But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

Exodus 6:1 ESV

This word of Yahweh to Moses came in response to Moses’ lament at the end of chapter 5. At the beginning of that chapter, Moses had worked up the courage to do as God commanded, declaring God’s message to Pharaoh. Yet the Egyptian king scoffed at both Yahweh and His decree, then he issued a command that made Israel’s slavery even harder. After this, the Israelites complained to Moses, and Exodus 5 ends with Moses’ prayer:

Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Exodus 5:22–23

Notice that Moses’ complaint was that God had done evil to the people of Israel by allowing the evil of Pharaoh and by not delivering them at all. As with Job, we should note that God did not answer Moses’ why questions; He did, however, answer Moses’ complaint of God’s inaction, saying that Moses was about to see with his own eyes the great wrath that He was about to bring upon Pharaoh.

What effect would God’s judgment upon Pharaoh have? Pharaoh himself would drive the people of Israel out of Egypt. Indeed, notice that God emphasizes that point by repeating it: for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. When reading the Bible, we should remember that repetition means pay attention. With only a finite about of space given to God’s inspired Word, we can know for certain that God did not include anything frivolous or unnecessary within the Scriptures.

Why, then, does God emphasize twice that Pharaoh will be the one to cast the Hebrews out of Egypt? Even though the LORD has always had the intention of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt entirely, He commanded Moses to only request their temporary journey into the wilderness to sacrifice and hold a feast to God. This will continue as Moses continues to speak with Pharaoh throughout the outpouring of the plagues. His message to Pharaoh is almost always: “Thus says the LORD, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me’” (Exodus 8:1). He never demands of Pharaoh the permanent exodus of Israel, even though that is exactly what God promised Moses that He would to do. The LORD purposely kept the demand for Pharaoh’s obedience low so that Israel’s exodus would be all the more glorious whenever God used the hard-hearted Pharaoh to accomplish it. In other words, the LORD did not want to merely rip the Israelites out of Pharaoh’s obstinate hands (although He certainly could have!); instead, He wanted to so thoroughly dismantle the king of Egypt that he would not only consent to God’s will but would accomplish God’s will.

Although Pharaoh claimed to be divine, the one true God was determined to show the king of Egypt just how limited his claim of sovereignty really was. Indeed, the LORD would magnify His own sovereignty by using Pharaoh as His instrument for accomplishing the exodus. Such a turn of events should readily bring to mind Joseph’s words to his brothers at conclusion of Genesis: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20).

We should rightly take great comfort from this truth. Although God is by no means the author of evil, it can by no means escape His sovereign will. Recall that in Ephesians 3:11 Paul referred the gospel as God’s “eternal purpose,” which means that the creation, fall, and redemption of the cosmos was always God’s plan. Satan’s rebellion and humanity’s descent into sin did not catch the Creator by surprise. Rather, He permitted evil to darken His creation in order “to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:9-10). Even through lamentation, we can still praise our God, for we know that He is sovereignly bringing all things for His glory and for the good of His people… even if we cannot yet see how He is doing so.