Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart?
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The idea that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart is quite a struggle for many people. At the root of the problem for most people is the struggle between God’s sovereignty and human free will. If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, how could a good God also judge Pharaoh so harshly? We also wonder Does God operate this way today?
We know one thing about Pharaoh with certainty and that is he considered himself to be a god. Any reading of the history of Egypt will confirm the Egyptian view that Pharaoh was a divine being. It was, therefore, highly unlikely that he would have deferred to Moses’ God. So, Pharaoh’s heart was “hardened” toward God prior to any intervention from God. Pharaoh would not have been open to the things of God; he would have been unresponsive to God. Further evidence of Pharaoh’s previously hardened heart was his treatment of the Israelites after Moses and Aaron’s first demand to let His people go (Exodus 5:6-9). Pharaoh’s decision to force even harsher labor on his slaves, the Israelites, was an example of Pharaoh’s hardened heart.
A close reading of the instances of who hardened Pharaoh’s heart reveals an interesting pattern.
God predicts that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus 4:21 and 7:3.
The next seven instances of Pharaoh’s heart being hardened, Pharaoh is actually the subject of the sentence (Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7). That means he is the one doing the hardening, not God.
Pharaoh is said to have hardened his heart six times before God gets involved. Then, only after Pharaoh has demonstrated a hardened heart is God described as hardening Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 9:12, 34, 35; 10:1, 20; 11:10; 14:4, 8).
Pharaoh hardened his own heart after plagues 1-5. After the sixth plague, the plague of boils, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. After the seventh plague, the hail, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Then again, after the plagues 8-10 God is described as hardening Pharaoh’s heart.
Why this attention to who hardened whose heart? Because God’s judgment of Pharaoh is only a confirmation of Pharaoh’s already hardened heart. God allowed Pharaoh to have his own way, but He also held him accountable. Pharaoh viewed himself as God’s rival. But Pharaoh was no match for Yahweh. Pharaoh refused on multiple occasions to do the expressed will of God delivered by MOses and Aaron. In the end, God’s judgment was only allowing Pharaoh to suffer the consequences of his own choices. Pharaoh hardened his heart to the things of God by his own free choices. God’s judgment was to demonstrate His own power and sovereignty through Pharaoh’s free will.
Does God operate this way today? Yes. Human beings are sinful through and through and we all use our free will to harden our hearts against God. Any time we choose to sin, we are hardening our hearts to God. The writer of Hebrews warns us, “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). It is only by God’s grace that we do not suffer the same consequence as Pharaoh. Sin has a calcifying effect on the human heart. Some might ask Why didn’t God soften Pharaoh’s heart? How many times did Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh? They were God’s messengers and Pharaoh refused on six occasions to obey God. Finally, God’s patience ran out and He accomplished his purpose of releasing a harshly oppressed people, His covenant people, from bondage with devastating consequences to Pharaoh and his army.
God’s goal is still the same: the deliverance of His people. We are God’s people in Christ. At this moment, we can choose God’s way or our own. God’s desire is that we respond to His grace as demonstrated in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:8). At some point in the future, as yet unknown to us, God will remove that choice from us. But at this moment we have the option, by His grace, to respond in faithfl obedience.
God’s will was accomplished, God’s sovereignty was fully expressed, through Pharaoh’s free will. God’s sovereignty and humanity’s free will are not incompatible. God’s desire is that everyone will respond affirmatively to His grace initiated in Christ, so that we can enjoy his presence forever and avoid the negative consequences of eternal separation from Him.
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