““[The Marcionites, a Gnostic group] say, ‘But God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants.’  Now those who allege such difficulties do not read in the Gospel the passage where the Lord replied to the disciples, when they asked Him, ‘Why do you speak in parables?’  He replied: ‘Because it is given to you to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven.  However, I speak to them in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not hear.’ . . . So God knows the number of those who will not believe, since He foreknows all things.  So He has given them over to unbelief and turned His face away from men of this character, leaving them in the darkness that they have chosen for themselves.  So what is baffling if He gave Pharaoh and those who were with him over to their unbelief?  For they would never have believed.”