“For the
Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to
demonstrate My power in you, and that My Name might be proclaimed throughout
the whole earth.’ So then He has mercy
on whom He desires and He harden whom He desires.”
(Rom 9:17-18)
The words of Paul have led most readers to
conclude that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened providential, that is, beyond the
power or control of Pharaoh. The actual
story is more extensive than Paul’s short narrative. Seventeen times in Exodus, Pharaoh’s heart is
said to be hardened, (Ex 4:21, 7:3, 7:13,
7:22, 8:15, 8:19, 8:32, 9:7, 9:12, 9:34, 9:35, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4,
and 14:8). Three times we are told
that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, “But
Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go,”
(Ex 8:32, 8:15, & 9:34). Five times we are told, “the heart of Pharaoh was hardened” (Ex 7:13, 7:22, 8:19, 9:7, & 9:35). Although the source of the hardening is not specifically
stated, the context implies that Pharaoh caused the hardening. The nine remaining times we are told, “The LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he
did not listen to them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses,” (Ex 9:12, 4:21, 7:3, 10:1, 10:20, 11:10,
14:4, & 14:8).
In the beginning Pharaoh hardened his own
heart, a fact foreseen by the LORD Who told Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go,” (Ex 7:14). Through the initial miracles, especially
those that could be replicated by the magicians of Pharaoh, “Pharaoh…hardened his heart” (Ex
8:15), and “Pharaoh hardened his
heart this time also,” (Ex
8:32). Additional references during
the initial plagues imply that the LORD foresaw the hardening of Pharaoh heart,
but did not participate in the hardening, “Pharaoh’s
heart was hardened and he did not listen to them as the LORD had said,” (Ex 7:22).
In the last reference to Pharaoh hardening
his heart, we are told, “When Pharaoh saw
that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and
hardened his heart,” (Ex 9:34). At this point, scripture identifies “sin” as the
source of Pharaoh’s hardening. This
statement is consistent with the words of the Hebrew writer and the warning to
all believers against being “hardened by
the deceitfulness of sin,” (Heb
3:13).
Beginning with the fifth plague, and exclusively
from the eight plague onward, scripture identifies God as the singular source that
hardened Pharaoh’s heart, “Then the LORD
said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his
servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them,” (Ex 10:1). The believer might wonder why it became necessary
for the LORD to harden Pharaoh’s heart since Pharaoh had been capable of
hardening his own heart during the initial plagues. The answer involves freewill, and the story indicates
that the increasing revelation of God’s power in the final plagues was
sufficient to turn even the unrepentant heart of Pharaoh toward repentance, in effect, subverting
Pharaoh’s freewill. To keep freewill in
balance against an increasing revelation of God, it sometimes becomes necessary
for God to give, “a thorn in the flesh,”
(2 Cor 12:7). In Pharaoh’s case, the LORD hardened
Pharaoh’s heart.
Although Paul’s statement that God hardened
Pharaoh’s heart is correct (Rom 9:18),
this hardening only occurred after Pharaoh first hardened his own heart through
“stubbornness” (Ex 7:14), and “sin”,
(Ex 9:34). Pharaoh’s life becomes an example and a
warning for every person whose heart will eventually become hardened through
repeated unrepentant sin. The hardening of
an individual’s heart has not been providentially determined, as many interpret
Paul’s words in Romans. On the contrary,
“Each one is carried away and enticed by
his own sin,” (James 1:14). God does not tempt an individual (James 1:13), and neither does God
harden an individual’s heart apart from an individual’s own sin which precipitates
the hardening. For this reason, the
writer of Hebrews repeatedly warns believers, “Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me” (Heb 3:8, 3:15, & 4:7). For we know that “He who hardens his heart will fall into calamity,” (Prov 28:14).
After repeated unrepentant sin, a person’s
heart will be hardened to a place where, God will give “them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity,” (Rom 1:24). The Rabbinic view is that God often supports
a person in the direction that he/she wants to go, whether good or bad. The Hebrew Talmud said it this way,
"In the way that a person wants to go, he will led him.”[1] David feared this after his sin with Bathsheba,
leading him to pray, “Create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me,” (Psa 51:10). Therefore, believers must “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not
be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life” (Luke 21:34), and “Guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” (Phil 4:7).
“Therefore,
since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay
aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us
run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the author and perfecter of faith,” (Heb 12:1-2)
Keep warm in Midland - Scott
[1]
The Power of Teshuvah, Rabbi Heshy Kleinman, Published 2011, page 77.
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