◄ Exodus 4:21 ►
The LORD instructed Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
Study Bible
The LORD said to Moses
This phrase indicates a direct communication from God to Moses, emphasizing the personal and intimate relationship between the divine and His chosen leader. The Hebrew name for God here is "Yahweh," which signifies the covenantal and eternal nature of God. This direct address underscores the authority and divine mandate given to Moses, setting the stage for the unfolding of God's plan for Israel's deliverance.

When you go back to Egypt
This phrase marks a pivotal moment in Moses' life, as he is instructed to return to the land of his birth, where he once fled as a fugitive. Egypt, in the biblical narrative, represents both a place of bondage and a stage for God's mighty acts. The return to Egypt signifies a confrontation with the past and a step into the role of deliverer, as ordained by God.

see that you perform before Pharaoh
Here, God commands Moses to demonstrate His power through signs and wonders. The Hebrew word for "perform" implies a deliberate and purposeful action. This instruction highlights the importance of obedience and the role of miracles as a testament to God's sovereignty and authority over earthly rulers.

all the wonders I have put in your power
The "wonders" refer to the miraculous signs that God empowers Moses to perform. These acts are not merely displays of power but are intended to reveal God's supremacy and to challenge the false gods of Egypt. The phrase "I have put in your power" indicates that these abilities are divinely granted, emphasizing that Moses acts as God's instrument.

But I will harden his heart
This statement introduces the complex theme of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. The Hebrew word for "harden" can mean to strengthen or make stubborn. God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart serves to demonstrate His ultimate control over the events and to fulfill His purposes in delivering Israel. It also sets the stage for the dramatic confrontation between God's will and human obstinacy.

so that he will not let the people go
This phrase reveals the immediate outcome of God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart. It underscores the tension and conflict that will unfold as Moses confronts Pharaoh. The refusal to let the Israelites go serves as a catalyst for the subsequent plagues and the eventual liberation of God's people. This highlights the theme of deliverance and the lengths to which God will go to fulfill His promises to His people.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant-keeping God of Israel, who is orchestrating the deliverance of His people from Egypt.

2. Moses
The chosen leader and prophet of Israel, tasked with confronting Pharaoh and leading the Israelites out of bondage.

3. Pharaoh
The ruler of Egypt, whose heart will be hardened by God, leading to a series of plagues and the eventual release of the Israelites.

4. Egypt
The land where the Israelites are enslaved, representing a place of oppression and idolatry.

5. Wonders (Miracles)
The signs and miracles that God empowers Moses to perform as a demonstration of His power and authority.
Teaching Points
God's Sovereignty
God's control over the events in Egypt demonstrates His ultimate authority over nations and rulers. Believers can trust in God's sovereign plan, even when circumstances seem challenging.

The Purpose of Hardening
The hardening of Pharaoh's heart serves a divine purpose, showcasing God's power and ensuring that His name is proclaimed. This teaches us that God's purposes may not always align with human understanding, but they are always for His glory.

Obedience to God's Call
Moses is called to obey God's instructions despite the foreknowledge of Pharaoh's resistance. This encourages believers to remain faithful to God's calling, trusting in His plan and timing.

The Power of Signs and Wonders
The miracles performed by Moses are a testament to God's power and serve as a witness to both the Israelites and Egyptians. Believers are reminded of the importance of God's power in their lives and the impact of His works as a testimony to others.

The Danger of a Hardened Heart
Pharaoh's hardened heart leads to his downfall and serves as a warning against resisting God's will. Believers are encouraged to remain open and responsive to God's voice, avoiding the pitfalls of pride and stubbornness.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the hardening of Pharaoh's heart demonstrate God's sovereignty, and how can this understanding impact our trust in God's plan for our lives?

2. In what ways can believers today be obedient to God's call, even when facing resistance or challenges similar to Moses' experience with Pharaoh?

3. How do the signs and wonders performed by Moses in Egypt serve as a testament to God's power, and how can we recognize and testify to God's work in our own lives?

4. What lessons can we learn from Pharaoh's hardened heart, and how can we guard against developing a similar attitude in our spiritual walk?

5. How do the events in Exodus 4:21 connect with the broader account of God's deliverance and redemption throughout Scripture, and how can this understanding deepen our faith?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 7-11
These chapters detail the plagues that God brings upon Egypt, fulfilling the prophecy of Pharaoh's hardened heart.

Romans 9:17-18
Paul references Pharaoh's hardened heart to illustrate God's sovereignty and purpose in showing His power and proclaiming His name.

Deuteronomy 6:22
This verse recalls the signs and wonders performed in Egypt, emphasizing God's mighty hand in delivering His people.

Hebrews 3:7-19
This passage warns against hardening one's heart, using the Israelites' rebellion as a cautionary example.
Sermons
HardeningJ. Orr Exodus 4:21
Moses Before PharaohJ. Parker, D. D.Exodus 4:21
The ReturnJ. Orr Exodus 4:18-21
True Faith and its JoyJ. Urquhart Exodus 4:18-23
Facing EgyptH.T. Robjohns Exodus 4:18-31
My Times are in Thy HandG.A. Goodhart Exodus 4:19-29
People
Aaron, Isaac, Israelites, Jacob, Jethro, Moses, Pharaoh, Zipporah
Places
Egypt, Horeb, Midian, Nile River
Topics
Egypt, Goest, Harden, Hast, Heart, Miracles, Perform, Pharaoh, Power, Return, Strengthen, Turn, Wonders
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Exodus 4:21

     5016   heart, fallen and redeemed
     5457   power, human
     6185   imagination, desires
     6245   stubbornness
     6663   freedom, of will

Library
January 13. "Thou Shalt be to Him Instead of God" (Ex. Iv. 16).
"Thou shalt be to him instead of God" (Ex. iv. 16). Such was God's promise to Moses, and such the high character that Moses was to assume toward Aaron, his brother. May it not suggest a high and glorious place that each of us may occupy toward all whom we meet, instead of God? What a dignity and glory it would give our lives, could we uniformly realize this high calling! How it would lead us to act toward our fellow-men! God can always be depended upon. God is without variableness or shadow of turning. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May the Eleventh but -- --!
"And Moses answered and said, But----" --EXODUS iv. 1-9. We know that "but." God has heard it from our lips a thousand times. It is the response of unbelief to the divine call. It is the reply of fear to the divine command. It is the suggestion that the resources are inadequate. It is a hint that God may not have looked all round. He has overlooked something which our own eyes have seen. The human "buts" in the Scriptural stories make an appalling record. "Lord, I will follow Thee, but----" There …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

May the Twelfth Mouth and Matter
"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth." --EXODUS iv. 10-17. And what a promise that is for anyone who is commissioned to proclaim the King's decrees. Here can teachers and preachers find their strength. God will be with their mouths. He will control their speech, and order their words like troops. He does not promise to make us eloquent, but to endow our words with the "demonstration of power." "And I will teach thee what thou shall say." The Lord will not only be with our mouths, …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

A Bundle of Myrrh is My Well-Beloved unto Me; He Shall Abide Between My Breasts.
When the Bride, or rather the lover (for she is not yet a bride), has found her Bridegroom, she is so transported with joy, that she is eager to be instantly united to Him. But the union of perpetual enjoyment is not yet arrived. He is mine, she says, I cannot doubt that He gives Himself to me this moment, since I feel it, but He is to me, as it were, a bundle of myrrh. He is not yet a Bridegroom whom I may embrace in the nuptial bed, but a bundle of crosses, pains and mortifications; a bloody husband …
Madame Guyon—Song of Songs of Solomon

Preaching (I. ).
Earthen vessels, frail and slight, Yet the golden Lamp we bear; Master, break us, that the light So may fire the murky air; Skill and wisdom none we claim, Only seek to lift Thy Name. I have on purpose reserved the subject of Preaching for our closing pages. Preaching is, from many points of view, the goal and summing up of all other parts and works of the Ministry. What we have said already about the Clergyman's life and labour, in secret, in society, in the parish; what we have said about his …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

To the Saddest of the Sad
I often wonder what those preachers do who feel called to make up their message as they go on; for if they fail, their failure must be attributed in great measure to their want of ability to make up a moving tale. They have to spread their sails to the breeze of the age, and to pick up a gospel that comes floating down to them on the stream of time, altering every week in the year; and they must have an endless task to catch this new idea, or, as they put it, to keep abreast of the age. Unless, indeed, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 34: 1888

The Sweet Uses of Adversity
Now, I propose to address myself to the two classes of persons who are making use of this question. First, I shall speak to the tried saint; and then I shall speak to the seeking sinner, who has been seeking peace and pardon through Christ, but who has not as yet found it, but, on the contrary, has been buffeted by the law, and driven away from the mercy-seat in despair. I. First, then, to THE CHILD OF GOD. I have--I know I have--in this great assembly, some who have come to Job's position. They …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

"For if Ye Live after the Flesh, Ye Shall Die; but if Ye through the Spirit do Mortify the Deeds of the Body, Ye Shall Live.
Rom. viii. s 13, 14.--"For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The life and being of many things consists in union,--separate them, and they remain not the same, or they lose their virtue. It is much more thus in Christianity, the power and life of it consists in the union of these things that God hath conjoined, so that if any man pretend to …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture.
"He hath hardened their heart."-- John xii. 40. The Scripture teaches positively that the hardening and "darkening of their foolish heart" is a divine, intentional act. This is plainly evident from God's charge to Moses concerning the king of Egypt: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not harken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Flight into Egypt and Slaughter of the Bethlehem Children.
(Bethlehem and Road Thence to Egypt, b.c. 4.) ^A Matt. II. 13-18. ^a 13 Now when they were departed [The text favors the idea that the arrival and departure of the magi and the departure of Joseph for Egypt, all occurred in one night. If so, the people of Bethlehem knew nothing of these matters], behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise [this command calls for immediate departure] and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt [This land was ever the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Appendix xii. The Baptism of Proselytes
ONLY those who have made study of it can have any idea how large, and sometimes bewildering, is the literature on the subject of Jewish Proselytes and their Baptism. Our present remarks will be confined to the Baptism of Proselytes. 1. Generally, as regards proselytes (Gerim) we have to distinguish between the Ger ha-Shaar (proselyte of the gate) and Ger Toshabh (sojourner,' settled among Israel), and again the Ger hatstsedeq (proselyte of righteousness) and Ger habberith (proselyte of the covenant). …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

A Canticle of Love
It is not only when He is about to send me some trial that Our Lord gives me warning and awakens my desire for it. For years I had cherished a longing which seemed impossible of realisation--to have a brother a Priest. I often used to think that if my little brothers had not gone to Heaven, I should have had the happiness of seeing them at the Altar. I greatly regretted being deprived of this joy. Yet God went beyond my dream; I only asked for one brother who would remember me each day at the Holy …
Therese Martin (of Lisieux)—The Story of a Soul

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Exodus 4:21 NIV
Exodus 4:21 NLT
Exodus 4:21 ESV
Exodus 4:21 NASB
Exodus 4:21 KJV

Exodus 4:21 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Exodus 4:20
Top of Page
Top of Page