For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for
this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be
proclaimed in the whole earth.
This quote is from
However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show
you my power and to make my name known on the whole earth.
One interesting note this quote is a statement of Grace. Note
in the the verse immediately proceeding it God is suggesting that he would have
been justified to completely obliterate Pharaoh and the Egyptians (Exodus 9:15).
So allowing him to live that God’s power and Glory might be revealed to the
world was His purpose.
One might wonder about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. Why
would God do this? Doesn’t seem that God is being unfair? It is a question that
logically follows as Paul says Romans 9:19 “You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does
he still find fault? For who resists his will?””
Paul answers this question but a bit of context of the
hardening of Pharaoh’s heart before we look at Paul’s answer.
God calls Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt
(Exodus 3). God tells Moses that the King of Egypt will not let the people go.
He suggests that even with a force he will not let Israel. He explains that
through awful plagues Israel will be delivered by God and that the Egyptians
will voluntarily surrender wealth to Israel.
The first mention that God is going to harden the heart of
Pharaoh occurs in Exodus 4:21 “The Lord instructed Moses, “When you go back
to Egypt, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put
within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people
go.”
Before any mention of the actual hardening of Pharaoh's
heart we see that the King of Egypt was unwilling to work with Moses to allow
Israel to go worship God (Exodus 5). In fact quite the opposite. Initially
Pharaoh makes the burden on Israel worse. So much so that the people of Israel
are upset with Moses for making a bad situation worse. This chapter I believe
establishes the intent of Pharaoh’s heart. He has no plan to allow Israel to go
and will be ruthless to establish his will.
We see again God will harden the heart of Pharaoh in Exodus 7:3
“But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the
land of Egypt.” God’s purpose is to bring judgment to Egypt (Exodus 7:4).
It is interesting to note here that God is judging the nation of Egypt through
their leader. In this way the judgement that God is revealing is against the
whole nation and not Pharaoh alone.
Prior to the first plague we learn the state of Pharaoh’s
heart Exodus
7:13 “However, Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not listen to them, as
the Lord had said.” We see here that his heart was already hard before any
hardening had occurred.
After the first plague it says the Pharaoh’s heart continued
to be hard Exodus
7:22 “But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult
practices. So Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the
Lord had said.” Note there is still no mention that God has hardened Pharaoh’s
heart yet.
After the second plague it says that Pharaoh’s heart was
hardened, but not by God but by himself Exodus 8:15
“But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not
listen to them, as the Lord had said.” When we are stubborn against things we
can also harden our own hearts against something or someone. That is what
Pharaoh has done here.
After the third plague Pharaoh’s heart continued to be hard.
Exodus 8:19
““This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s
heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.”
After the forth plague Pharaoh again hardens his own heart Exodus 8:32
“But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not let the people go.”
After the fifth plague Pharaoh’s heart continued to be hard Exodus 9:7
“Pharaoh sent messengers who saw that not a single one of the Israelite
livestock was dead. But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he did not let the people
go.”
Now before we continue, I want to note that Pharaoh had eight
opportunities to repent and obey God. All of these opportunities occurred
before God had done anything to harden Pharaoh’s heart. What is more it would
seem that on at least two occasions Pharaoh hardened his own heart against
God’s commands. We also seen that even after five miraculous displays of God’s
mighty judgement Pharaoh’s heart remained steadfast against God.
There comes a time when God gives people over to the
destruction of their choices (Romans
1:18-21). God reveals Himself and yet people continue to reject him. So
they are without excuse since God has made it clear to them. At some point then
God “Delivers them over in the desires of their heart.” (Romans 1:24).
This hardening is progressively worse and worse (Romans
1:26-32). It is important to note though that God is not the author of sin
here (James
1:13). They are hardened in the direction they were already going. Given
that it is God giving them over there is a supernatural judicial hardening that
is occurring. One way to look at it is if your are going to choose this
direction then you will experience the full weight of the natural and spiritual
consequences of your choices. Ultimately God’s aim in this is to have people
come to repentance (Romans 2:4).
Back to Pharaoh. After the sixth plague we see that God
begins to harden Pharaoh’s heart Exodus 9:12
“But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not listen to them, as the
Lord had told Moses.”
After the seventh plague Pharaoh is back to hardening his
own heart Exodus
9:34-35 “When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had ceased, he
sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his officials. So Pharaoh’s heart
was hard, and he did not let the Israelites go, as the Lord had said through
Moses.” The Bible makes it clear here that Pharaoh is the one who is sinning.
After the Eighth plague we see Pharaoh’s resolve begin to waver.
He says Exodus
10:16-17 “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. Please
forgive my sin once more and make an appeal to the Lord your God, so that he
will just take this death away from me.” However, that was not God’s plan. His
judgement was not yet fulfilled. So Exodus 10:20
“But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the Israelites go.”
After the ninth plague Pharaoh’s resolve again wavers when
he says, Exodus
10:24 “Go, worship the Lord. Even your families may go with you; only your
flocks and herds must stay behind.” God again hardens Pharaoh’s heart Exodus 10:27
“But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.”
After the tenth plague Pharaoh finally lets Israel leave.
However, God hardens his heart yet one more time (Exodus 14:4)
so that he pursues Israel into the wilderness ultimately losing his military in
the Red Sea (Exodus 14:23-28).
So what can we conclude? First Pharaoh’s heart was hard from
the beginning and remained hard without any assistance from God initially.
Second on at least three occasions Pharaoh hardened his own heart twice before
God did. Third it was only after eight opportunities to repent that God
hardened Pharaoh’s heart and God hardened Pharaoh’s heart four times.
Why is this important? Well some would use Romans 9 as
evidence that God arbitrarily chooses people to save and to condemn. This is
not anywhere close to what the Bible teaches. Condemnation is the result of
rebellion against God. That is the clear and consistent teaching of the Bible.
Both temporal and eternal judgement from God is rooted in man’s rejection of
Him.
When we look at Pharaoh as an example then in the full
context of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart we can clearly see that it was not
arbitrary. God in his sovereignty used Pharaoh to display His power and Glory
and Pharaoh rebelled against God resulting in God’s hardening and judgment.
That is the plain teaching of Scripture. No grammatical mishmash changes that!
So then any interpretation of Romans 9 necessarily needs to take this into
account.
So how did Paul answer this question in Romans 9:19?
I think he answers it with the rhetorical question in Romans 9:22
“And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known,
endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction?” By the
way this question mirrors Exodus 9:16 “However, I have let you live for this purpose:
to show you my power and to make my name known on the whole earth.” So the
answer to the question is so that God may be glorified both in righteous
judgement (Romans
9:16) and great mercy (Romans 9:17).
There are still many more quotes to explore from Romans 9 in
future posts.
God Bless You
~BJ Olson
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