Why Pharaoh Was Raised Up
…he himself, someone says, hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 9:12); and indeed he said to him, “For this very purpose I raised you up, that I might show my power in you” (Exodus 9:16; Romans 9:17). If, then, he both hardens some and raises them up, who are vessels of wrath and are said to be prepared for destruction (Romans 9:22), “why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will?” (Romans 9:19). And how could the one hardened by him have become good?
What, then, could I say to this? To know the truth, it is enough to be settled in the conviction that God could never be the maker of evil things; for all that he made was very good (Genesis 1:31). If, then, they insist that the Egyptian was not a human being and did not share the same nature as we do, let them prove it, and we too will keep silent. But if he was like us, let them either openly accuse the divine voice of not seeing what is good and what is not; or, if they shudder at that, let them confess that the things he brought into existence are good. In this way they will reject that most rash opinion.
The words spoken to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up” (Exodus 9:16), do not mean “I created you” or “I made you”, but rather “I called you forth, to the point of choosing to set yourself against me”; and this not at the start of his life, but when Moses was being sent to redeem Israel. On what grounds, and for what reason, the all-wise Paul will make plain to us: “For God,” he says, “desiring to show his wrath,” and the rest (Romans 9:22).
In times long past the whole earth had gone astray. Some worshipped the creation (Romans 1:25); others made an object of reverence of whatever seemed good to them. At length Abraham was called to knowledge, and so the race descended from him sprang up, devoted to the worship of God. But when they too went down into Egypt and then spent a long time there, they slid into deception and worshipped the gods of the land. Yet God remembered what he had promised to the fathers (Exodus 2:24). Moses had been appointed to the mission, to release Israel from slavery; but it was necessary, both for those called to worship him and for all on earth, not only to learn that after long ages the God of the Hebrews had been made manifest, but also to be confirmed by surpassing wonders in faith in him and in the conviction that he is not, like the other gods, voiceless and powerless, but rather himself steers the universe, and that wrath strikes those who act against his will.
Yet, on the other hand, God, wishing to work wonders, had to be seen to have good grounds for doing so. So Pharaoh was raised up to resist, by God’s providential ordering, and grew hard against the divine power. For this reason he was punished, and not unjustly: for he was unholy and an idolater, he maltreated Israel with clay and brickmaking (Exodus 1:14), and he made toil their wage. Therefore he was of necessity named a vessel of wrath, and was prepared for destruction (Romans 9:22), that is, …
Greek
ἐσκλήρυνεν αὐτὸς, φησὶ, τὴν καρδίαν Φαραώ· καὶ δὴ καὶ ἔφασκε πρὸς αὐτόν Εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐξήγειρά σε ὅπως ἐνδείξωμαι ἐν σοὶ τὴν δύναμίν μου· οὐκοῦν εἰ καὶ σκληρύνει τινὰς καὶ ἐξανίστησιν αὐτοὺς ὀργῆς ὄντας σκεύη, καὶ κατηρτίσθαι λεγόμενα εἰς ἀπώλειαν, τί ἔτι μέμφεται; τῷ γὰρ βουλήματι αὐτοῦ τίς ἀνθέστηκε; πῶς δὲ ἂν γέγονεν ἀγαθὸς ὁ παρ' αὐτοῦ σηληρυνόμενος; Τί οὖν ἂν ἔχοιμι πρὸς ταῦτα εἰπεῖν; ἀπόχρη πρός γε τὸ εἰδέναι τὸ ἀληθὲς, τὸ διακεῖσθαί τε καὶ φρονεῖν ὡς οὐκ ἂν γένοιτό ποτε τῶν φαύλων δημιουργὸς ὁ Θεός· πάντα γὰρ ὅσα ἐποίησε, καλὰ λίαν. εἰ μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἄνθρωπον εἶναι διατείνονται τὸν Αἰγύπτιον καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμῖν φύσεως μεταλαχεῖν, ἀποδεικνύντων, καὶ ἡμεῖς σιωπήσομεν· εἰ δὲ ἦν καθ' ἡμᾶς, ἢ τῆς θείας ἐναργῶς καταγορευόντων φωνῆς, ὡς οὐ τὸ καλὸν ὁρώσης καὶ τὸ μὴ οὕτως ἔχον· ἢ εἰ τοῦτο καταπεφρίκασιν, ὁμολογούντων εἶναι καλὰ τὰ παρ' αὐτοῦ πρὸς ὕπαρξιν παρενηνεγμένα· οὕτω γὰρ τὴν προαλεστάτην ἀποκρούσονται δόξαν. τὸ δέ Εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐξήγειρά σε πρὸς τὸν Φαραὼ εἰρημένον, κατασημαίνει οὐ τὸ ἔκτισα ἢ δεδημιούργηκα, κέκληκα δὲ μᾶλλον εἰς τὸ ἐθελῆσαι δεῖν ἀντιπράττειν ἐμοὶ, καὶ οὐκ ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς γεννήσεως, ἀλλ' ὅτε Μωυσῆς ἀπεστέλλετο λυτρωσόμενος τὸν Ἰσραήλ· καὶ ἐπὶ ποίοις τισὶν, ἢ καὶ ὅτου χάριν, ὁ πάνσοφος ἡμῖν διατρανώσει 232 Παῦλος· θέλων γάρ φησιν ὁ Θεὸς ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν ὀργὴν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· πεπλάνητο ἡ σύμπασα γῆ κατά γε τοὺς ἄνωθεν ἔτι καιρούς· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τῇ κτίσει λελατρεύκασιν, οἱ δὲ τὸ δοκοῦν ἐποιοῦντο σέβας· κέκληται δὲ μόλις εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν Ἁβραὰμ, ἀνέφυ τε οὕτω τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γένος, ταῖς εἰς Θεὸν λατρείαις προσκείμενον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ κατέβησαν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, εἶτα χρόνους ἐν αὐτῇ διατετρίφασι μακροὺς, κατώλισθον εἰς ἀπάτην, καὶ τοῖς ἐγχωρίοις λελατρεύκασι θεοῖς· ἀλλ' ἐμέμνητο Θεὸς τῶν τοῖς πατράσιν ἐπηγγελμένων· καὶ προκεχείριστο μὲν εἰς ἀποστολὴν ὁ Μωυσῆς, ἵνα τῆς δουλείας ἀπολύσῃ τὸν Ἰσραήλ· ἀλλ' ἦν ἀναγκαῖον καὶ τοῖς καλουμένοις εἰς τὴν ὑπ' αὐτῷ λατρείαν καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς, τὸ μὴ πυθέσθαι μόνον ὅτι πεφανέρωται διὰ χρόνων μακρῶν ὁ τῶν Ἑβραίων Θεὸς, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ταῖς ὑπεράγαν τερατουργίαις προσεμπεδοῦσθαι εἰς τὴν ὑπ' αὐτῷ πίστιν καὶ δόξαν, ὅτι μὴ κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐστὶ θεοὺς ἄφωνός τε καὶ ἀναλκής· πηδαλιουχεῖ δὲ μᾶλλον τὸ σύμπαν αὐτὸς, καὶ ὅτι τοῖς ἀντιπράττουσι τοῖς αὐτοῦ νεύμασι κατασκήπτουσιν ὀργαί. ἀλλ' ἔδει πάλιν τερατουργεῖν ἐθέλοντα τὸν Θεὸν εὐαφόρμως ὁρᾶσθαι πρὸς τοῦτο ἰόντα· ἐξεγήγερται τοίνυν ὁ Φαραὼ πρὸς ἀντίστασιν οἰκονομικῶς, καὶ κατεσκληρύνετο τῆς θείας δυνάμεως· ταύτῃτοι ἐκολάζετο οὐκ ἀδίκως· ἀνόσιός τε γὰρ ἦν καὶ εἰδωλολάτρης, κατῃκίζετό τε πηλῷ καὶ πλινθείᾳ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ μισθὸν αὐτοῖς ἐπήρτησε πόνον· διὸ καὶ σκεῦος ὀργῆς κεχρημάτικεν ἀναγκαίως, καὶ κατήρτιστο εἰς ἀπώλειαν, τουτέστιν εἰς