God resolves to deliver Israel from Pharaoh’s oppressive rule, but he does not accomplish this quickly. Pharaoh is set against the Lord and his people, and the Lord decides to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will not let Israel go. Why does God do this? Why does he not do the opposite and make Pharaoh’s heart willing to release Israel?

He does so for this greater purpose: to teach Israel, Egypt, and the world that he alone is the one true God. He is not a weak, tribal, uninvolved deity. He rules all of creation as a God of power, a God of justice, and a God of grace. The central purpose of the plagues on Egypt is to make this God unmistakably known.