John Calvin Commentary Exodus 9:27

"And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked." — Exodus 9:27 (ASV)

And Pharaoh sent and called. If this confession had proceeded from the heart, it would have indicated repentance; but Moses immediately perceived that fear in the heart of the wicked is not a principle which governs them in lasting obedience;¹¹¹ and this was more evident in the result.

Although we must, at the same time, remember what I have already mentioned: Pharaoh did not lie intentionally. When seized by terror, he grasped at every means to appease God, but soon after relapsed into his former state of mind.

For although with fox-like cunning the wicked pretend submission when they see themselves caught, in order to escape from the snare, they do not mean to mock God by their soft words. Rather, under the pressure of necessity, they are ready to do anything and therefore offer propitiations and satisfactions. But when their fear has departed, because whatever they promised was forcibly extorted from them, they immediately break out afresh.

A very similar circumstance is related of Saul. He confesses to his own disgrace the innocence of David, and yet, as soon as he has escaped from the danger and is freed from fear, he does not cease to persecute him cruelly (1 Samuel 24:18 and 26:21).

But if we admit that this was mere pretense, Pharaoh had greater cause for fear because, being experimentally convinced that God was his adversary, he was driven by his fear to make any conditions whatever. First of all, he acknowledges that he had sinned this time, not to excuse the former cases, but because, in such gross contempt, the crime of obstinacy was still more detestable.

And this more fully appears in the following words, in which he acknowledges the justice of God and confesses the wickedness of himself and his people. It is just as if he had said that he is deservedly punished because he had too long provoked God, who is a just judge.

Now since, as far as his words go, Pharaoh professes true repentance, we may gather from them that sinners do not attribute to God the honor due to His justice unless they condemn themselves. This must be more carefully observed, because there are few who think that, while they are endeavoring to rebut accusations of guilt, they are dishonoring God. Yet, whoever does not judge himself and frankly confess his sins is assuredly murmuring against the judgment of God.

Pharaoh, at length, resorts to supplication, in which he desires to have Moses and Aaron as his intercessors—not, I admit, without deception (because hypocrites are always double-hearted). Yet it is certain that because he was terrified by his troubles, he sought for peace with God, lest his rebellion should draw down upon him new and greater punishments. But as soon as, having obtained his desire, he ceased to be afraid, the secret wickedness which lay, as it were, stifled under the abundance of his miseries, burst forth from his sense of security.

What immediately follows is variously explained by the translators. Some understand it negatively, that there be not, or if there be not—thunderings; and even these disagree among themselves, for some suppose that Pharaoh congratulates himself because the thunders have ceased, but it is plain from the context that they are grossly mistaken.

If, then, a negation is intended, the passage must necessarily refer to the future, as if Pharaoh had said that he would be very graciously dealt with if God should please to calm the thunderings.¹¹² But the variant reading is equally probable: It is much, or a great thing, that there are, or have been thunderings; as though he said that he had been punished enough, or more than enough, for his folly.

Or (as seems best to me) he is now subdued by terror, while he is alarmed by the continual rollings of the thunder and the beating of the hail. For he seems to desire to prove the truth of his conversion, because he is conquered by the terrible power of God.

¹¹¹ “Et n’est maitresse que pour une minute;” and is only their mistress for a minute. — Fr..

¹¹² ורב, literally, and much A. V., It is enough. The LXX. and V. translators seem not to have found this expression in their copies of the Hebrew text. The Syriac amplifies it into And there is abundant room before him. S. M., Multum enim est ut fuerint tonitrua, etc.; and he adds, Onkelos sic vertit, Magnum coram me est tuorum, quod non sint super nos voces illae execrandae. — W.