NOTES for Exo 9:1-35
Today's reading largely answers the question of why, after all, God could not or would not soften Pharaoh's heart. The answer is the mention that God does not allow the Egyptian plagues in order simply to wipe Egypt and Pharaoh himself off the face of the earth and remove him from the road as an annoying obstacle to His plans. If that alone were the goal, it would have cost God nothing to carry it out much faster (vv. 14-16). But it is important to Him that in the confrontation with stubborn Pharaoh, the power of God become evident to all (v. 16). One would think that, if so, the best proof of power would be the complete disappearance of Egypt and Pharaoh himself from the face of the earth. But, apparently, God's power is manifested differently. If, for example, Egypt really had been destroyed by some monstrous natural cataclysm, God's power would have shown itself only as an ordinary natural force, and the God of the Bible in that case would not have differed very much from any pagan thunder-god, except perhaps by surpassing any of them in scale. But God does not need that. He needs not corpses and ruins, but witnesses. For God can have relationships only with living people, and only living people can tell others about their relationships with God.
Apparently, God's ability to crush cities and countries with one blow is not something fundamental for His relationship with us. In any case, He Himself, when addressing a human being, does not focus attention on it. But acknowledgment of Him as Lord of the universe is extremely important to Him, and from Pharaoh He expects at least such acknowledgment, the minimum without which any human relationship with Him becomes impossible. That is why Pharaoh's voluntary consent is so important to Him.
One would think this consent is still not voluntary, since all the Egyptian plagues were, at first glance, precisely a demonstration of power. But this demonstration was, first, selective, so that many natural disasters passed by God's people (we find one example of this in today's reading too, vv. 25-26), and second, it was directed, ceasing at Moses' request (there is an example of this in today's passage too, v. 33). All this should have made Pharaoh understand that the God of the Hebrews, whom he neglects, although He can do everything, still does not seek simply to demonstrate His superiority. He wants the establishment of trusting relationships, which are entirely possible if Pharaoh resolves to acknowledge Him as Lord of the world and, accordingly, to do what God requires of him.
First comes voluntary and free acknowledgment of God's authority, and only then following His will. But if a person's heart continues to persist, such relationships become impossible, and then a person begins to see before him another face of God, far less favorable to him.