It's tragic, yes, but God wasn't just senselessly killing off the first born. Take a look at Exodus 1:8-15...
Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
Long story short, Pharaoh was the one who started it! God's punishment on him was an echo on that. It had EVERYTHING to do with the situation. If you think all the firstborn of Egypt is a large number, just think how many more countless Israelite slaves - men and women as well as children - suffered and died under Pharaoh's hands and all the people of Egypt. The plagues were tragic, but justified. God's not the cuddly cosmic teddy bear a lot of people make Him out to be. You don't mess with Him, or His people. If He has to use tragedy to get that across, so be it.
I'd talk about this a little more, but I'm really short on time today... >.<
Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
Long story short, Pharaoh was the one who started it! God's punishment on him was an echo on that. It had EVERYTHING to do with the situation. If you think all the firstborn of Egypt is a large number, just think how many more countless Israelite slaves - men and women as well as children - suffered and died under Pharaoh's hands and all the people of Egypt. The plagues were tragic, but justified. God's not the cuddly cosmic teddy bear a lot of people make Him out to be. You don't mess with Him, or His people. If He has to use tragedy to get that across, so be it.
I'd talk about this a little more, but I'm really short on time today... >.<
last edited zaidi ya mwaka mmoja uliopita