21 And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have given you power to do: but I will make his heart hard and he will not let the people go.
So then, at his pleasure he has mercy on a man, and at his pleasure he makes the heart hard.
O Lord, why do you send us wandering from your ways, making our hearts hard, so that we have no fear of you? Come back, because of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.
And the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.
But Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.
He has made their eyes blind, and their hearts hard; for fear that they might see with their eyes and get knowledge with their hearts, and be changed, and I might make them well.
For the Lord made them strong in heart to go to war against Israel, so that he might give them up to the curse without mercy, and that destruction might come on them, as the Lord had given orders to Moses.
But the Lord made Pharaoh's heart hard, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
And, A stone of falling, a rock of trouble; the word is the cause of their fall, because they go against it, and this was the purpose of God.
And with every deceit of wrongdoing among those whose fate is destruction; because they were quite without that love of the true faith by which they might have salvation. And for this cause, God will give them up to the power of deceit and they will put their faith in what is false: So that they all may be judged, who had no faith in what is true, but took pleasure in evil.
To the one it is a perfume of death to death; to the other a perfume of life to life. And who is enough for such things?
As it was said in the holy Writings, God gave them a spirit of sleep, eyes which might not see, and ears which have no hearing, to this day. And David says, Let their table be made a net for taking them, and a stone in their way, and a punishment: Let their eyes be made dark so that they may not see, and let their back be bent down at all times.
And because they had not the mind to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to an evil mind, to do those things which are not right;
Make the hearts of this people fat, and let their ears be stopped, and their eyes shut; for fear that they may see with their eyes, and be hearing with their ears, and their heart may become wise, and they may be turned to me and made well.
And the Lord said, How? And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so.
From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon and from the town in the valley as far as Gilead, no town was strong enough to keep us out; the Lord our God gave them all into our hands:
But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us go through; for the Lord your God made his spirit hard and his heart strong, so that he might give him up into your hands as at this day. And the Lord said to me, See, from now on I have given Sihon and his land into your hands: go forward now to take his land and make it yours. Then Sihon came out against us with all his people, to make an attack on us at Jahaz. And the Lord our God gave him into our hands; and we overcame him and his sons and all his people.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 4
Commentary on Exodus 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
This chapter,
Exd 4:1-9
It was a very great honour that Moses was called to when God commissioned him to bring Israel out of Egypt; yet he is with difficulty persuaded to accept the commission, and does it at last with great reluctance, which we should rather impute to a humble diffidence of himself and his own sufficiency than to any unbelieving distrust of God and his word and power. Note, Those whom God designs for preferment he clothes with humility; the most fit for service are the least forward.
Exd 4:10-17
Moses still continues backward to the service for which God had designed him, even to a fault; for now we can no longer impute it to his humility and modesty, but must own that here was too much of cowardice, slothfulness, and unbelief in it. Observe here,
Exd 4:18-23
Here,
Exd 4:24-31
Moses is here going to Egypt, and we are told,