I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The hardening of the Egyptians who follow Israel into the sea is the final act of divine sovereignty in the plague-hardening sequence. The glory God gains is proportional to the force that enters the sea — six hundred elite chariots, horsemen, all of Pharaoh's army. The greater the force, the greater the demonstration. The glory — kavod, the heavy weight of God's being made manifest — is the inverse of Pharaoh's heavy heart. Pharaoh's kabed heart has resisted God's glory throughout the plagues; at the sea, God's kavod glory will be displayed in direct proportion to the hardness of that heart. Romans 9:22–23 meditates on this dynamic: the endurance of God with the objects of wrath serves to make known the riches of his glory for those who are objects of mercy.

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