Romans 9:17 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

For the Scripture saith, &c.— Moreover, &c. Doddridge. It is plain that this is no proof of what immediately goes before; and therefore γαρ is properly rendered bymoreover, which is consistent with makingit introductory to what proves something asserted at a distance, if it come in as a co-ordinate proof. The reader will observe, that the Apostle does not produce an instance of an innocent person being made and treated as an object of divine displeasure out of mere sovereignty; but one of the most hardened and notorious sinners the world ever knew. Instead of I have raised thee up, some would render the original, I have made thee stand, or held thee up: that is, "I have supported thee during the former plagues, that I might make thee a more remarkable example of vengeance." But though that may agree with the original Hebrew and with the version of the LXX, yet it does not seem to answer to the Greek word used by St. Paul. If, as some writers suppose, the Pharaoh here spoken of was an Egyptian king, who made his way to the throne by treason, incest, and murder, the words have a singular weight considered as referring thereto: "I have raised thee up to that height of eminence in which thou proudly gloriest, that I may more conspicuously shew forth my power in thee; and that my name, in consequence of distinguished judgments to be righteously inflicted upon thee,may be celebrated through all the earth, in the most distant nations and remotest ages." See Locke, Doddridge, and Whitby.