Commentary - Exodus 11:9-10

Bird's-eye view

These two verses serve as a divine summary and a theological capstone to the entire conflict between Yahweh and Pharaoh. After announcing the final, devastating plague of the death of the firstborn, the narrative pauses to give us God's own commentary on the proceedings. This is not just a historical report; it is a revelation of the divine purpose behind Pharaoh's stubbornness. God Himself is the one orchestrating this entire confrontation for a specific end: the multiplication of His wonders and thus the magnification of His glory. The central issue here is the unvarnished sovereignty of God. Pharaoh's resistance is not an obstacle to God's plan, but is rather an essential instrument of it. Yahweh is not reacting to Pharaoh; Pharaoh is reacting to Yahweh, and even his defiance is on a divine leash. This passage forces us to grapple with the hard doctrine of judicial hardening, where God, in His perfect justice, strengthens a rebellious heart in its chosen path of rebellion in order to make His power and name known throughout the earth.

In short, this is God pulling back the curtain to show Moses, and all subsequent readers, that the drama in Egypt is not a contest between two evenly matched opponents. It is a demonstration, staged by the Creator of all things, to show what happens when a clay pot puffed up with pride sets itself against its Maker. The outcome was never in doubt because the entire conflict, including the heart condition of the central antagonist, was under the absolute control of God. This is for the assurance of His people and the terror of His enemies.

Outline

Context In Exodus

Exodus 11:9-10 is strategically placed. It comes immediately after Moses has pronounced the tenth and final plague upon Egypt (Exod 11:4-8) but before that plague is actually executed in chapter 12. This placement provides a theological framework for understanding everything that has happened since Moses first stood before Pharaoh in chapter 5, and for understanding the final, terrible blow that is about to fall. The narrative has been building in intensity, with each plague being more severe than the last, and with Pharaoh's heart growing progressively harder. We have seen a back-and-forth rhythm: a plague, a temporary repentance from Pharaoh, the removal of the plague, and then Pharaoh hardening his own heart. But interwoven with this are the statements that Yahweh is hardening Pharaoh's heart. These concluding verses of chapter 11 resolve any tension by making it explicit that the ultimate cause behind the entire pattern of resistance is Yahweh Himself, who is using Pharaoh's sin for His own glorious purposes. This summary sets the stage for the Passover, the climactic act of redemption and judgment that the preceding wonders were all designed to magnify.

Key Issues

Sovereignty on Display

Many modern readers get squeamish when they come to a passage like this. We are comfortable with a God who responds to our choices, who works with what we give Him. But the God of the Bible is not a cosmic reactor. He is the author of the play, not just an actor in it. Theologians sometimes talk about the creator/creature distinction, and it is absolutely essential here. If God and Pharaoh were two players on the same level, two billiard balls on the same table, then for God to move Pharaoh would be to violate Pharaoh's freedom. But God is not in the system; He created the system. He is the playwright, and Pharaoh is a character in His play. Shakespeare and Hamlet are both responsible for Hamlet's speeches, but not in the same way. It is not 50/50; it is 100/100. God is 100% sovereign over Pharaoh's hard heart, and Pharaoh is 100% responsible for the wickedness that comes out of it.

God does not simply predict that Pharaoh will refuse to listen. He states it as the settled foundation for His own subsequent action. "Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My miraculous wonders will be multiplied." Pharaoh's obstinance is the dark velvet on which God will display the diamonds of His power. God is not trying to save Pharaoh; He is using Pharaoh to save Israel and to make His name great throughout the earth (Rom 9:17). This is what we call hard sovereignty, and while it may rattle our modern therapeutic sensibilities, it is the bedrock of biblical faith and the only foundation for true comfort. Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases (Ps 115:3).

Verse by Verse Commentary

9 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My miraculous wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

Here God gives Moses the divine logic behind the whole affair. The statement is both a prediction and a statement of purpose. First, the prediction: "Pharaoh will not listen to you." This was never in doubt. From the very beginning, God had told Moses this would be the case (Exod 3:19). This is a settled fact, grounded in the unchangeable decree of God. Moses is not to be discouraged by this, as though his mission were failing. On the contrary, the mission is proceeding exactly according to the divine script.

Second, we have the purpose clause, introduced by "so that." Why will Pharaoh refuse to listen? So that God's wonders may be multiplied. If Pharaoh had let the people go after the first plague, or the second, God's glory would have been displayed, but not in its fullness. God's intention was not simply to get Israel out of Egypt. His intention was to do it in such a way that Egypt would be utterly crushed, her gods humiliated, and the name of Yahweh exalted among the nations for centuries to come. Pharaoh's stubbornness was the necessary precondition for the full display of God's power. God required a truly hard case in order to show the full extent of His might. Every time Pharaoh says "no," he is unwittingly setting the stage for another act in God's great drama of redemption.

10 Now Moses and Aaron did all these miraculous wonders before Pharaoh; yet Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart with strength, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

This verse summarizes the two sides of the action. On the human side, Moses and Aaron were faithful. They "did all these miraculous wonders before Pharaoh." They were obedient to the last detail. They performed the signs, delivered the messages, and stood firm in the face of the most powerful man on earth. They did their part.

But then we have the divine side, introduced with that crucial word "yet." Despite all these wonders, the expected result of repentance did not happen. Why? "Yet Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart with strength." The Hebrew verb here, chazaq, means to strengthen, to make firm, or to make resolute. God was not infusing evil into a pure heart. He was taking the native rebellion already present in Pharaoh's heart and strengthening it, solidifying it, making it immovable. Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart on multiple occasions (Exod 8:15, 32). Now, God judicially confirms him in that rebellion. God gives Pharaoh exactly what he wants; He gives him a backbone of steel for his defiance. This is a terrifying thought. One of the most awful judgments God can visit upon a sinner is to give him over to his sin, to remove all restraint and confirm him in his path to destruction.

And the result is stated plainly: "and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land." The final action, or inaction, of Pharaoh is the direct result of God's sovereign hardening. God willed the means (a hardened heart) to accomplish His end (multiplying wonders), and it all came to pass exactly as He ordained.

Application

The first and most obvious application is that we must have a robust and biblical doctrine of the sovereignty of God. If our God is a deity who is constantly thwarted by the free will of man, then He is not the God of the Bible and He is no comfort to us at all. The God who hardened Pharaoh's heart for His glory is the same God who works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Rom 8:28). This means that even the most wicked and defiant opposition to God's people is ultimately under His control and will be used for His purposes and our good. The tyrant on his throne, the persecutor of the church, the mocker in the street, none of them can move a finger apart from the sovereign will of God. Their defiance, like Pharaoh's, will only serve to display the wisdom, power, and justice of our God.

Second, this passage is a stark warning against hardening our own hearts. Pharaoh began by hardening his own heart. He saw the evidence of God's power and he suppressed it in unrighteousness. He chose his pride and his pantheon of false gods over the living God. And the result was that God eventually gave him over to that choice, strengthening him in it. Every time you hear the gospel and refuse it, every time you see a clear command of God in Scripture and disobey it, you are taking a step down Pharaoh's path. You are hardening your own heart. And if you persist, the day may come when God judicially hardens you in that rebellion, and your destruction will be sealed. The proper response to the display of God's power is not defiance, but humble submission. We should pray that God would grant us a soft heart, a heart of flesh, that trembles at His word and rejoices in His grace, a grace that overcomes our native hardness and brings us to salvation.