The Case of Pharaoh
Prof. Godet. Romans 9:17-18 For the scripture said to Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you… The subject in question is not the wicked disposition which animates Pharaoh, but the entire situation in which he finds himself providentially placed. God might have caused Pharaoh to be born in a cabin, where his proud obstinacy would have been displayed with no less self-will, but without any notable historical consequence; on the other hand, He might have placed on the throne of Egypt at that time a weak, easy-going man, who would have yielded at the first shock. What would have happened? Pharaoh in his obscure position would not have been less arrogant and perverse; but Israel would have gone forth from Egypt without eclat. No plagues one upon another, no Red Sea miraculously crossed, no Egyptian army destroyed; nothing of all that made so deep a furrow in the Israelitish conscience, and which remained for the elect people the immovable foundation of their relation to Jehovah. And thereafter also no influence pronounced on the surrounding nations. The entire history would have taken another direction. God did not therefore create the indomitable pride of Pharaoh, as it were, to gain a point of resistance and reflect His glory; He was content to use it for this purpose. This is what is expressed by the following words: "that thus," not simply "that" (cf. Exodus 15:14, 15; Joshua 2:9, 10; Joshua 9:9). What is meant by the term "hardening," and what leads the apostle to use the expression in ver. 18? It signifies to take from a man the sense of the true, the just, and even the useful, so that he is no longer open to the wise admonitions and significant circumstances which should turn him aside from the evil way on which he has entered. The word cannot signify in Exodus 4:14, anything else, as God's act, than it signifies as the act of Pharaoh, when it is said that he hardened himself. Note carefully that Pharaoh's hardening was at first his own act. Five times it is said of him that he himself hardened or made heavy his heart (Romans 8:13, 14, 22, 32; Romans 9:7; we do not speak here of Romans 4:21 and Romans 7:3, which are a prophecy), before the time when it is at last said that God hardened him (Romans 9:12); and even after that, as if a remnant of liberty still remained to him, it is said for a last time that he hardened himself (Romans 9:34, 35). It was a parallel act to that of Judas closing his heart to the last appeal. Then, at length, as if by way of a terrible retribution, God hardened him five times (Romans 10:1 and Romans 10:20, Romans 10:27, Romans 11:10, and Romans 11:14.). Thus he at first closed his heart obstinately against the influence exercised on him by the summonses of Moses and the first chastisements which overtook him; that was his sin. And thereafter, but still within limits, God rendered him deaf not merely to the voice of justice, but to that of sound sense and simple prudence: that was his punishment. Far, then, from its having been God who urged him to evil, God punished him with the most terrible chastisements for the evil to which he voluntarily gave himself up. In this expression we find the same idea as in παραδιδόναι (God gave them up), by which the apostle expressed God's judgment on the Gentiles for their refusal to welcome the revelation which He gave of Himself in nature and conscience (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). When man has wilfully quenched the light he has received and the first rebukes of Divine mercy, and when he persists in giving himself up to his evil instincts, there comes a time when God withdraws from him the beneficent actions of His grace. Then man becomes insensible even to the counsels of prudence. He is thenceforth like a horse with the bit in his teeth, running blindly to his destruction. He has rejected salvation for himself; he was free to do so; but he cannot prevent God from now making use of him and of his ruin to advance the salvation of others. From being an end, he is degraded to the rank of means. Such was the lot of Pharaoh. Everybody in Egypt saw clearly whither his mad resistance tended. His magicians told him, "This is the finger of God" (Exodus 8:19). His servants told him, "Let these people go" (Exodus 10:7). He himself, after every plague, felt his heart relent. He once went the length of crying out, "I have sinned this time; the Lord is righteous " (Romans 9:27). Now was the decisive instant; for the last time, after his moment of softening, he hardened himself (Romans 9:33). Then the righteousness of God took hold of him. He had refused to glorify God actively, he must glorify Him passively. The Jews did not at all disapprove of this conduct on God's part as long as it concerned only Pharaoh or the Gentiles; but what they affirmed, in virtue of their Divine election, was, that never, and on no condition, could they themselves be the objects of such a judgment. They restricted the liberty of Divine judgment on themselves, as they restricted the liberty of grace toward the Gentiles. Paul in our verse re-establishes both liberties, vindicating God's sole right to judge whether this or that man possesses the conditions on which He will think fit to show him favour, or those which will make it suitable for Him to punish by hardening him. Thus understood — and we do not think that either the context of the apostle or that of Exodus allows it to be understood otherwise — it offers nothing to shock the conscience; it is entirely to the glory of the Divine character. (Prof. Godet.) Parallel Verses KJV: For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. WEB: For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."