The merciful God and Pharaoh

Paul wrote in the verses before:

“Therefore, it is not up to the willing nor the running, but up to the God who has mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even therefore have I raised thee up, that I might display My power in thee, and that My name might be made known in all the earth.”
Rom 9:16-17

The great lesson here is that God is simply God. He is the only one who truly determines Himself. He is God in the true sense of the word. As God, He is above all others. He determines, not just grim and dismissive, or is without backbone just simply “sweet to all”. God is the merciful God, writes Paul. However, it is not only about mercy. It is about the course of this world.

How Paul describes God is clear: He is the God who has mercy on us. That man can contribute little to this outstanding work of God, the apostle explains with the example of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was awakened by God so that God would display His power in him. Pharaoh himself did not want this; he did not make a request for this, nor did he make this choice himself. It is God who works.

“Accordingly, He now has mercy on whom He will; but He also hardens whom He will.”
Rom 9:18

That’s the argument. Previously, Paul clarified that God has mercy where He wills. Now He extends that with an opposite (you might say), hardening who He wills. The point is not these two examples, but the greatness of God’s sovereignty behind them. Step by step the apostle argues further. Such a verse as this must not be taken out of context. Paul is not finished with his argument yet. He’s just getting started. God acts sovereignly and that is what the apostle wants to emphasize here.

God’s sovereignty

Paul presents God as God to us so that we may better understand Him in His work. Because He is God, He can do whatever He wants. Undoubtedly, Pharaoh saw himself as a powerful man. By human standards, the king of Egypt would be enormously powerful. That is why Paul takes Pharaoh as an example.

In the context of Egyptian history (and according to the Bible, likewise in the context of Israel’s experience), Pharaoh was a super-king, religiously a representative of the sky deities. Compared to other people, Pharaoh was superior, almost godlike. If Pharaoh cannot do anything about God’s choice, how much less can we. This contrast resonates here.

Paul explains this contrast seamlessly based on the Old Testament stories. Thus, the Bible is recognized as the basis for knowing God’s nature and work. Through the Bible, we get a glimpse of it. If we read the story of Pharaoh carefully, we will find that God emphasizes from the beginning and repeatedly that He hardens Pharaoh’s heart. It could be that Pharaoh will change his mind, but that is precisely what is not to happen. God still had something planned for him. Therefore, God hardens his heart so that he will certainly not change his mind (Ex 7:1-4).

Such statements are indigestible if you are convinced that God is only loving, or that every person must choose Jesus so that God will not send you to hell. According to the doctrine of hell, you can escape from hell only if you consciously choose for Jesus. In the context of Pharaoh’s story, there are several problems with this assumption at once. First, Jesus did not exist in the time of the Pharaohs, and second, according to the Bible, God Himself hardened the heart of this Pharaoh. The narrative of the doctrine of hell has no place here, not even in Paul’s argument in Romans.

God’s action is highlighted

If one reads such texts as in Romans 9, then the consequence cannot be reconciled with a doctrine of hell. What Paul is performing here is incredible. If we listen, we can learn a lot about God’s nature and work. God’s action is emphasized. Paul describes that. He shows step by step that God is in charge everywhere.

In the current argument, Paul is not concerned with Pharaoh, but with God’s sovereignty. The focus of the text must be taken into account. We also find the sovereignty of God throughout the Old Testament. For example, here: “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his step” (Prov. 16:9; Prov. 20:24; Prov. 21:1, etc.).

To realize this is to fear God without any arrogance. God works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11). This section is not about Pharaoh. Paul makes the reference as an example. He is concerned with the sovereignty of God. Pharaoh was not self-determined. Are we? Where does God stand and where do we stand?

The question is, where does that lead?

Deepening

Discuss:

• Exodus 4:21
  “And Yahweh said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all the wonders which I have put in thine hand before Pharaoh. And I, I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.”
• Philippians 2:13
  “For it is God who works both in you: the willing as well as the working according to His good pleasure.”
• Luke 22:3
  The supposed freedom of man is restricted. Here is an extreme example of how Satan made sure that Judas Iscariot would betray Jesus: “But Satan entered into Judas, who is called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. This happened before Judas betrayed Jesus.
• God is God. This applies only to Him. All other people, powers and forces plan things but cannot estimate where it will lead. In retrospect to the action against Jesus, Paul later writes: “we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden one, which God appointed beforehand, before the ages, for our glory . which none of the rulers of this age has known (for if they had known the same, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory)” (1 Cor. 2:7-8, cf. 1 Cor. 1:23-25). The “princes of this course of time,” that is, all the powerful ones, visible like the Sanhedrin or invisible, like Satan, who opposed the Christ, knew nothing of God’s counsel. That Satan now drove in Judas was purposeful in retrospect, not for Satan, but for God (2 Cor. 5:14-21). The cross is the basis of God’s salvation for this world (Col 1:20).