John Calvin Commentary Exodus 9:17

"As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?" — Exodus 9:17 (ASV)

As yet exaltest thou thyself. The expression which Moses uses¹¹⁰ denotes the pride of Pharaoh; because he too insolently exalted himself by trampling on the people.

God therefore inquires, as if in astonishment, what this blinded fury meant: that the tyrant should hope that the injuries by which he undeservedly afflicted God’s people would be permitted with impunity. For he was already taught by many miracles that God had, as their protector, undertaken the cause of His people, so that He would be the avenger of all their unjust treatment.

At the same time, He ironically reproves the tyrant’s folly, because he was not humbled by so many chastisements; as if He had said that although, when intoxicated by prosperity, he might have raged against the wretched people with tyrannical and persistent arbitrariness, yet, after undergoing so many plagues, it was surely time to cease.

¹¹⁰ מסתולל. Part. Hithp. Raising up thyself like a rampart. C. found in S. M. that Kimchi had followed Aben-Ezra in interpreting the root סלל, to trample, a meaning not acknowledged by recent Lexicographers. — W