Exodus 14: Heavy Stubbornness and Heavier Glory, That Fierce Providence
Exodus 14: Heavy Stubbornness and Heavier Glory, That Fierce Providence
"Then Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are trapped in the wilderness, wandering around in confusion.'" (Exodus 14:3, paraphrased)
"The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly under the LORD's protection." (Exodus 14:8, paraphrased)
"I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen." (Exodus 14:17-18, paraphrased)
How much does the author trust God? His trust pulses like a heartbeat throughout the entire book of Exodus, but it is revealed most sharply in chapter 14, where they reach a dead end. If Pharaoh were a rational human being, he could not be this obstinate. This is just after the funeral for not only his own son but all the firstborn throughout Egypt has ended. Pharaoh's madness in mounting his chariots and pursuing them again before the wounds inflicted by the angel of death have healed is an unrealistic hardness that cannot be explained by mere human vengeance.
The editor of Exodus boldly declares that this incomprehensible situation is due to God's providence and command rather than human psychology. This is not a cowardly excuse invoking God's will to evade one's own responsibility (like Corban). Rather, it is a confession of monotheistic faith so powerful and fierce as to seem blind—that even all the contradictions and evil in the world cannot escape God's grasp. Just as in Job, where even Satan moves only with God's permission, the editor perceives that Pharaoh, this great evil, is merely a supporting actor for God's glory within God's long and deep breath.
Here we encounter a profound wordplay in Hebrew. Kabed, meaning "heavy of heart" (stubborn), shares the same root with Kavod, God's glory. God makes Pharaoh's heart endlessly heavy and stubborn, thereby paradoxically revealing His own heavier glory. To the unprepared, God's weight becomes the millstone of judgment, but to the covenant people, that weight becomes the anchor of salvation that sustains life. Before the Red Sea, where Israel's light-as-a-feather complaints collide with Pharaoh's heavy murderous intent, even that chaos is under God's perfect control.
Why does God stage such an extreme drama? Verse 18 reveals the reason: "The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." This is not the recognition craving of a deity who gets upset when not acknowledged. Rather, it is God's transcendent mercy—using even the violent method of raising walls of water and drowning chariots to make people face true reality, because not knowing God, the source of life, is itself death.
The editor wanted to make the same confession in the fierce wind at the Red Sea, or perhaps in the gentle whisper that Elijah later heard: "Behold, who is the master of all this tumult and silence?" Transcending our narrow theodicy questions, only God's heavy hand—which reverses even evil's attempts into His glory—is worthy of our trust.