Exodus9:12 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
-NKJV
A lot of people who do not know God have troubles with Exodus. One of these easily answered concerns they have is: Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart and have him keep being a bad guy? So we know that the Israelites were held in cruel slavery under Egypt for hundreds of years, and God came to save em. This physical slavery in Goshen that the Israelites had is directly analogous to our spiritual slavery of sin. It is an important thing to study to learn not just about letting your country not be overthrown and losing freedom, but also how deadly sin is and how it can make you a slave forever if you do not escape it with the love of Jesus. So why did God have Pharaoh go from mostly a bad guy to just full on bad guy? Well as I explained earlier, the Israelites had enough suffering having been enslaved hundreds of years. If God would have let Pharaoh do his normal mostly bad, but relenting for a moment then going bad to bad, the Israelites would have suffered way more maybe over many years. God reduced the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people who were tormented at the hands of oppressors for cutting to the chase of Pharaoh ultimately being a bad guy and just removing the years of wishy washy back and forth bad and relenting to just get it over bad guy. Think of the last time you or someone you knew was in a bad relationship and you wanted out, but the person had times of being descent, only to relapse into a bad guy again… It would be best if their true self showed up so you could make an informed decision. God knew Pharaoh was going to ultimately be bad in the end, so he hastened the escape out of that bad relationship and let the Israelites Exodus out sooner. I hope that helps people who never understood why God would do such a thing, and now you know, it is because God is always good, loving and merciful. God bless, and have an awesome weekend.
PS: Apologies from a funny preview image, its from my video game Starfighter General. I thought it was almost applicable, so heh. A Christian’s life is about having fun and helping others have fun while you do work so you can help others. You catch more with a good bait. So always be happy, cheerful and dancing when you can. A smile is more approachable than a frown.