John Calvin Commentary Exodus 4:21

"And Jehovah said unto Moses, When thou goest back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand: but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go." — Exodus 4:21 (ASV)

When you go to return. Moses had not previously enumerated the wonders, but from this verse we gather that whatever we will shortly read was done, was already commanded by God. There is, then, no doubt that God had already advised him of his whole course of action, lest he might yield to the obstinacy of the proud tyrant and, after two or three miracles had been performed in vain, might cast away his rod, together with the task entrusted to him.

Now, therefore, God exhorts him to perseverance. Although he might perceive after three or four miracles that the king's obstinacy was unconquerable, he should still not turn back or be discouraged, but should continue even to the end. This, then, is the essence: that he should not faint or fail when he saw the futility of his first efforts, nor cease to contend boldly until he had fulfilled all the purposes of his calling.

Moreover, lest Moses might think it was by chance that he did not immediately obtain the victory, or consider it strange that the miracles could be evaded with impunity by a mere mortal—as if Pharaoh stood before God unconquered in his boldness—God Himself foretells that He would be the director of all this contest. Indeed, God reveals that whatever might seem to oppose the deliverance of His people would arise from His own secret counsel.

Thus God shows Moses the reason why he should not stop until he had performed all the miracles: because the tyrant must be gloriously conquered and overwhelmed in so many hard-fought battles, so that the victory might be more splendid. In the meantime, God declares that the king of Egypt would not be so obstinate contrary to His will—as if God could not bring him to order in a moment—but rather that He Himself would harden his heart in order that He might violently overwhelm his madness.⁵⁹

The word Moses uses sometimes signifies to apprehend, sometimes to restrain by force, and sometimes to strengthen. However, it seemed to me that I could best render its sense by the word constringo, meaning "to constrain." For undoubtedly, God would make it appear that He would be the President⁶⁰ (so to speak) over all the contests in which Moses was to engage, so as even to control the heart of his adversary and to harden it into obstinacy.

Since this expression seems harsh to sensitive ears, many try to soften it by interpreting God’s act as mere permission, as if there were no difference between doing something and permitting it to be done, or as if God would commend His passivity rather than His power.

As for myself, I am certainly not ashamed of speaking as the Holy Spirit speaks, nor do I hesitate to believe what so often occurs in Scripture: that God gives the wicked over to a reprobate mind, gives them up to vile affections, blinds their minds, and hardens their hearts.

But they object that in this way God would be made the author of sin, which would be a detestable impiety. I reply that God is very far from deserving blame when He is said to exercise His judgments. Therefore, if blindness is a judgment of God, it ought not to be brought as an accusation against Him that He inflicts punishment.

But if the cause is often concealed from us, we should remember that God’s judgments are not without reason called a great deep, and therefore, let us regard them with admiration and not with reviling.

But those who substitute His permission for His act not only deprive Him of His authority as a judge but also, in their complaining, subject Him to a weighty reproach, since they grant Him no more justice than their own senses can understand.

⁵⁹ חזק. Constrinxit, revinxit; hinc roboravit, confirmavit; intransitive etiam invaluit, praevaluit. — Prof J Robertson Clavis Pentateuch, in loco — W

⁶⁰ Agonotheta. — Lat. Le maistre du camp. — . Le maistre du camp. — Fr..