Proverbs 21:1
The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.
John Calvin comments: “Does God work in the hearts of men, directing their plans and moving their wills this way and that, so that they do nothing but what He has ordained?” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.174, emphasis mine)
Calvin adds: “The question is whether He has in His power also the depraved affections of the ungodly, moving them here and there so that they will what He has decreed they should do. Certainly when Solomon declares (Prov 21:1) that the heart of kings are in the hand of God so that He inclines it as He pleases, he shows that in general the will not less than external works are governed by the determination of God.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.174, emphasis mine)
Calvin writes: “God had no doubt decreed before the foundation of the world what He would do with every one of us and had assigned to everyone by His secret counsel his part in life.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.20, emphasis mine)
Calvin explains: “First, the eternal predestination of God, by which before the fall of Adam He decreed what should take place concerning the whole human race and every individual, was fixed and determined.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.121, emphasis mine)
Calvin adds: “We also note that we should consider the creation of the world so that we may realize that everything is subject to God and ruled by his will and that when the world has done what it may, nothing happens other than what God decrees.” (Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.66, emphasis mine)
This is precisely the Hard Determinism that Arminianism rejects.
God knows man, better than man knows himself. God controls the situations and God controls the range of a man’s choices. 1st Corinthians 10:13 states: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” How does God know what any man is able to endure, if He does not have perfect Middle Knowledge? This verse shows that the parameters of a man’s choices are set by the Providence of God.
2nd Samuel 22:27: “With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.” [KJV]
Jeremiah 18:5-11: “Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?’ declares the LORD. ‘Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.’ At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it. So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’”
This is why when God calls you to repent, you should, because you are going to be made to serve a useful purpose, one way or another.
King Sennacherib of Assyria is one such froward king that God, in turn, showed Himself froward towards by being clever, cunning, ingenious and shrewd. The king of Assyria had attacked Israel, and placed it under siege with the intention of conquering it (2nd Kings 18:13), and he spoke many blasphemies against the Lord: “‘Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! This is what the king says: “‘Don’t let King Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you from my power. Don’t let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will rescue us! This city will never be handed over to the Assyrian king.”’” (2nd Kings 18:28-30, NLT) So King Hezekiah of Judah sent a message to prophet Isaiah, who returned with this response: “‘Say to your master, “This is what the LORD says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. Listen! I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a report from Assyria telling him that he is needed at home. Then I will make him want to return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.”’” (2nd Kings 19:6-7, NLT) King Sennacherib returned with this message: “‘This message is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let this God you trust deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria. You know perfectly well what the kings of Assyria have done wherever they have gone. They have crushed everyone who stood in their way! Why should you be any different? Have the gods of other nations rescued them—such nations as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel-assar? The former kings of Assyria destroyed them all! What happened to the king of Hamath and the king of Arpad? What happened to the kings of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’” (2nd Kings 19:10-13, NLT) After spreading the message out before the Lord, Isaiah the prophet returned with this response from the Lord: “‘But have you not heard? It was I, the LORD, who decided this long ago. Long ago I planned what I am now causing to happen, that you should crush fortified cities into heaps of rubble. That is why their people have so little power and are such easy prey for you. They are as helpless as the grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, easily scorched by the sun. But I know you well—your comings and goings and all you do. I know the way you have raged against me. And because of your arrogance against me, which I have heard for myself, I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your mouth. I will make you return by the road on which you came.’” (2nd Kings 19:25-28, NLT) The Lord added: “‘For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend it.’” (2nd Kings 19:34, NLT) What happened next? “That night the angel of the LORD went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian troops. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there. One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. They then escaped to the land of Ararat, and another son, Esarhaddon, became the next king of Assyria.” (2nd Kings 19:35-37, NLT)
Here is a link to a Blog discussion on this point.
Question: How did God know that after compulsion, Pharaoh would finally relent, and let Israel go?
Answer: Either the answer is because that’s what’s in God’s alleged, “fixed and determined” eternally decreed Script of Life, and Pharaoh must ultimately play his role in God’s Deterministic script, or the answer is because God possesses perfect Middle Knowledge, knowing all possible contingencies and all of the what-ifs, which in this case, means knowing what Pharaoh would do in every single situation.
Exodus 1:11-14: “So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves and put brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down under heavy burdens. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more quickly the Israelites multiplied! The Egyptians soon became alarmed and decided to make their slavery more bitter still. They were ruthless with the Israelites, forcing them to make bricks and mortar and to work long hours in the fields.” (NLT)
And God said to Moses: “But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go.” (Exodus 3:19-20)
God is therefore able to control what the person does, like channels of water in His hands, by determining the circumstances of the situation, in order to arrive at the desired, free-will action on the individual. In this way, He could control the person while allowing them to exercise the freedom of their own will. This is also how God is able to harden people’s hearts when they present themselves as froward to Him. This is exactly what happened to King Ahab. (2nd Chronicles 18:22)
God’s molding is explicitly conditional. Pharaoh was a froward man and God dealt with him as such. But is it possible for a man to harden his own heart? Indeed, and if a man cannot, then what did God mean when He warned: “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness”? (Psalm 95:8) God knew exactly what made Pharaoh tick, and Pharaoh being a froward man in the sight of God, God raised him to power and prominence in order for him to serve a useful purpose to God “the Potter.” It is not God’s will that Pharaoh be a froward man, but God will deal with him as he is. If Pharaoh had repented, like Ninevah, then Scripture records that God would have relented. As Jeremiah 18:1-13 indicates, God warned Israel of impending judgment, if it did not obey God repent. In some instances, God used foreign kingdoms to bring judgment on His people, Israel, and in some cases, God incited a wicked king to go to war, in order to both bring disciple to Israel and to judge the invading kingdom.
In God’s Providence, He uses Middle Knowledge, rather than Determinism, to mold people as vessels, such that with the pure, He shows Himself pure, just as with the froward, like King Sennacherib of Assyria, He shows Himself froward. (2nd Samuel 22:27) In contrast, to suggest that God, by blind eternal Decree, formed Sennacherib from the womb as froward in order to work sin in his life, and blaspheme God, in order that God may show Himself froward in return, is Calvinistic Hard Determinism, and raises the Arminian “Author of Sin” Objection.
Question: Why does the Bible say that after Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 7:13, 22, 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7), God hardened it? (Exodus 9:12, 34-35, 10:1, 20, 27, 11:10; 14:8)
Answer: We have at least two answers from the Scriptures: 2nd Samuel 22:27 and Jeremiah 18:1-13.
