Pharaoh's Hard Heart

Did Pharaoh harden his own heart, or did God?

By Ronald W. Leigh, Ph.D.

January 21a, 2015
Copyright © 2014 Ronald W. Leigh
Bible quotations are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.

A.  Introduction

The Israelites spent hundreds of years suffering as slaves in Egypt.  Eventually, God sent Moses and Aaron to the Pharaoh (king) of Egypt to ask him to let Israel go.  Even before Moses went to Egypt, God told Moses that he would harden Pharaoh's heart.

… I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21)

The question is:  Did God force Pharaoh to have a hard heart, leaving Pharaoh no choice in the matter?  Or, was God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart a response to Pharaoh's hardening of his own heart?

This question needs to be answered, not from any presupposed scheme regarding sovereignty and free will, but from the account of the exodus found in Scripture.

B.  The calling of Moses

In Exodus 3:1 - 4:23 God calls Moses to deliver the Israelites.  Moses was an Israelite by birth but was raised as Pharaoh's grandson in Egypt.  He had fled Egypt and was now living with his wife and son in Midian, which borders the Gulf of Aqaba between Sinai and Arabia, hundreds of miles east of Egypt.

At Mount Horeb (same as, or perhaps very near, Mount Sinai in southern Arabia), God speaks to Moses from a burning bush and sends him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.  This section of scripture is richly significant regarding not only the nature of God and the history of Israel but also regarding the deity of Christ.  Nevertheless, we will limit our attention to passages dealing with Pharaoh and his refusal to let Israel go.

God, of course, knew ahead of time what would happen.  God is omniscient and has prior knowledge, even of the decisions of free beings.  He knew that the leaders of Israel would be convinced by the two signs given to Moses, and would believe and accept Moses as their leader.

However, in Exodus 3:19 we learn that God told Moses, "I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go."  This is also an example of God's foreknowledge of what a free agent will do.  This foreknowledge is not coercive.  When God said "I will harden his heart" (Exodus 4:21) it was also a prediction.  This is an example of God's foreknowledge of his own action in response to what God knew about Pharaoh, that he would not willingly let the Israelites go.

In Exodus 4:1-9 God gives Moses three signs in case the Israelites don't believe.  The first sign was the staff which turned into a snake and back to a staff.  The second sign was the hand becoming leprous and then whole.  The third sign was Nile water turning to blood when poured on the ground.  After seeing these signs the Israelite leaders did believe (see 4:31), but they changed their attitude quickly when Pharaoh required the same quota of bricks without any supply of straw.

When Moses and Aaron went to the Pharaoh, and he and his officials saw the first sign, the sorcerers and magicians duplicated the sign and they did not believe.  (The second and third signs are not recorded.)  These first signs, which harmed no one, were not enough for Pharaoh.  A plague similar to the third sign, the Nile itself turning to blood, would be needed and would begin a series of ten plagues.

C.  Initial contact with Pharaoh

In Exodus 5:1 - 7:16 Moses and Aaron make their initial request to Pharaoh.  This request is merely for a brief vacation from their forced labor so the people could offer sacrifices to God in the desert.  Pharaoh's response is to question the identity of this LORD (Yahweh) and to force more difficult labor on the Israelites, whom he considers lazy (5:2-18).  This caused so much trouble for the Israelites that even the their own foremen cursed Moses (5:19-21), and Moses, in turn, blamed God (5:22-23).

God instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, not just a short distance to offer sacrifices, but "out of his country" (Exodus 6:10, 26-27;  7:2).

At this point (after Pharaoh responded negatively to Moses' initial request and even forced additional labor on the Israelites) we find the second prediction that God makes, that he will harden Pharaoh's heart (7:3).  Even this is still a prediction, and does not mean that God hardened Pharaoh's heart at this time.

Pharaoh's heart is described by God as unyielding (7:14).  Also, he has not listened (7:16).  These descriptions imply that Pharaoh could have listened and yielded, and the blame falls upon him for not doing so.

D.  The ten plagues

The first nine plagues were natural wonders, in the sense that they were intensifications of distresses such as were already known in the ordinary course of history. Their severity, and even more, their appearance and disappearance at the word of Moses marked them as miraculous. They had their effect on the Egyptians not only physically and mentally, but also spiritually. Each plague was directed against some phenomenon of nature worshiped by the Egyptians as in some way related to the gods.  (Philip C. Johnson, comments on Exodus 7:8 - 11:10 in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Moody Press, 1962, p. 57)

During the first five plagues, God gives Pharaoh a chance to listen and yield.  During these early plagues the choice is up to Pharaoh.

Plague	Quotations	Comments
1 Water to blood Exodus 7:17-24	—— Exodus 7:22-23 —— But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.	Pharaoh would not listen nor take it to heart. This occurred just as the Lord had predicted.
2 Frogs Exodus 8:1-15	—— Exodus 8:1-2 —— Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. —— Exodus 8:15 —— But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.	Again, Pharaoh hardened his own heart.  Also, notice the determining factor: "If you refuse." This occurred just as the Lord had predicted.
3 Gnats Exodus 8:16-19	—— Exodus 8:18-19 —— But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals. The magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the LORD had said.	Pharaoh would not listen. This occurred just as the Lord had predicted.
4 Flies Exodus 8:20-32	—— Exodus 8:21 —— If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground where they are. —— Exodus 8:28-29 —— Pharaoh said, "I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me." Moses answered, "As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the LORD, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only be sure that Pharaoh does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the LORD." —— Exodus 8:32 —— But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.	The determining factor: If you do not let my people go. Pharaoh's previous failures to let the people go are labeled deceit. Pharaoh hardened his own heart.
5 Death of livestock Exodus 9:1-7	—— Exodus 9:2-3 —— If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, the hand of the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field …. —— Exodus 9:7 —— Pharaoh sent men to investigate and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.	Pharaoh is the one refusing to let the people go and holding them back. Pharaoh's heart was unyielding.
6 Boils Exodus 9:8-12	—— Exodus 9:12 —— … the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses.	This is the first time we find that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.  Even so, the following passages continue to show that Pharaoh was active in hardening his own heart.
7 Hail Exodus 9:13-35	—— Exodus 9:15-17 —— … by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. You still set yourself against my people and will not let them go. —— Exodus 9:27 —— Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he said to them. "The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. —— Exodus 9:30 —— But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God. —— Exodus 9:34-35 —— When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.	God says that it is Pharaoh who still sets himself against God's people. Pharaoh's repentance was not genuine; he still did not fear the Lord.  Instead, he sinned and hardened his heart.
8 Locusts Exodus 10:1-20	—— Exodus 10:1 —— Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them ….  —— Exodus 10:3-4 —— This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me. If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country tomorrow. —— Exodus 10:16-17 —— Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me." —— Exodus 10:20 —— But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.	The Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart, but Pharaoh refuses to humble himself and again feigns repentance.
9 Darkness Exodus 10:21-29	—— Exodus 10:27-28 —— But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to let them go. Pharaoh said to Moses, "Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die."	The Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart.
10 Death of firstborn (Passover) Exodus 11:1-10	—— Exodus 11:9-10 —— The LORD had said to Moses, "Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you – so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt." 10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.	The Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart.

E.  After the ten plagues

When Pharaoh learns that the Israelites had fled Egypt, he decides to stop them with his army and chariots.  This is described as Pharaoh changing his mind, not as God changing Pharaoh's mind  (14:5-7).  And again God responds by hardening, not only Pharaoh's heart, but his charioteers as well (14:17).

After the exodus, when Moses instructs the people about consecrating their firstborn sons, he summarizes the experience with Pharaoh in these words:

When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go  (Exodus 13:15)

Clearly, Moses thought of Pharaoh's attitude as the cause, and the plagues as the Lord's response.

Here is the basic idea:  People are the culprits, and God responds to people.  This foundational idea appears throughout the Bible.  For example, it is clearly seen in the story of the fall  (Genesis 3).

This idea is even recognized by the Philistine leaders centuries later.  These pagan priests and diviners were well aware of the story of the plagues and the exodus that had happened in Egypt hundreds of years before their time.  After the Philistines had captured the ark of the covenant from Israel, they placed it in Ashdod where God used it to destroy their idol Dagon and the people were afflicted with tumors.  Then they moved the ark to Gath, where panic arose and again the people suffered tumors.  Then they moved the ark to Akron where again there was widespread panic, death, and tumors  (1 Samuel 5).  Here we have an obvious parallel with the plagues of Egypt, which the Philistine leaders recognized.  They advised the people to send the ark back to Israel and warned them against having the same hardness of heart that Pharaoh and the Egyptians had.  This warning came in the form of a question, "Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did?"  (1 Samuel 6:6).  Even these pagan leaders recognized that the real cause of Egypt's trouble was their hardening of their own hearts.  And this is what they were warning their fellow Philistines against, for it was their decision (whether to keep or return the ark) that would make the difference.

F.  Conclusion

Pharaoh hardened his own heart first.  After Pharaoh's refusal prior to the plagues, and after his refusal during the first five plagues, then God hardens Pharaoh's heart.

The responsibility is always described as on Pharaoh's head.  His attitude is continually described in the narrative.  For example in 5:2 and 23 it is Pharaoh who is the culprit.  See also 7:14, 16.  Even Pharaoh's counselors recognized how Pharaoh was hurting the nation.

When the Lord shows his power, it is with the intent that people will recognize that he alone is God and turn to him  (Deuteronomy 4:35;  29:6 Joshua 4:24).  This was clearly God's intent in freeing Israel from Egypt and is stated repeatedly throughout the record of the exodus.  (See Exodus 6:7;  7:5, 17;  8:10, 22;  9:29;  10:2, 26;  11:7;  14:4, 18).  This evangelistic purpose is noted by Paul.

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." (Romans 9:17)

Parenthetically, it should be pointed out that this verse and the one following it – "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden" – are frequently used by Calvinists to bolster their view of unconditional (that is, arbitrary) election of individuals to salvation.  Some Calvinists apply this view (that God hardens whom he wants to harden) to the story of Pharaoh creating a distortion of the actual record of the exodus.  (This is the issue about which we warned at the end of the introduction.)  But these verses in Romans 9 are not talking about individual salvation.  Indeed, throughout Romans 9 there is a contrast between natural descendents which make up the nation of Israel and spiritual descendents which make up the remnant, that is, spiritual Israel (see especially verse 6).  Paul's point in Romans 9:17-18 pertains to national election, not individual election.  In other words, Paul is not indicating that Pharaoh's heart was hard because God made it hard and thus Pharaoh had no choice in the matter.  And the record of the exodus itself, as we have shown above, does not support any such conclusion.  (For further discussion of the fact that Romans 9 - 11 contains two types of election, national and individual, see the paper entitled Calvin and Arminius, especially the section on Romans 9:11-21.)

Here are Kaiser's thoughts about the fact that twice before the beginning of the plagues, God predicted that he would harden Pharaoh's heart.

… if these two occurrences appear to cast the die against Pharaoh, it must be remembered that all God's prophecies to his prophets have a suppressed "unless you repent" attached to them.  … much like Jonah's message to Nineveh. Even though Jonah never even hinted at the fact that their imminent destruction (only forty days away) could be avoided by repentance, the king assumed such was the case and … the nation repented and the barbarous Assyrians did not get what was coming to them!

God is not the author of evil. There is no suggestion that he violated the freedom of Pharaoh's will or that God manipulated Pharaoh in order to heap further vengeance on the Egyptian people. … Pharaoh could have cooperated with God just as Cyrus did in the Babylonian exile …. If Pharaoh had acted as King Cyrus would later do, the result of the exodus would still have been the same. It is Pharaoh, not God, who is to be blamed for the hardening of his own heart.  (Walter Kaiser, Jr., Hard Sayings of the Old Testament, InterVarsity Press, 1988, p. 66-68)

This common theme in scripture – the Lord's desire for people to repent, and people's refusal – is summarized by Jesus' own statement about Jerusalem:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. (Matthew 23:37)

So the answer to our initial question is this:  Yes, God did harden Pharaoh's heart, but it was in response to Pharaoh's repeated hardening of his own heart by refusing to listen, yield, and let the Israelites go.