Why Did God Harden Pharaoh’s Heart? A Case for Divine Ultimacy

Every Sunday school child knows the story of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt. It contains all the elements that make a good flannelgraph or picture-book story—or even a Hollywood movie. It’s one of the most powerful and dramatic stories in the Bible. But it’s much more than a children’s story. It’s central in the Bible’s storyline, and it’s rich with deep theology and plays a vital role in our understanding of several important doctrines.

In this post I’d like to look at the relevance of the Exodus story for our understanding of God’s sovereignty, particularly as it relates to his work of hardening the hearts of sinners.

Table of Contents

• Was Pharaoh’s Hardening Merely Punishment for His Self-Hardening?
  • 1. Exodus 3:19 governs the narrative and presents Pharaoh as acting first and God as responding to his rebellion.
  • 2. The flow of the narrative places Pharaoh’s self-hardening before God’s further hardening.
  • 3. God’s justice demands that his hardening be in response to human hardening.
• Seven Reasons God’s Will Was Ultimate in Pharaoh’s Hardening
  • 1. The instances of Pharaoh’s self-hardening are stated fulfillments of God’s promise to harden Pharaoh’s heart.
    • Promise
    • Fulfillment
  • 2. Exodus 9:33–10:2 demonstrates that the three expressions of hardening are not mutually exclusive.
  • 3. Exodus 11:9 attaches God’s purpose and Pharaoh’s hardening in a way that requires God to be the ultimate cause.
  • 4. Exodus 9:16 roots Pharaoh’s hardening in God’s eternal plan to pursue his own glory.
    • God’s Identity
    • God’s Signs and Wonders
    • God’s Glory
  • 5. Paul interprets God’s hardening of Pharaoh as ultimately rooted in God’s free and sovereign will.
  • 6. The other examples of divine hardening support this view.
    • Hardening
    • Alternate Expressions
  • 7. This interpretation better fits the tenor of the many passages on God’s comprehensive sovereignty.

Was Pharaoh’s Hardening Merely Punishment for His Self-Hardening?

Some interpreters argue that God’s hardening was solely a response to Pharaoh’s prior free self-hardening. According to this view, the ultimate reason God hardened Pharaoh’s heart was that Pharaoh first hardened his own heart. God’s hardening was reactive and judicial. Pharaoh repeatedly hardened his heart. God responded with further hardening. If Pharaoh had chosen otherwise—and he could have—then God wouldn’t have hardened his heart.

This view seems to have some basis in the text. Layton Talbert makes a good argument for it in Not by Chance: Learning to Trust a Sovereign God, 86–94.

Those who defend it often use some form of these three arguments:

1. Exodus 3:19 governs the narrative and presents Pharaoh as acting first and God as acting in response.
2. The general flow of the narrative presents Pharaoh’s self-hardening mainly at the beginning and God’s hardening mainly at the end.
3. God’s justice requires that his hardening be responsive to Pharaoh’s self-hardening.

Let’s look briefly at each.

1. Exodus 3:19 governs the narrative and presents Pharaoh as acting first and God as responding to his rebellion.

Here’s the text in the NIV, which I use for all Scripture quotations in this article unless otherwise indicated.

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

Exodus 3:19–20

In other words, God’s prescience of Pharaoh’s unwillingness to let his people go led to his responding with the ten plagues. Pharaoh acted first; God responded with punishment for rebelling against his commands.

But this interpretation begs the question of how God knew that. Did he know it as an autonomous free action of Pharaoh, or did he know it as part of his plan to glorify himself through Pharaoh? In other words, God obviously knows all the events he predestines and brings to pass. So this statement in isolation doesn’t tell us anything about the cause of Pharaoh’s unwillingness.

It also glosses over a key point. God’s main goal wasn’t to get Pharaoh to release his people. If it had been, he would have acted more decisively more quickly to accomplish that goal.

God makes that clear in Exodus 9:15:

For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.

Exodus 9:15

God wasn’t interested in a quick resolution to his people’s bondage.1 He wanted to multiply his signs and wonders.

The LORD had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.”

Exodus 11:9 (Cf. 7:3–4)

God had grander purposes in the events of the Exodus story, as we’ll see later. And something deeper than Pharaoh’s unwillingness to let God’s people go was at play.

2. The flow of the narrative places Pharaoh’s self-hardening before God’s further hardening.

A second argument points out the order of self-hardening and divine hardening in the flow of the narrative, where Pharaoh’s hardening his own heart comes earlier and God’s hardening Pharaoh’s heart comes later, as you can see in this table:

Verse	Text	Actor
Ex 7:13	Pharaoh’s heart became hard	unstated
Ex 7:14	Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding	unstated
Ex 7:22	Pharaoh’s heart became hard	unstated
Ex 8:15	[Pharaoh] hardened his heart	Pharaoh
Ex 8:19	Pharaoh’s heart was hard	unstated
Ex 8:32	Pharaoh hardened his heart	Pharaoh
Ex 9:7	his heart was unyielding	unstated
Ex 9:12	the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart	the Lord
Ex 9:34	[Pharaoh] and his officials hardened their hearts	Pharaoh
Ex 9:35	Pharaoh’s heart was hard	unstated
Ex 10:1	I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials	the Lord
Ex 10:20	the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart	the Lord
Ex 10:27	the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart	the Lord
Ex 11:10	the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart	the Lord
Ex 14:8	The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt	the Lord

While it’s true that the majority of the self-hardening statements come earlier in the narrative and the explicit divine hardenings come later in the narrative, it’s far from conclusive that this observation supports this view for at least three reasons:

1. It assumes that God wasn’t the actor in the expressions that don’t specify the subject, which precede the statements of Pharaoh’s self-hardening.
2. It doesn’t give sufficient weight to the earlier predicative statements of hardening where God is the actor (4:21; 7:3; cf. 6:1).
3. It misses the interchangeability of these three expressions, as we’ll see shortly.

3. God’s justice demands that his hardening be in response to human hardening.

A theological argument undergirds the others: God wouldn’t be just and morally upright unless his hardening of Pharaoh was a judicial response to Pharaoh’s own free and culpable sinful actions.

But this argument overlooks that all people are born with hard hearts and only harden their hearts further apart from divine intervention. All hardening is hardening of guilty sinful people with already hard hearts, and so all hardening in a fallen world is necessarily judicial.

If God hardens people in response to their self-hardening, we’re left wondering why he doesn’t harden everyone. Regardless of whether the ultimate basis for God’s hardening is the will of individuals or the will of God, God’s justice and moral integrity don’t require that the basis be found in man since all sinners harden their hearts and deserve divine hardening.

While a case can be made for this responsive view, it doesn’t do justice to the full set of exegetical and theological considerations in the text and the broader canonical context.

Seven Reasons God’s Will Was Ultimate in Pharaoh’s Hardening

I’d like to look at seven clues in the Exodus account and beyond that point toward the conclusion that God’s will, not Pharaoh’s, was the ultimate determiner in Pharaoh’s hardening.

1. The instances of Pharaoh’s self-hardening are stated fulfillments of God’s promise to harden Pharaoh’s heart.

Promise

At the beginning of the account, God makes this promise to Moses:

The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Exodus 4:21

This promise has two parts: (1) a direct, internal action (“I will harden his heart”) and (2) an indirect, external manifestation (“he will not let the people go”). They’re connected in a cause-effect relationship (“so that”). It’s by observing Pharaoh’s unwillingness to listen and let the people go that Moses and Israel can discern that God has fulfilled his promise to harden Pharaoh’s heart.

Fulfillment

The following account explicitly points back to this promise six times, interpreting these instances as direct fulfillments of what God said he would do. Each contains three components:

1. The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart
2. Pharaoh’s unwillingness to listen and let the people go
3. An interpretive statement of fulfillment

Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 7:13

But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 7:22

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:15

The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:19

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

Exodus 9:12

So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

Exodus 9:35

You’ll notice some variety in these six passages with regard to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. They come in three forms:

1. Unspecified (7:13, 22; 8:19; 9:35)
2. Self-hardened (8:15)
3. Divinely hardened (9:12)

This table compares them in canonical order:

Verse	Hardening	Manifestation	Fulfillment
Ex 7:13	Pharaoh’s heart became hard	he would not listen to them	just as the Lord had said
Ex 7:22	Pharaoh’s heart became hard	he would not listen to Moses and Aaron	just as the Lord had said
Ex 8:15	[Pharaoh] hardened his heart	[he] would not listen to Moses and Aaron	just as the Lord had said
Ex 8:19	Pharaoh’s heart was hard	he would not listen	just as the Lord had said
Ex 9:12	the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart	he would not listen to Moses and Aaron	just as the Lord had said to Moses
Ex 9:35	Pharaoh’s heart was hard	he would not let the Israelites go	just as the Lord had said through Moses

What’s significant is that regardless of the form of the expression, the author views each of these as the fulfillment of the divine promise in 4:21 that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart. This strongly suggests a compatibility, interchangeability, or equivalence among these different statements.

Many interpreters draw sharp distinctions between these three forms. But I don’t think that’s what God intends. Rather, we should see each as a perspective on the same multidimensional activity. In each case God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh hardens his own heart, and his heart is hard(ened). It would be true to describe any of these occurrences with any and all of these three perspectives.

This is strongly implied by how these fulfillment statements point back to God’s promise, “I will harden his heart.” It’s also strongly implied by how Exodus 9:33–10:2 uses all three expressions interchangeably to describe the exact same hardening event, to which we now turn.

2. Exodus 9:33–10:2 demonstrates that the three expressions of hardening are not mutually exclusive.

Then Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands toward the Lord; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. 34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. 35 So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses. 1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them 2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”

Exodus 9:33–10:2

If there were any doubt from the previous point, this text clearly demonstrates that these three expressions are interchangeable perspectives on the same hardening event.

In textual order, they are as follows:

1. Pharaoh and his officials hardened their hearts (9:34).
2. Pharaoh’s heart was hard [and the hearts of his officials were, too] (9:35).
3. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the hearts of his officials (10:1).

But this isn’t the logical order. The logical order clearly places the divine hardening first:

1. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and the hearts of his officials (10:1).
2. Pharaoh and his officials hardened their hearts (9:34).
3. Pharaoh’s heart was hard [and the hearts of his officials were, too] (9:35).

The interpretive key is 10:1, where God explains the self-hardening (9:34) and the consequent state of hardness (9:35) as the result of his divine hardening:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them.”

Exodus 10:1

In other words, the for makes it clear that behind the self-hardening (9:34) and resulting hardened state (9:35) was the hardening hand of God.

3. Exodus 11:9 attaches God’s purpose and Pharaoh’s hardening in a way that requires God to be the ultimate cause.

This same causal logic appears in 11:9, which says,

The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.”

Exodus 11:9

God tells Moses that Pharaoh will refuse to listen to him, reiterating what he had said in 3:19, 4:21, and 7:4.

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.

Exodus 3:19

The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Exodus 4:21

But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you.

Exodus 7:3–4

What’s unique about 11:9 is that it connects this prediction of Pharaoh’s willful obstinance to a purpose statement: “so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” A purpose clause is a dependent clause that gets its answer to “whose purpose?” from the subject of the independent clause on which it depends. But in this case, that doesn’t make sense. It was clearly not Pharaoh’s purpose to multiply God’s wonders in Egypt. Rather, it was God’s purpose.

So how can we hang these two clauses together? If we bring the conclusions from earlier in our study where these three expressions are used interchangeably for the same hardening event, then we know that there’s a divine actor behind Pharaoh’s refusal to listen. We could paraphrase this verse this way:

I will cause Pharaoh to refuse to listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.

This is the most natural interpretation based on the conclusions from the first two points.

Genesis 50:20 captures this same concept, where God and Joseph’s brothers were both actors with different intentions in the same action.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Genesis 50:20

The cross of Jesus also beautifully captures this duality:

Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

Acts 2:22–23

Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.

Acts 3:17–18

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

Acts 4:27–28

4. Exodus 9:16 roots Pharaoh’s hardening in God’s eternal plan to pursue his own glory.

Fourthly, notice that the Exodus account itself interprets the hardening of Pharaoh as divinely rooted.

For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Exodus 9:15–16

The raising up here could refer broadly to Pharaoh’s existence or more narrowly to his position of leadership over Egypt. Either way, the point is that God’s aim to magnify his name was deeper than Pharaoh’s decision to harden his heart. God was behind not just Pharaoh’s hardening but his position in power and his very existence.

This theme of God’s self-exaltation is woven all throughout the Exodus account as God repeatedly makes clear that his purpose is the magnification of his identity as Yahweh and the display of his might and glory.

God’s Identity

The phrase “will know that I am the Lord” occurs six times in the account in connection with God’s purpose in the Exodus.

I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

Exodus 6:7

And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

Exodus 7:5

This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.

Exodus 7:17

. . . that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord.”

Exodus 10:2

And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

Exodus 14:4

The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

Exodus 14:18

God’s Signs and Wonders

God also expresses his purpose in terms of displaying and multiplying his signs and wonders.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them.

Exodus 10:1

The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.”

Exodus 11:9 (Cf. 7:3–4)

God’s Glory

Finally, God speaks of his glory three times as the aim of his hardening Pharaoh and the Egyptians and rescuing his people.

And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

Exodus 14:4

I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

Exodus 14:17–18

The view that God was merely responding to Pharaoh’s self-hardening doesn’t do justice to what God was doing in the Exodus. If God was to successfully accomplish his purposes in Egypt, he must have been behind Pharaoh’s hardening in a way that he could guarantee how the events would unfold to best accomplish his goal of self-glorification.

5. Paul interprets God’s hardening of Pharaoh as ultimately rooted in God’s free and sovereign will.

It’s outside the scope of this post to do a full exposition of Romans 9, but it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that Paul sees in the Pharaoh story a clear example of God’s sovereignty to harden whomever he wants to.

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

Romans 9:14–21

In Romans 9:17 Paul quotes the LXX of Exodus 9:16, which differs only slightly from the MT:

But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Exodus 9:16

I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

Romans 9:17

The therefore in verse 18 signifies Paul’s conclusion from verse 17: that both God’s mercy and his hardening find their ultimate cause not in people and their wills but in God’s free and sovereign will.

Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Romans 9:18

That this is the correct interpretation of verse 18 is clear from how Paul responds to the line of questioning he anticipates from his readers in the following verses. He doesn’t free God from the charge of injustice by rooting the cause in man. Rather, he tells man not to question the sovereign prerogative of the creator.

Surely our interpretation of the Exodus account shouldn’t differ from the great Apostle Paul’s.

6. The other examples of divine hardening support this view.

Sixthly, the other hardening passages in the Bible emphasize the divine nature of the hardening, as do other passages about God’s sovereignty over the human heart.

Hardening

Several other passages use the same hardening terminology from the Exodus account and speak of God’s active role in human hardness.

From the Desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, 27 “Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. 28 Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot—29 as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.” 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.

Deuteronomy 2:26–30

So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, 17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and put them to death. 18 Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. 19 Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. 20 For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Joshua 11:16–20

Why, Lord, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance.

Isaiah 63:17

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

John 12:40

What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.” 9 And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. 10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

Romans 11:7–10

Alternate Expressions

These passages don’t use hardening terminology, but they capture the same concept of God’s influencing the sinful human heart.

But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.

Deuteronomy 29:4

May the table set before them become a snare; may it become retribution and a trap. 23 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.

Psalm 69:22–23 (cf. ROMANS 11:7–10)

The Lord made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes, 25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants.

Psalm 105:24–25

A king’s heart is like channeled water in the LORD’s hand: He directs it wherever he chooses.

Proverbs 21:1 (CSB)

Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Isaiah 6:10 (CF. JOHN 12:40)

I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

Isaiah 19:2

Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer. 10 The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).

Isaiah 29:9–10 (CF. ROMANS 11:7–10)

This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

Matthew 13:13–15 (Cf. Isaiah 6:9–10)

The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled.

Revelation 17:16–17

Rather than interpret these texts in light of a questionable interpretation of the Exodus account, it seems preferable to interpret the Exodus account in light of them, especially given all the indications within the account itself and its broader theological interpretation in the New Testament.

7. This interpretation better fits the tenor of the many passages on God’s comprehensive sovereignty.

Finally, the interpretation I have put forth coheres with the broader scriptural teaching on God’s absolute, universal, irresistible sovereignty. I’ll let these texts stand on their own without comment and leave them to you for your own study.

Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

Genesis 20:6

And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

Genesis 45:5

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Genesis 50:20

The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

Exodus 12:36

If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death.

1 Samuel 2:25

Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. 15 Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.” . . . 23 Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

1 Samuel 16:14–16, 23

The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.

1 Samuel 18:10–11

But an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.

1 Samuel 19:9–10

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ” . . . 16:20 Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?” 21 Ahithophel answered, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

2 Samuel 12:11–12; 16:20–22

But the king said, “What does this have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’ ” 11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.

2 Samuel 16:10–11

Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.” . . . 10 David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”

2 Samuel 24:1, 10 (Cf. 1 Chronicles 21:1)

So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

1 Kings 12:15

Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. 20 And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ “One suggested this, and another that. 21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 “ ‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. “ ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. “ ‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’ 23 “So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

1 Kings 22:19–23 (Cf. 2 Chronicles 18:18–22)

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Job 1:20–22

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

Job 2:3

He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Job 2:10

A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

Job 14:5

But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.

Job 23:13

I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Job 42:2

But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Psalm 33:11

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

Psalm 115:3

The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.

Psalm 135:6

To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

Proverbs 16:1

The Lord works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.

Proverbs 16:4

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

Proverbs 16:9

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

Proverbs 16:33

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:21

A person’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way?

Proverbs 20:24

The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen. 25 I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.” 26 This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. 27 For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

Isaiah 14:24–27

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.

Isaiah 45:7

Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ 11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.

Isaiah 46:9–11

LORD, I know that people’s lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps.

Jeremiah 10:23

“This is what the Lord says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.

Jeremiah 32:42

Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Lamentations 3:37–38

All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

Daniel 4:35

When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

Amos 3:6

For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:36

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:11–12

These are hard and mysterious truths, but we mustn’t too quickly draw theological conclusions that mute the Bible from speaking on its own terms and revealing God to us in the resplendent display of his multifaceted character. It’s better that we come to know the fullness and mystery of all that God has revealed to us about himself—even if we have to wrestle and struggle through the implications—than that we have a safer and easier but incomplete picture of who God is.

1. Cf. John 11:4, 14, where Jesus wasn’t interested in healing Lazarus but instead wanted to display his glory. [↩]