movement of jah people?

I realize that by reading Exodus I am out of sync with everybody else, but to be honest to make any headway in the Bible I had to skip over Genesis for a while — it's a hump I can never get over when attempting to read the Bible, so I figured I'd save it for later.

Why does God make everything so complicated? I realize it makes for a better story, but I never thought God would tell Moses to "perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go" (Exodus 4:21). This is like a holy soap opera; we already know there's going to be major drama. Why couldn't God soften Pharaoh's heart instead, and make things easy for Moses while saving the Egyptians from plague and misfortune? It appears that God really does like collective punishment, just for the fun of it. If God was six years old, humans would be his Legos. He is a bit impulsive; just a few lines later he tries to kill Moses (or his son?) but Moses' wife is smart enough to remember that everyone is supposed to be circumcised, and she pleases the Lord by circumcising her son on the spot. Weird circumstance? Very. This is another instance that seems randomly inserted to urge everyone to get circumcised ASAP.

Most of the beginning of Exodus is not a bad read; I'd say it's more like J's style. P probably jumps in during chapter six, when suddenly the genealogy of Moses and Aaron becomes important enough to interject in the middle of the deliverance story. It's not even explained well. P is not an efficient writer. That's why I also think he is more likely to have written God's quoted speech in Genesis and early Exodus. God likes to repeat himself and speak far longer than necessary a lot of the time.

Exodus 7. God says he will "harden Pharaoh's heart" again. Then, he plans to deliver the Israelites "out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment." This is completely unfair! Pharaoh doesn't even have a chance to do the right thing because God already plans on "hardening his heart" again. God's already plotting out his next punishment, and what is he punishing? the wrong decision he is forcing Pharaoh to make? Talk about playing favorites. My only explanation is that the Egyptians have not worshipped the Lord because they are of the wrong religion (or are not religious), so that is their great sin which deserves punishment. Now I see why people would worship God out of fear.

Shortly after this incident, God tells Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go" (Exodus 7:14). Really? That should be obvious, since God said he was going to make things that way. He gives Moses a task and then makes it ten times more difficult than it should be. I swear, people are just God's pawns he plays with so he can laugh at all the problems he makes for them.

I find it funny that Pharaoh's heathen magicians can perform all of the "miracles" God performs for Moses and Aaron. I mean, once Egypt was covered in frogs it would probably be better to work a magic to get rid of them, not to bring on a whole other plague of frogs to prove a point...all of those extra frogs only exasperated Pharaoh to ask Moses to make it stop. Why didn't he ask his magicians first? It's a mystery. Then they try to produce more gnats, which luckily they fail at. Are they stupid? Did they really want to be surrounded by more gnats? Another mystery. This story really makes Egyptians look bad. And every time the Pharaoh won't let the people go, it's because God "hardens his heart."

This whole reading the Bible/blog thing is impossible.