Episode 2463 - Lesson 4 - Monday - July 21 - Who hardened Pharaoh's Heart?

Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart?Read Exodus 7:3-13, 14, 22. How do we understand these texts?Nine times in Exodus the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is ascribed to God (Exod. 4:21; Exod. 7:3; Exod. 9:12; Exod. 10:1-20, 27; Exod. 11:10; Exod. 14:4-8; see also Rom. 9:17-18). Another nine times Pharaoh is said to have hardened his own heart (Exod. 7:13-14, 22; Exod. 8:15-19, 32; Exod. 9:7-34, 35).Who hardened the king’s heart—God, or Pharaoh himself?It is significant that in the Exodus story of the ten plagues, in each of the first five plagues, Pharaoh alone was the agent of his heart hardening. Thus, he initiated the hardening of his own heart. From the sixth plague on, however, the biblical text states that it was God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exod. 9:12). What all this means is that God strenghtened or deepened Pharaoh’s own choice, his willful action, as God had told Moses He would do (Exod. 4:21).In other words, God sent plagues to help Pharaoh repent and to free him from the darkness and error of his mind. God did not create fresh evil in Pharaoh’s heart; instead, He simply gave Pharaoh over to his own malign impulses. He left him without God’s restraining grace and thus abandoned him to his own wickedness (see Rom. 1:24-32).Pharaoh had his free will—he could choose for or against God—and he decided against.The lessons are obvious. We have been given the ability to choose between right and wrong, good and evil, obedience or disobedience. From Lucifer in heaven, to Adam and Eve in Eden, to Pharaoh in Egypt, and to us today— wherever we abide, we choose either life of death (Deut. 30:19).An analogy: imagine Sunshine that beats on butter and clay. Butter melts but clay hardens. The heat of the Sun is the same in both cases, but there are two different reactions to the heat, and two different results. The effect depends on the material. In the case of Pharaoh, one may say that it depended upon the attitudes of his heart toward God and His people.What free will choice(s) are you going to make in the next day or so? If you know what the right choice is, how can you prepare yourself to make it?