Lesson 122

Romans Chapter Nine

The Faithfulness of God to Israel

 

9:17 - 18  The Pharaoh of the Exodus [2nd illustration]

Paul's second example: he uses God's dealings with the Pharaoh, the god-king of a grossly idolatrous nation, in hardening him for judgment (9:17-18).

 

This is a classic example of the principle which Paul had stated in Romans 1:24, 26, 28, that God judicially gave the most hardened individuals including these idolaters over to a depraved mind.

 

First of all, God stated His sovereign intention to Moses: "But I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt" (Ex. 7:3).

 

There are two extremes we must always avoid when considering God's mercy and compassion.  

- The one extreme is to overemphasize the mercy of God and conclude that God is too kind to judge and condemn a Person to an eternity of woe.

 

- The other extreme is to overemphasize the severity of God and make God (in this instance, for example) the author of Pharaoh's stubbornness.  

 

 

- First let's look at Rom 9:17 and note some things;

"For the Scripture says to Pharaoh"  

 

- In Rom 9:15 Paul said and He, God, says to Moses;

In both cases he is equating the Word of God with Scripture.

 

- "For this very purpose I raised you up,"

 

- Paul details 2 purposes related to the Pharaoh and the Exodus.

 

#1. "to demonstrate My power in you,"

- to demonstrate; evndei,knumi  speaks of placing of evidence on display.

- What was placed on display was the OmPo of God in the whole process of delivering Israel from bondage to Egypt.

 

 

#2. "that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth."

"Hollowed be thy name" (Mat. 6:9) = name is a reference of God or Jesus Christ, as He is revealed through all His attributes, His perfections; reputation, fame

 

- Do you remember what God told Moses in answer to his question, who shall I say sent me?

 

What He said was this;  I am the One who is. I am the living, self-existent One who will deliver you from Egypt.

 

- Shows His concern, mercy/compassion for His people, those He has chosen for special function, namely to be the channel of blessing of all because the Messiah, our Savior in the flesh comes through this line.

 

 

He can be counted on today and tomorrow and each day always to be present with us to guide, sustain, help, and deliver.

 

- The impact of the Exodus; didn't take long for the word to spread, for His name to be known!  Ex. 15:14-16;  Josh. 2:8-11; 9:9

 

 

Although in our English version only the word 'harden' is used, in the Hebrew original three different terms with slightly different nuances of emphasis are employed;

- Exodus 7:3  hvq   literally means to make hard or insensible;

- Ex. 10:1   dbk  to make heavy, that is, unimpressionable;

- Ex. 14:4   qzx   to make strong/firm so as to be immovable.

 

 

Thus, the making 'hard,' 'heavy,' and 'firm' of the heart is exactly as often and in precisely the same terms traced to the agency of Pharaoh himself as to that of God....

 

 

Early in the process the hardening is traced to Pharaoh himself. Thus, before the ten plagues, and when Aaron first Proved that he was on a divine mission by converting the rod into a serpent, 'the heart of Pharaoh was hardened,' that is, by himself (7:13-14).

 

 

 

 

 

Can we wonder that such high-handed and inexcusable rebellion should have been ripe for the judgment which appeared in the judicial hardening of his heart?

 

- Don't interpret the hardening by God to be arbitrary something God forced on Pharaoh;  not that way at all.

 

It is a judicial hardening after having 6 major demonstrations of the power of God.

 

-  God hardened in response to Pharaoh's self-hardening.  What God did was to 2nd the Pharaoh's choice to harden his heart.

 

-  God did not arbitrarily harden Pharaoh's heart, it was only after he hardened his own heart, having developed the spiritual scar tissue, calluses on his heart;

 

- Word for harden here in Rom 9 is  sklhrunew;   to cause one's heart to be hard, to render obstinate, stubborn; to refuse to change one's attitude;

When God is the subject, the one acting as He is in our passage in Rom 9:18 it speaks of a judicial hardening;

 

Need to remember that man's tendency is always to move away from truth, to suppress the truth in unrighteousness, as we noted in Rom 1:18.

 

- If we persist in rejecting truth we set ourselves up for destruction of the capacity to relate to truth; if perpetuated it invites judicial insensitivity to truth.

 

 

How does Pharaoh's function as ruler glorify and honor God?

 

 

- By his continued negative volition, his continuing to make wrong choices in response to the manifestations of God's power and presence he triggered plague after plague, which ultimately resulted in an event, the Exodus, that was such a powerful statement of who God is and His power that it had impact throughout the inhabited world of the day.

 

 

- 9:18 Read! Do you see how this could be misinterpreted? That is, if taken by itself, separated from the context of the historical event.

 

 

- In 9:19-29 we see the arrogance of man dealt with by Paul.