John Calvin Commentary Exodus 9:14

"For I will this time send all my plagues upon thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth." — Exodus 9:14 (ASV)

For I will at this time. The unexpressed condition is implied: “unless he should submit himself to God.” The meaning is that although God had already chastised his pride, this had been done gently and in moderation. However, He would now use a heavier scourge, since the lighter rods had been unavailing. Thus, his ingratitude is reproved because he had not acknowledged that he had been spared, so that, having suffered only some trifling losses,¹⁰⁸ he might return to his right mind. Therefore, because God had proceeded gradually with His punishments, He now threatens that He will inflict many on him at once, as He is accustomed to act with the rebellious.

For this reason also, David exhorts us not to be “as the horse and mule—whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle when they are restive” (Psalms 32:9). From this, he concludes that “many sorrows shall be to the wicked” and rebellious.

But Moses here denounces plagues, which shall not only affect the head and arms, but which shall reach to the heart itself and inflict a deadly wound in his very bowels; for Pharaoh was so obstinate that it was not enough to batter his sides.

In short, he is enjoined to make haste and provide against the awful judgment which impended, unless he chose rather to perish with all his servants. The expression, “all my plagues,” embraces whatever chastisement we shall later see inflicted on him. Therefore, the word דבר, deber, designates every kind of death, as much as to say, that He would heap punishment upon punishment until He had destroyed the tyrant together with his whole nation.

What is later added, “that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth,” implies that Pharaoh had until now struggled against Him, because he had never really and seriously apprehended the extent of the divine power. For wherever it is really felt, pride must inevitably be humbled before it.

And, doubtless, the reprobate, although in some measure they recognize the power of God, still rush on with a kind of frenzied impulse, and their wickedness is combined with blindness of heart, so that seeing, they do not see. Meanwhile, we are reminded that the reprobate only gain this by their stupidity: that God should proceed against them with all His forces, and drag and compel them against their will to understand His power, from which they fly.

But, so that he may expect truce no longer, God affirms in the next verse that He is advancing with an outstretched hand. For God is not here commending His patience in the slowness of His procedure, as some prefer to explain it; but He rather admonishes him that the execution was near at hand, since He had armed Himself and prepared His forces before He had spoken a word.

¹⁰⁸ Dommages temporels. — Fr..