You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. The charge is not failure of comprehension but willful opposition — you still set yourself. The Hebrew suggests an elevated position, a standing over against: Pharaoh has positioned himself above and in opposition to God's people, which is to position himself against God. Acts 5:39 records Gamaliel's warning: if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is from God, you will only find yourselves fighting against God. Pharaoh has been fighting against God for six plagues. The seventh will make the stakes of that fight impossible to ignore. Those who set themselves against God's people set themselves against the one who claims them — and no empire, no military force, no religious system has successfully maintained that position across history.

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