Romans 9C
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17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”
18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
I’m kinda surprised that I haven’t seen verse 17 on a coffee mug.
It sounds like one of those verses that could very easily be misunderstood to mean that God was blessing Pharaoh by giving him prominence.
But if you know the story that’s not quite how it goes.
By way of a quick recap
The Pharaoh being referenced in this verse was the man in power when the Jews were being held as slaves by the Egyptians.
Moses was a Jewish man chosen by God to go before Pharaoh and ask for the Jews to be released.
God told Moses about His plan after showing him the sign of the burning bush
He laid out his plan for Moses to confront Pharaoh in Exodus 3:10
10 “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”
God then tells Moses that Pharaoh isn’t going to let them go initially.
Only after God performs a number of miracles will Pharaoh allow the Jews to leave.
We see a small taste of the power that God gives Moses to work miracles in the beginning of chapter 4
He turns a staff into a snake
He turns the skin on Moses’ hand into leprous skin and then restores it back.
He gives Moses the power to turn water from the Nile river into blood.
Very powerful miracles - crazy stuff by the standards of what we see today.
If you were Pharaoh, wouldn’t you let the people go after seeing just one miracle?
I think the snake one would be enough for me.
But before Moses even gets to Egypt God tells Moses that Pharaoh will not let the people go easily.
In Ex 4:21 we see that there’s more than just Pharaoh’s stubbornness at play here.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
God himself will harden Pharaoh’s heart.
God who is asking Moses to petition Pharaoh for the release of God’s people the Jews just told Moses
I’m going to make your task harder
I’m going to put a big roadblock in front of you called Pharaoh, and I’m going to inspire in his heart such obstinance that he will repeatedly refuse to let the people go.
I bet that was a bit confusing for Moses.
Normally when someone wants you to complete a task for them they try and assist in the completion of that task.
But God does the opposite.
Why?
Because God planned it that way to achieve a bigger purpose than just getting His people free.
He could do that without Moses
He could have just allowed the Israelites to waltz out of Egypt without any need for a confrontation with Pharaoh.
If you’re wondering what that result was - we’ll get there in just a second.
But first lets think about these events from Moses’ point of view.
Moses may not have understood God’s purposes in this plan.
We know for certain that he didn’t understand the magnitude of God’s power because he kept doubting that God could use someone like him who wasn’t a confident speaker.
And I bet that we have all found ourselves feeling similarly about a circumstance that God lets us experience
But God’s thoughts and plans are beyond human comprehension.
God’s providence is beyond human comprehension.
There are times when He might reveal His purposes to us - but as the scripture tells us His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than ours.
And our job is to trust in His goodness and the power He has in controlling situations.
Let’s go a little further in Exodus and see how things play out for Pharaoh and Moses
In chapter 5, Moses and Aaron who was given to Moses to help in this task, go before the Pharaoh and ask for the first time for Israel to be let out of the land.
Pharaoh predictably says no. And because of Moses’ request he also inflicts a punishment on the Israelites, making them work even more than they already were.
This causes Israel to despise Moses and Aaron, because they brought harsh consequences on the Jews as a result of the request that they made.
In chapter 7, God reminds Moses that he’s going to harden Pharaoh’s heart.
And now is when we’ll get to the question of why.
Why did God make Moses’ job harder?
What’s the point of hardening Pharaoh’s heart?
Like we said a second ago - sometimes (not always) God reveals the purpose behind His plan
And that’s what He does for Moses
3 “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
4 “When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.
5 “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.”
God is hardening Pharaoh’s heart so that He can multiply (or execute many) signs and wonders
And those signs and wonders are for the purpose of making his name known among the Egyptians.
I want to take a second and look at verse 4 there.
4 “When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments.
Notice that word “when”.
God doesn’t say “If Pharaoh does not listen to you”
He’s not holding out hope that maybe another request will melt Pharaoh’s heart.
God’s plan is for Pharaoh to not let the people go.
And I want to make sure everyone’s clear on this point.
It’s not as if God is playing a strategy game and He’s just a few steps ahead of Pharaoh.
God is executing on a plan that he’s made before the foundations of the earth.
He is causing Pharaoh to reject Moses’ request
He is the source of the friction.
And it’s all according to His plan.
Every intricate detail, every inflection in Pharaoh’s voice, every impulse in response to Moses’ request.
It’s all part of God’s plan.
You see God’s sovereignty executes on a pre-existing plan.
And that plan existed before the foundations of the earth.
Scripture tells us as much.
Ephesians 1:4 “4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love”
Tells us that He chose us before the foundations of the world.
Which means that he also didn’t chose some.
That’s how God was able to tell Moses exactly what would happen with Pharaoh.
Nothing happens outside of God’s plan.
And I think the word plan is actually a too weak when describing God’s will.
And to say his sovereignty (Nothing happens outside of God’s sovereignty) doesn’t exactly make sense
Sovereignty focuses on God’s right and power to do all that he wills, but in itself, it does not express any design or goal. - John Piper
But there’s another word that perfectly captures what’s happening between God and Moses and Pharaoh.
That word is providence.
“the act of purposefully providing for, or sustaining and governing, the world.” - John Piper
My definition is His active will that directs and shapes the course of events in every corner of existence.
I hope the word providence will be helpful as we think and talk about God’s active and perfect execution of His perfect plan.
So to backtrack - God’s providence is:
Beyond our comprehension
and it is conceived or planned before the foundations of time
Let’s finish up our story in Exodus
Moses and Aaron have made their first request and Pharaoh denies them
Then they return and start performing some miracles.
Let’s run through them and I’m going to note alongside them when Pharaoh’s heart is hardened.
Aaron’s staff turns into a snake - (Lord)
The Nile river and all water stored throughout the land becomes blood - (Lord)
Frogs swarm the land - (Pharaoh)
Flies - hardened (Lord + Pharaoh)
Livestock dies - hardened (Lord)
Boils - hardened (Lord)
Hail - hardened (Pharaoh + Lord)
Locusts - seemed repentant but the Lord hardened his heart so that He could continue with His signs.
Darkness - (Lord )
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them,
God did not have an emotional reaction to Pharaoh’s stubbornness.
Not emotional or vindictive - does not afflict from his heart Lamentations 3:31-3
Not in response to men’s behavior
Always in pursuit of His Glory and so that people may know that He is God. Exodus 7:5, Ex 14:17-18, Ex 9:14-17, Ro 9:22,
Paul is asserting that God is merciful to those who He has chosen by being patient with those who He has not chosen.
Ro 9:20 depicts a creation of the Lord criticizing the Lord’s work in making them. Elihu in Job addresses this self-important feeling.
Job 33:13 “13 “Why do you complain against Him That He does not give an account of all His doings?”
READ JOB 33 AND SEE IF ELIHU GIVES A THEOLOGY FOR HOW GOD TREATS MAN
Moses and Pharaoh lived in the same palace maybe “from the same lump of clay”? Seems like it might be stretch here
v18 What gives God the right to make these decisions?
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where, now, is their God?”
3 But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
He created everyone. And when you create something you own something. And you have the right to make decisions about what should happen to it.
v19 How is this fair? God doesn’t give people a chance to do what’s right.
v20-21
The truth is that we all deserve the same thing. Consider the fact that in Paul’s illustration we’re the vessels. And the vessels all have the same origin. All the vessels share the makeup of their clay. One vessel may be painted to be a little more attractive to our eyes, or it may be shaped in a different way. But it’s made of the same clay as the vessels for dishonorable use. All the vessels should be treated the same considering that they’re made of the same materials. Even if one vessel holds a fine perfume, that ‘work’ of holding a valuable substance does nothing to change the value of the materials with which the vessel is made. So
Ro 9:22 “22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?”
So then if we’re all the same, why would God choose some and not others to be merciful to? Scripture gives us this answer - God desires to make known the riches of his glory.
Why would God make distinctions between his creation given that we all possess the same materials and thus we all deserve the same thing?
He does so to display His glory.
How is it glorious to treat people unfairly?