I'm reading through Exodus and am even more fascinated by God's sovereignty in the entire story. He was indeed in control of every detail of leading the Israelites from Egypt that His name might be glorified. Check out all these references to His sovereignty JUST over Pharaoh:
"So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go" (Exo 3:20).
"...but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go" (Exo 4:21b).
"Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out of his land" (Exo 6:1).
"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt...the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst" (Exo 7:3-5).
"Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said" (Exo 7:13).
[This verse is repeated multiple times in 7:22; 8:15, 32; 9:7, 35].
"Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, SO THAT you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth. But, indeed, FOR THIS REASON I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth" (Exo 9:13b-16).
"...I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord" (Exo 10:1-2).
"But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go" (Exo 10:20).
[Also repeated in 10:27, 11:10].
"One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely" (Exo 11:1).
"'Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.' And they did so" (14:4). [Repeated in 14:17].
The result of all of this??
"When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord..." (Exo 14:31).
The last couple days, I've also read about King Cyrus of Persia in Ezra 1 and Isa 45, and how God raised him up and softened his heart to rebuild his house in Jerusalem. So, God hardened one king (Pharaoh) for the sake of His name and for His glory, and He softened another king's (Cyrus') heart for the sake of His name and for His glory.
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