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Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart?

EthicsMulti-view · no verdict

Short answer

This is one of the most debated questions in Scripture, and the views below are set out without choosing between them. The text gives a pattern that can be checked verse by verse. God announces before the plagues begin that He will harden Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3). Through the first five plagues, the narrator says Pharaoh's heart "was hardened" or that Pharaoh "hardened his heart", never that the LORD did. The first time the narrator says "the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart" (BSB) is the sixth plague (Exodus 9:12), and after that it is mostly God, though at the seventh plague Pharaoh "sinned again and hardened his heart" (BSB) himself (Exodus 9:34). Christians read that same pattern in different ways: as God's sovereign decree, as God confirming a choice Pharaoh had already made, or as both.

Question

Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart?

Analysis

The pattern, verse by verse

WhenWho hardensWhat the text says (BSB)
Before the plagues · Exodus 4:21God announces"But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go." (BSB)
Exodus 7:3God announces"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart" (BSB)
Staff to serpent · Exodus 7:13the heart"Still, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said." (BSB)
Plague 1, blood · Exodus 7:22the heart"So Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron" (BSB)
Plague 2, frogs · Exodus 8:15Pharaoh"When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened his heart" (BSB)
Plague 3, gnats · Exodus 8:19the heart"But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them" (BSB)
Plague 4, flies · Exodus 8:32Pharaoh"But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time as well, and he would not let the people go." (BSB)
Plague 5, livestock · Exodus 9:7the heart"But Pharaoh's heart was hardened" (BSB)
Plague 6, boils · Exodus 9:12⭐ God, for the first time"But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said to Moses." (BSB)
Plague 7, hail · Exodus 9:34Pharaoh"he sinned again and hardened his heart — he and his officials." (BSB)
Exodus 9:35the heart"So Pharaoh's heart was hardened" (BSB)
Plague 8, locusts · Exodus 10:1God"for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials" (BSB)
Exodus 10:20God"But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go." (BSB)
Plague 9, darkness · Exodus 10:27God"But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was unwilling to let them go." (BSB)
Before the tenth · Exodus 11:10God"but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would not let the Israelites go out of his land." (BSB)
At the sea · Exodus 14:8God"And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites" (BSB)

Readings of the Hebrew verbs and their subjects: TAHOT, Tyndale House Cambridge / STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0.

Three different Hebrew verbs

English uses "harden" for all of these. The Hebrew uses three different verbs:

HebrewMeaningWhere
chazaq (H2388)to be or make strong, firmthe most common, Exodus 4:21, Exodus 7:13, Exodus 9:12, Exodus 10:20, Exodus 14:8 and others
kaved (H3513)to be or make heavyExodus 8:15, Exodus 8:32, Exodus 9:7, Exodus 9:34, Exodus 10:1
qashah (H7185)to make hard, stubbornExodus 7:3

Two details are worth knowing:

  • Chazaq is the same verb used of David: "But David found strength in the LORD his God." (1 Samuel 30:6, BSB) The word itself means to make strong or firm; what matters is what the heart is made strong against.
  • Kaved also carries the sense "honor." In Exodus 14:4 and Exodus 14:17, God says He will harden the heart and then "I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army" (Exodus 14:4, BSB). "Gain honor" there is the same Hebrew root as the "heavy" heart, in its other sense.

How Paul uses the story

"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.' Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden." (Romans 9:17-18, BSB)

Where Christians divide

ViewThe readingWhere it is found
God's sovereign decreeGod announced the hardening before any plague (Exodus 4:21), and Paul draws the conclusion that God "hardens whom He wants to harden" (Romans 9:18). The hardening served God's purpose that His name be known.The Reformed / Calvinist tradition.
God confirmed Pharaoh's own choicePharaoh hardened his own heart through five plagues before the narrator ever says God did; God then gave him over to what he had already chosen, as a judgment.Arminian and Wesleyan traditions, and many others.
Both at oncePharaoh truly chose and God truly hardened, and the text holds the two together without resolving them; Exodus 7:13 itself says the heart was hardened "just as the LORD had said." (BSB)Common across many traditions.

The interpretive fault lines

QuestionEmphasis on decreeEmphasis on Pharaoh's choice
What do the announcements (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3) show?God's plan came first.God foresaw what Pharaoh would do.
Why does "the LORD hardened" appear only from plague six?The narrator shows the outworking of what was already decreed.God's act followed and confirmed Pharaoh's repeated refusals.
What does Romans 9:17-18 mean?God's freedom to harden whom He wills.Paul is defending God's right to judge a people, not describing individual salvation.

Sources, trace every one

Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.

  • Exodus 4:21bsb

    The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

  • Exodus 7:3bsb

    But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,

  • Exodus 9:12bsb

    But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said to Moses.

  • Exodus 9:34bsb

    When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart — he and his officials.

  • Exodus 7:13bsb

    Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

  • Exodus 7:22bsb

    But the magicians of Egypt did the same things by their magic arts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

  • Exodus 8:15bsb

    When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

  • Exodus 8:19bsb

    “This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.

  • Exodus 8:32bsb

    But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time as well, and he would not let the people go.

  • Exodus 9:7bsb

    Pharaoh sent officials and found that none of the livestock of the Israelites had died. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the people go.

  • Exodus 9:35bsb

    So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

  • Exodus 10:1bsb

    Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them,

  • Exodus 10:20bsb

    But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

  • Exodus 10:27bsb

    But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.

  • Exodus 11:10bsb

    Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the Israelites go out of his land.

  • Exodus 14:8bsb

    And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly.

On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.

Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart? · Bubble Bible