“He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.” –Psalm 105:25
I read Psalm 105 yesterday morning, but came back to it today for this particular verse. Texts like this need careful attention, the kind that requires a whole-of-Scripture approach. Here’s the verse again with the pronouns replaced, “God turned the Egyptians’ hearts to hate his people Israel, to deal craftily with his servants.” If we slow down and think through the implications of what this is saying, it should mess with us. God “turned their hearts”… whose hearts? That would be the Egyptians who kept Israel in slavery and who God would then punish with ten plagues for their mistreatment of Israel.
Is your view of God big enough for that?
This Psalm looks back on history and provides sort of a behind-the-scenes exclusive, and it is stunning, breath-taking actually. The Egyptians, including Pharoah, were moral, volitional agents responsible for their sin. They were doing exactly what they wanted to do in enslaving and abusing the Israelite people. Yet, this passage shows there was something else behind their actions, namely, God.
But before we rush to get God off the hook, we need to see that apparently, God doesn’t think he’s on the hook. The Bible again and again affirms God’s sovereignty over all things while simultaneously affirming human responsibility. The Bible is also explicit that God does not commit evil, does not tempt man to commit evil, and cannot be blamed for our sin. He is altogether good, altogether holy. And there lies the mystery, but it’s a mystery we mustn’t throw away. If we are to see God rightly, as he has revealed himself in his Word, we need to hold (albeit in tension) that God can ordain that sin be without removing human responsibility.
There are many examples of this reality in Scripture, many, but the foremost is the death of God’s son. The men who beat, slapped, spit upon, and hung Jesus on the cross were each and every one doing as his heart desired. They were completely responsible for that most wicked sin. Yet, Scripture repeatedly reveals this act was ordained by God.
In Acts 2:22-23, Peter says, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” Two chapters later, we get an even more pointed account. Acts 4:27-28 states, “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” Isaiah 53:10 further states, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief.”
This is difficult to hold together, but if we want to remain true to Biblical revelation, we must. God as it turns out, is truly God. Truly sovereign over all. And we are absolutely responsible to him for our sin. When we begin to grasp even the edges of this reality, it’s easy to see why Paul said, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
