Is the Bible God Unjust?

One of the fundamental precepts of justice is that the innocent should not be punished along with the guilty.  And we would well expect this from God, or from any writings that people claim are about God, as Abraham expressed so well so long ago:

"Far be it from you to do such a thing-to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"  Genesis 18:25

And God responds to Abraham by stating that Sodom won't be destroyed for the sake of only ten righteous men:

The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake...."Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"  He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."  Genesis 18:26,32

And indeed some parts of the Bible also affirm this principle:

Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.  Deuteronomy 24:16

In those days people will no longer say, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.' Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes-his own teeth will be set on edge. Jeremiah 31:29-30

The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:  'The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?  "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD , you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son-both alike belong to me.  The soul who sins is the one who will die......  The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.  Ezekiel 18:1-4, 20

So far so good.  BUT!! Many parts of the Bible say quite differently.  These verses seem to say that the children ARE punished for the sins of the fathers, but at least there does seem to be a statute of limitations:

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me  Exodus 20:5

maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.  Exodus 34:7

The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.  Numbers 14:18

Cases of the Innocents being punished:

So while the issue might seem to be a toss-up from the verses cited above, other verses tip the scales BIG-TIME!  There seem to be lots of cases where innocents are pushed along with the guilty, either by Yahweh himself, or according to his word, or seemingly with his approval:

Because a king didn't let the Israelites pass through (because Yahweh had hardened his heart), the king's sons, army, and towns of men, women, and children are killed:

But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.... the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them-men, women and children. We left no survivors.  Deuteronomy 2:30-34

Yahweh allows 36 men to be killed because, unknown to them, someone else has taken a few trinkets which were supposed to have been destroyed/devoted to Yahweh.  Achan, the guilty culprit confesses and seems to repent.  Confession is supposed to be good for the soul, but Yahweh wasn't as forgiving back in those days, so Achan AND HIS SONS AND DAUGHTERS (not to mention his animals) are killed!  This seems to satisfy Yahweh who turns from his anger.

So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them...  The LORD said to Joshua, "...Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions....  He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him...  Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD , the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me."  Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD , the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them.....   Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor.  Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today."  Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger....  Joshua 7:4, 10, 11, 15, 19-26

All the men of a town are killed because the town elders didn't give bread to Gideon's men:

Then Gideon came and said to the men of Succoth, "Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me by saying, 'Do you already have the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna in your possession? Why should we give bread to your exhausted men?'  He took the elders of the town and taught the men of Succoth a lesson by punishing them with desert thorns and briers. He also pulled down the tower of Peniel and killed the men of the town.  Judges 8:15-17

Because Saul wasn't man enough to kill ALL the Amalekites like Yahweh wanted, the Israelites are to be killed:

"Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the LORD has done this to you today. The LORD will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines."  1 Samuel 28:18-19

Poor Uzzah is killed by Yahweh for touching the ark when all he was doing was trying to steady it to keep it from from falling.  But when Yahweh says "don't touch it", he means "DON'T TOUCH IT!!"  Though technically I guess this doesn't count as an injustice since Uzzah WAS the one who did the touching:

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled.  The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.  2 Samuel 6:6-7

To punish David for his sin, Yahweh kills David's infant son:

Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.... But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die."...  David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground.  David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked.  "Yes," they replied, "he is dead.".  2 Sam 12:9-19

Yahweh gets mad because Saul broke a treaty/promise made by Joshua and put some of the Gibeonites to death.  No problem there.  Saul shouldn't have broken the treaty, and he certainly shouldn't have unjustly killed those people.  But Yahweh waits until after Saul is dead and sends a famine (and apparently stops answering prayers) to punish the ISRAELITES (I wonder how many innocents died in the famine?  It doesn't say) for what SAUL did.  So to make amends seven of Saul's DESCENDANTS are killed and exposed on a hill!  This must have satisfied Yahweh who then starts answering prayers again:

During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the LORD . The LORD said, "It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death."  ...(...Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.)  David asked the Gibeonites, "What shall I do for you?...  They answered the king, "As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and exposed before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul-the Lord 's chosen one."  So the king said, "I will give them to you." ..... He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who killed and exposed them on a hill before the LORD . All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning...  After that, God answered prayer in behalf of the land.  2 Samuel 21:1-14

For some reason, Yahweh gets really mad that David took a census.  As punishment for DAVID'S action, Yahweh sends a plague that KILLS SEVENTY-THOUSAND PEOPLE!  Even David has to remind Yahweh that HE was the one who did wrong and not his people:  

David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD , "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD , I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing."  Before David got up the next morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David's seer: "Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.' "  So Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land?..."..  So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died......When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD , "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family.".. 2 Samuel 24:10-17

Jeroboam's entire family is killed because of Jeroboam's sins, according to the word of Yahweh:

You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made for yourself other gods, idols made of metal; you have provoked me to anger and thrust me behind your back.  " 'Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel-slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone.  Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country. The LORD has spoken!'  1 Kings 14:9-11

Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of Asa king of Judah and succeeded him as king.  As soon as he began to reign, he killed Jeroboam's whole family. He did not leave Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all, according to the word of the LORD given through his servant Ahijah the Shilonite- because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he provoked the LORD , the God of Israel, to anger.  1 Kings 15:28-30

The entire family of Baasha is killed, in accordance with the word of Yahweh, because of the sins that Baasha and his son committed.

So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu- because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the LORD , the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols. 1 Kings 16:12-13

Elijah kills 100 men and their two captains just to prove he's a man of Yahweh.  The men were only following the orders of their captains, and the captains were only following the orders of their king.  Another 50 men and their captain are about to be killed next when the captain admonishes Elijah to have respect for their lives.  Wouldn't you think that a man of God should already respect people's lives without having to be reminded?

Elijah answered the captain, "If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.  At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, "Man of God, this is what the king says, 'Come down at once!' "  "If I am a man of God," Elijah replied, "may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!" Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.  So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. "Man of God," he begged, "please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!"  2 Kings  1:10-14

Because of Naaman's sin, his DESCENDANTS are cursed with leprosy FOREVER (anyone out there with Jewish ancestry who has leprosy, now you know why!):

But Elisha said to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money, or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds, or menservants and maidservants? Naaman's leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever."  2 Kings 5:26-27

Because Ahab does evil, his descendants and slaves are condemned to die.  Yahweh is touched how Ahab humbles himself, so he decides not to bring evil on Ahab.  Instead he'll bring it on Ahab's son's house: 

Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!"  "I have found you," he answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD . 'I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel-slave or free....  When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.  Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."  1 Kings 21:20-29

The threat is repeated later:

... the prophet... declared, "This is what the LORD , the God of Israel, says: 'I anoint you king over the LORD's people Israel. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD's servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel-slave or free.  2 Kings 9:6-8

And then the evil is carried out.  EVERYONE left of Ahab's family is killed, plus his chief men, friends, and priests.  70 men are killed and their heads put in baskets! Charming.  Filled with "zeal for the LORD" Jehu finishes the job by killing everyone who's left:

When the letter arrived, these men took the princes and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu in Jezreel. When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, "They have brought the heads of the princes."  Then Jehu ordered, "Put them in two piles at the entrance of the city gate until morning."  The next morning Jehu went out. He stood before all the people and said, "You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him, but who killed all these? Know then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail. The LORD has done what he promised through his servant Elijah." So Jehu killed everyone in Jezreel who remained of the house of Ahab, as well as all his chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor.  Jehu then set out and went toward Samaria. At Beth Eked of the Shepherds, he met some relatives of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, "Who are you?"  They said, "We are relatives of Ahaziah, and we have come down to greet the families of the king and of the queen mother."  "Take them alive!" he ordered. So they took them alive and slaughtered them by the well of Beth Eked-forty-two men. He left no survivor...  Jehu said, "Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD ."...  When Jehu came to Samaria, he killed all who were left there of Ahab's family; he destroyed them, according to the word of the LORD spoken to Elijah. 2 Kings 10:7- 17

Yahweh himself gives approval for the slaughter:

The LORD said to Jehu, "Because you have done well in accomplishing what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab all I had in mind to do, your descendants will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation."  2 Kings 10:30

When Samaria in Israel is settled by people of other nations, Yahweh sends lions to kill people because they don't know what he requires (notice that Yahweh didn't seem to mind them being unaware of him and his requirements while they were still living in a "heathen" nation):  

The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. When they first lived there, they did not worship the LORD ; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. It was reported to the king of Assyria: "The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires."  2 Kings 17:24-26

The Babylonian sons are to be slaughtered for the sins of their forefathers:

Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the sins of their forefathers; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities.  "I will rise up against them," declares the LORD Almighty.  "I will cut off from Babylon her name and survivors, her offspring and descendants," declares the LORD . 1 Isaiah 14:21-22

The entire nation of Egypt is punished for the actions of Pharaoh.  Even the children of slaves, who were certainly innocent and had no way to influence Pharaoh's actions, are killed.  But Pharaoh wouldn't listen because Yahweh had hardened his heart so that wonders could be performed, in order to show everyone he is Lord, and to show that he makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel:  

"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it." Exodus 7:3-5

So Moses said, "This is what the LORD says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt-worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.' Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel....  The LORD had said to Moses, "Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you-so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt."  Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.  Exodus 11:4-10

The Apologist's Defense:

• Regarding "punishing to the third and fourth generation": Back in those days households had 3 or 4 generations of people all living together in close conditions.  So if members of the household were sinning and "hated" God, then all members of the household would have had knowledge and been guilty.  Another one: "visiting the sins" to the 3rd and 4th generation was actually an act of mercy in that God would give a family 3 or 4 generations to "clean up their act" before executing judgment.
• Regarding Achan's family being killed for his actions, as his family living in close quarters they would have known about it and shared in the guilt and the loot. 
• Regarding people being punished for the actions of their king/pharaoh:  It is natural for people to suffer when their leader does wrong.  For example if a king gets his country into an ill-advised war and they are defeated, it is the common people who will suffer and be killed by the other country.  Likewise if in modern times a country's leader mishandles the economy then its the common people who will suffer from loss of jobs, hunger, etc.  Still another example, if a father commits a crime and is sent to prison, his family suffers from his absence and lack of financial support.  Another one I've seen: If a father drives drunk with his family, they suffer from being put a risk, especially if there is a wreck. 
• Often the old "God's ways are higher than yours" argument is used.  Some apologists concede that people are indeed killed for the sins of others, but its okay because God has the right to do whatever he wants, because he's God and you're not!   He has a higher purpose in punishing innocents for the sins of others.  Who are you to question God?
• Its okay for God to kill the innocent because they will go to heaven anyway.  But he WON'T punish people in the afterlife for the sins of others, now THAT would be wrong!
• Some apologists use the example of liability insurance to show that it is acceptable for some to be punished for the wrongful acts of others (or at least show inconsistency of the skeptic's position since presumably many/most skeptics partake of the benefits of insurance).  This example is supposed to apply since with liability insurance when an individual is at fault, it is the insurance company that has to pay (and by extension the company's shareholders and other insured customers).  Similarly, another example used is the concept of corporate liability, since if individual employees of a company do wrong, such as designing/building a defective product that results in death/injury, it is the company (and by extension the shareholders) that suffers the consequences and pays for damages.  Presumably skeptics don't take issue with this concept either.   
• Regarding the episode of  Saul's descendants being killed to avenge the wrong done to the Gibeonites: God allowed this just to show the Israelites that they had to live up to their promises, and there would be consequences if they did wrong.  The Gibeonites were the ones who chose the death of Saul's descendants as payback, not God.  Because they were a "pagan people" they wanted revenge on Saul's descendants.  So God had to honor their request in order to protect his own reputation by forcing the Israelites make amends.
• Regarding the 70,000 killed due to David taking the census:  The Christian Think Tank says that 70,000 people killed in a famine wasn't a big deal back in ancient times- and it only lasted 3 days anyway.  There were lots of ancient famines that lasted a lot longer and killed a lot more people.
• I've seen one apologist defend the Biblical cases of innocents being killed by comparing it to America's atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which (presumably) is thought to be justified even though many thousands of innocents were killed. 
• Regarding God "hardening Pharaoh's heart", the apologists say that Pharaoh first hardened his own heart, and quote Exodus 7:13: ^"Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said." or "Pharaoh's heart became hard" from verse 22, among others.  Only after Pharaoh hardened his own heart did God then "give him what he wanted" and hardened his heart more.

My take on it:

I think its pretty clearly a case of Judaic thought evolving over time.  The older writings reflect a more primitive and barbaric view, when people thought it was perfectly alright for groups of people to be punished for the wrongs of a few, and for entire families and descendants to be punished and killed for the wrongs of the father.  Its a concept called "collective punishment", and is seen in may places in the Bible when the entire nations of Israel or Judah are punished or rewarded together.  But later, people began to see such things as an injustice, so the writers condemned it with the verses seen in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

• Regarding the "punishing to the third and fourth generation": If these verses  were the only issue then it wouldn't be an issue.  Despite the apologist's wishful thinking, the many examples cited above do show that the innocent are indeed punished for the wrongs of others.  I don't think there is any leg to stand on to claim otherwise, which is why most apologists just try to justify it instead of denying it.
• Regarding Achan's family being killed.  That his family took part is just pure speculation.  And just why were Achan's animals killed also?  Did they take part and share in the responsibility too?  This just seems to be a primitive concept of having to totally exterminate and obliterate a wrong-doer along with all his possessions in order to turn the wrath of a primitive god.
• The apologists fail to grasp the difference between punishment versus suffering due to natural consequences.  A ruler's subjects suffering because of his mistakes are NATURAL consequences or repercussions.  This is a far cry from the people being DIRECTLY punished for the actions of the ruler.  Yes, if a father commits a crime and is sent to prison his family suffers.  Does that mean we should throw his family in prison too?
• Regarding the old "God's ways are higher than your ways" argument:  That these are God's ways is exactly what is being disputed!  Isn't it amazing that fundamentalists would rather accept that God is unjust than accept that a book could be wrong?
• Regarding the examples of liability insurance and corporate liability:  These are very poor comparisons, as the apologists fail to grasp the difference between RESTITUTION and RETRIBUTION.  In these examples, if is the RESTITUTION that is shared by others, and what's more this sharing is VOLUNTARY!  In the case of liability insurance, this is a mutually beneficial and completely voluntary business arrangement between two parties.  The insuring party benefits in the way of profits, since the premiums it collects from policy-holders overall exceeds the settlements paid out.  The insured party benefits in that his risk of suffering a devastating financial loss is greatly reduced at the cost of the premiums he pays to the company.  In the case of corporate liability, this doesn't follow either.  Is is the CORPORATION that has the responsibility for ensuring the safety of its products, since the CORPORATION also has the the benefits of the sale of its products (Though I'm sure companies would love to rake in millions in profits, while hanging the individual employees that screwed-up out to dry when there is some product liability issue).
• The reason the Bible doesn't say that those innocents would be punished in the afterlife is because there WAS no concept of the afterlife at his period!  The afterlife was a later development in Judaism (see here).  And if God's ways are higher than yours and anything God does is okay, then it would be just fine and dandy if he DID punish the innocent for all eternity in the afterlife, wouldn't it?  It would be okay if God sent YOU to hell for what Saul or David did, wouldn't it?  "But God wouldn't DO that", you will say, that would be UNJUST and contrary to his character!  Duh!  That's exactly the point! That's exactly what is said about these cases in the Bible!
• Regarding the episode of Saul's descendants being killed:  I'm glad that Yahweh was so concerned about his reputation that he made sure that restitution was given to a "pagan" people.  But wasn't he concerned about his reputation in accepting such an unjust restitution?  And why did he wait until after Saul was dead to make amends?  Why didn't he strike while the iron was hot and punish the perpetrators instead of innocents being punished?  Was he too busy?
• 70,000 innocent people killed is NO BIG DEAL?  Can this guy keep a straight face when he says that?   That argument is so absurd it needs no response.
• There is a BIG difference between America's atomic bombings and God killing the innocents (without getting into any debates on whether the bombings were justified, which IMO they were).  WE aren't omniscient, neither are we omnipotent.  If we had the knowledge of where the military leaders were, and had the ability to take only them out, and end the war without killing ANY innocents, we certainly would have done so!
• Regarding who hardened Pharaoh's heart:  This is a side issue, but the apologist's arguments don't fly.  The first verses that mention it say that it is God, who "will" harden Pharaoh's heart.  Later, it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart.  Then later, it says that it was God who hardened his heart.  But what I wonder is, if Pharaoh was going to harden his own heart anyway why would God need to do it?  The following table gives the verses from Exodus.  So the score is..... God: 10, Pharaoh: 3, unspecified (inactive verb): 4

Who Hardened Pharaoh's Heart?
Exodus Verse	Text
4:21	"But I (God) will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go"
7:3	"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart"
7:13	"Yet Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said"
7:22	"Pharaoh's heart became hard"
8:15	"when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart"
8:19	"But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen"
8:32	"Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go"
9:7	"Yet his (Pharaoh's) heart was unyielding"
9:12	"the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses"
9:34	"When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts"
10:1	"Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them"
10:20	"But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go"
10:27	"But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to let them go"
11:10	"but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go"
14:4	"And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army"
14:8	"The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites"
14:17	"I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them"

• Besides its not like ancient Egypt was a democracy anyway.  It was PHARAOH who wouldn't let the Israelites go.  The common people certainly had no say in it!

But hey, that's just my take on it.  What do I know?

POINT/COUNTER-POINT

Essays generally on the subject of Bible Injustice.  Consider BOTH sides.  YOU decide:  

Note: these Bible verses (unless otherwise noted) are from the New International Version

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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