EXODUS 7 PLUS

This is the way I see it:
The Israelites wanted to leave Egypt, but the Pharaoh refused to allow them to emigrate and forced them to remain in Egypt as slaves.
To convince the Pharaoh to "let my people go", the Lord sent ten plagues to Egypt.
Some of them were actually quite infantile: 
All the dust of Egypt shall change into lice.
Or this one:
"This is what the Great Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. The Nile will teem with frogs and ........."

After the fourth plague the Pharaoh promised to let the Israelites leave Egypt. But, so says the Old Testament, "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and so he (Pharaoh) refused to keep his promise.
Now, one has to wonder: Why did the Lord "harden" Pharaoh's heart?  Was it so he (the Lord) could pull other tricks out of his magic bag ?
Why did the Lord not "soften" Pharaoh's heart at the beginning of this ridiculous farce ?
It seems that the God of the Old testament is not only a conceited ass ( let my people go so they can worship me) but he is also a dilettante as a magician. He performs all kinds of 'hocus - pocus', but to no avail. The Pharaoh stands pat, seemingly stronger than God.

Now it appears that God gets frustrated. And when God gets frustrated he gets to be a mean killer.
So when his first  nine clumsy attempts to convince the Pharaoh to "let my people go so they may worship me" did not work, he, the merciful and just Lord and God comes out with the heavy artillery.
This is what he says: "About midnight I will go throughout Egypt and every firstborn in Egypt will die - from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle as well."
Now, isn't this just dandy - instead of softening Pharaoh's heart, this Lord decides to go on a killing spree.
Guilty, sinful or pure at heart... makes no difference: You're a Firstborn ? Off with you. Death is your reward. Some firstborns may have been just hours old... no exception... off with you... 

Let us, once more, look at this story: 
The Lord could have softened Pharaoh's heart at the very beginning, who then would have allowed the Israelites to leave, so that they might worship the Lord. Case closed!
The Lord never mentioned that he wanted the Israelites to leave slavery, because slavery and bondage is a state unworthy of a human being and that each human should be able to live in peace and freedom.
But Noooo, it's not for the people he is concerned, but his concern is about himself: He wants to be worshiped.
When Pharaoh seems willing to let the Israelites leave his country, (would you believe this?) the Lord "hardens his heart" and as a consequence of this hardening, Pharaoh breaks his promise.

Do you really need more proof that the Bible's Old Testament is a collection of nonsensical horror stories, too stupid and infantile to be given even the tiniest of credence ?

The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson wrote more believable tales.

That is the honest belief of

Bertstravels.