Frank M. Hasel
The LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” Exodus 4:21.
What has troubled some readers of Scripture is the fact that, after God said He would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the people of Israel go, God brings the ten plagues upon Egypt because Pharaoh did what God said He would make him do. Was Pharaoh predestined by God to play this role, or is he responsible for his behavior and thus guilty of rebellion against God?
The theme of Pharaoh’s hardening occurs several times between Exodus 3 and 14. It is described in the following ways:
a. God predicts that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart: Exodus 4:21; 7:3
b. Pharaoh’s heart was hardened without identifying the agent: Exodus 7:13, 14, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35
c. Pharaoh hardened his own heart: Exodus 8:15, 32; 9:34
d. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart: Exodus 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17
As early as Exodus 3:19, God predicted “that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion.” When Moses returned to Egypt to do what God had asked him to do, God told him that He “will harden his [Pharaoh’s] heart so that he will not let the people go” (4:21). This prediction is reiterated in 7:3.
Pharaoh and the ten plagues – In the first incident, even before God issued the first plague on Pharaoh and Egypt, the biblical text indicates Pharaoh’s resistance toward God when he called for his magicians to do their “secret arts” (Exod 7:12). When God showed His sovereignty and power through Moses and Aaron, “Pharaoh’s heart became hard (chazaq) and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had predicted” (7:13, NEB). The Hebrew word chazaq indicates an attitude that is unyielding and firm. Because he relied upon the magicians of Egypt, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” (7:22).
During the second plague, Pharaoh for the first time asked Moses and Aaron to entreat God to help him and his people (Exod 8:8); but after the help occurred (8:10), “he hardened his heart and did not listen to them” (8:15). It was Pharaoh himself who hardened his heart. During the third plague, the magicians (8:18) freely admitted in front of Pharaoh that “this is the finger of God” (8:19); yet “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and he did not listen to them.” Similarly during the next two plagues, Pharaoh continued hardening his heart (8:32), and it remained hardened (9:7).
It is only after the seventh hardening, during the sixth plague of boils, that we read “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (Exod 9:12). While several servants of Pharaoh believed God had saved their lives (9:20), Pharaoh did “not yet fear the Lord God” (9:30). After the devastating hail storm, “he sinned again and hardened his heart” (9:34). The text makes clear that the hardening of his heart was his sin and that he disobeyed God. God is not responsible for the hardening. Thus, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go” (9:35). The use of two descriptions of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart in close succession underscores the growing extent of the problem. It is then, that we read in Exodus 10:1 that God said, “I have hardened his heart,” because in the Bible God is often described as doing that which He does not prevent. However, the fact that God permits something does not mean that He necessarily causes it.
Before the eighth plague begins, the individual responsibility of Pharaoh is pointed out again in the question that Moses and Aaron pose: “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? For if you refuse to let My people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory’“ (Exod 10:3, 4, emphasis added). Pharaoh, despite admitting that he has sinned, still refused to let the Israelites go. God’s forgiveness (10:16, 17) did not lead him to repentance. Instead Pharaoh remained stubborn and so we read again that “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (10:20), i.e., God allowed Pharaoh to oppose Him. What condescension of the Almighty! The story illustrates the intricate connection between man’s free will and God’s sovereignty.
Before the tenth plague started, God told Moses that “Pharaoh will not listen to you” (Exod 11:9). This prediction indicates that Pharaoh willfully decided as he did. In the next verse, however, we read that “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land” (11:10). At the end of the Exodus story, we read: “With a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. It came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt” (13:14, 15). This passage indicates that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart did not occur contrary to his own free choice.
Conclusion – God’s predictions are not necessarily His decrees. God was responsible for the process of sending the plagues, and Pharaoh was responsible for his unrepentance. Just as the sunlight melts wax and hardens clay, the same revelation of God’s power led the servants of Pharaoh to obedience (Exod 9:20) but hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
“God had declared concerning Pharaoh, ‘I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.’ Exodus 4:21. There was no exercise of supernatural power to harden the heart of the king. God gave to Pharaoh the most striking evidence of divine power, but the monarch stubbornly refused to heed the light. Every display of infinite power rejected by him, rendered him the more determined in his rebellion” (PP 268).
If we would study the Bible diligently
and prayerfully every day, we should
every day see some beautiful truth in
a new, clear, and forcible light.
CG 511