The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart

     The hardening of Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 7:3 - 14:17) has been a topic of discussion for some time.  Those who hold a “deterministic” (God controls/manipulates everything) view, argue that God saves who He chooses (totally on His own whim/authority) and hardens and condemns whoever He chooses, regardless of their inclinations, choices or responses.  A portion of Paul’s comments to the Romans is cited as “proving” this viewpoint,

So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.  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 hardens whom He desires.  (Romans 9:16-18)

A Better Approach

       Rather than manipulating Pharaoh into rebellion so that He could pound on Egypt, I would suggest that the Scriptures suggest a different picture of what God was doing.  A couple of passages that John Calvin intentionally stayed away from come to mind - 1Timothy 2:3-4 and 2Peter 3:9 tell us that God does NOT want any people to be lost, but wants all to repent, come to a knowledge of the truth, and be saved.  This alone should give us caution against the idea that God “hardened” Pharaoh against his will because He wanted Pharaoh to rebel.

     First, we do not need to imagine God hardening Pharaoh’s hearts as being necessary to cause rebellion - Pharaohs were viewed as “living gods” and men in such positions tend to be pretty powerful and used to calling the shots in their nation.  It should come as no surprise that Pharaoh was described as stubborn and unwilling to let Israel go unless he was forced (Exodus 3:19-20).  Both his position in Egyptian society and the idea of just letting a good part of your labor force leave when a man like Moses appears and requests it make the scenario we encounter in Exodus very reasonable.

     Second, God did say that He would harden Pharaoh's heart and he did wonders/plagues in Egypt for three specific reasons: (1) so that Pharaoh would free Israel (Exodus 3:19,20; 7:3,4), (2) so that both Israel and Egypt might know that YHWH is Lord (Exodus 6:7; 7:3-5,7; 8:10,22; 9:12-17,29; 10:2; 11:7,9; 14:4,17,18), (3) for instruction value to later generations (Exodus 10:1,2).  An element of this teaching is that God did actively harden Pharaoh’s heart so that God could oppose Him and do more miracles for His own purposes.

     Third, what is often missed is that God did not actively “harden” Pharaoh’s heart to begin with.  Actually, the text indicates that Pharaoh predominantly hardened his own heart during the first six plagues (Exodus 3:19; 5:2; 7:13,14; 8:15,19,32; 9:7,17,34).

"Still you exalt yourself against My people by not letting them go.  (Exodus 9:17)

God's promise to "harden Pharaoh's heart" (Exodus 4:21; 7:3) was enacted after Pharaoh had committed himself to outright and continued opposition to God's purpose (Exodus 9:12,35; 10:1,20,27; 11:10).  With the first statement that "God hardened (actively) Pharaoh's heart" (Exodus 9:12) also comes an explanation as to why God is doing this (Exodus 9:13-17; cf. Romans 9:17-24).

       Fourth, also often missed is that several things were done to soften Pharaoh's heart: (a) the prayers of Moses (Exodus 8:8,28; 9:28; 10:17), (b) the testimony of Pharaoh’s own magicians (Exodus 8:19), and (c) Pharaoh was given the opportunity to repent (Exodus 8:8,25-28; 9:27).

       Pharaoh's magicians (1Timothy 3:8) copied the serpent/rod sign (Exodus 7:11,12); Nile/blood sign (Exodus 7:22) frogs (Exodus 8:7).  However, they were unable to remove the frogs (8:8), and Moses was asked to do it.  The gnat plague was beyond the magicians (Exodus 8:18) and this brought them to realize that they were out of their league (cf. Exodus 8:19; Acts 8:9-19).

       Fifth, beginning to realize the position he was in, Pharaoh offered four compromises as he began to feel the burden of the plagues: (a) sacrifice, but stay close (Exodus 8:25,28), (b) half-hearted repentance (Exodus 9:27,28), (c) the men may go (Exodus 10:10,11), and (d) Israel could go, but leave their flocks/herds behind (Exodus 10:24).

       Sixth, after he had repeatedly committed himself to rebellion against YHWH, then God hardened Pharaoh's heart so as to further His demonstration of power of Egypt’s deified elements of nature (Exodus 7:3; 9:12,34; 10:20,27; 11:10).

       Conclusions.  God wants all to repent and be saved, but God can even use obstinate rebels to work out His larger purposes in His plans.  After his first act of rebellion (Exodus 5:1-3), God would have been justified in doing whatever He wanted with Pharaoh.  A repentant Pharaoh could have let Israel go and led Egypt to acknowledge and serve YHWH and this would have been the best outcome.  However, after several acts of rebellion, God simply extended what was already the essence of Pharaoh’s attitude toward YHWH for His own purpose - to demonstrate to the rest of the Egyptians that He was the true God that should be the object of their worship,

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me.  "For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.  "For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been cut off from the earth.  "But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.  "Still you exalt yourself against My people by not letting them go.  (Exodus 9:13-17)

     God wants all of us to repent and obey Him also, but if we are obstinate and determined to "do our own thing," God can still use even our rebellion to further His purposes if He so chooses.

     The "determinist" problem with Pharaoh also fails to distinguish two different types of "election" in Scripture.  The larger context of Romans 9 suggests that certain individuals (Pharaoh) and groups (Israel) have been given unearned privileged positions in history and God's plan, even though they wound up being rebellious.  The messianic lineage came through people that did nothing meritorious to deserve it (Abraham/Sarah, Isaac/Rebekah, Jacob) - the route of that lineage was determined by God's choice, not a reward to individuals.  This is "election to a role of service" and the same thing applied to the men chosen as Apostles (John 15:16).  However, "election to salvation" is different in that, while it arises from God's mercy, it does require appropriate individual human response and obedience to the Gospel (Romans 6:16; 2Thessalonians 1:8; Hebrews 5:8-9; 1Peter 1:2; 4:17).

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Charles E. McCoy

12/10/2003

A Ministry of Severn Christian Church (Severn, Maryland)

Unless otherwise noted, all material produced by Charles E. McCoy

All Scripture citations/quotations from New American Standard Bible

To send a question to Chuck: chuck@severnchristian.org