritual” or “shallow” or some other vaguely negative thing. Then one’s non-participation in it becomes a badge of Christian maturity.

Wisdom, “Fitness,” and Moralism

Recently, I have run into a lot of “Christian” exhortations on social media for people to lose weight and “get fit.” I use quotation marks around Christian, because, in some cases, they are simply outright mockery about physical appearance (but not all are so bad).

The reigning moralisms about healthy (“moderate”) food intake are unhelpful for either virtue or health. There is no intuitive difference between wanting to eat for whatever reason, and being “really” hungry. There is no internal signal that one has eaten “enough” and one should now abstain. There is no sensory guidance that one can use will power to follow or that one can ignore for the sake of culinary desire. God made food. We like to eat food. And, apart from some basic knowledge of biology and math, no one can intuit how much is too much. (Or rather “too much” [Proverbs 25:16] is already probably far more than is healthy on a regular basis. One could avoid that extreme and still not be “healthy” enough.)

Psalms & Gender

When I wrote my book on Proverbs, I pointed out that the book was framed as advice to a son from a parent–first, from Solomon as father, then ending with the wisdom of a mother (who also represents Wisdom–v. 32). I stressed that, the literary device of a father advising a son, or a king talking to a royal heir, Proverbs was to be read and heeded by everyone.

Thus, I wrote on page X of the preface, that the “intended audience of Proverbs is more than just those who are set to inherit political authority. Proverbs was published as wisdom for everyone.” And again: “Proverbs seems to be Wisdom’s call to everyone to seek to be true sons (and also daughters) of Solomon.” And again: “Young men are in a transitional stage. They are on the cusp of adulthood. Proverbs is especially aimed at them, though everyone can and should profit from the book.”

It is obvious to me that, to the extent that one is concerned about Biblical masculinity, that Proverbs is especially relevant. But the results may surprise some. One would expect a book on masculinity to contrast it with femininity. There is some of that (i.e. Proverbs 11:16) but more attention is paid to the difference between children and adults. Proverbs has far more to say about the authority of mothers over their sons than about the authority of husbands over their wives.

Paul’s Paradoxical Wisdom of the Christian Life

I’m not sure if there are “Dune nerds” any more but that has been a thing in the past.

THE FEAR LITANY

A Dune nerd wasn’t merely someone who read or even appreciated Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel, Dune. It was someone who was able to recite the “Litany against Fear” and enjoyed doing so:

“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”