Who hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Check the scoreboard
This is adapted from a video, which you can watch here.
This article is about something that is rarely, if ever, talked about among Christians: free will.
Obviously, I’m joking; this has been debated for centuries, but the arguments are still raging today,
It’s not my intent to jump into the fray, but this is going to have a narrow focus, about a Bible story that’s often at the center of this debate — the story of Moses and Pharaoh in the book of Exodus.
You may know where I’ll go with that; it’s the question of who hardened Pharaoh’s heart: God or Pharaoh? The Scriptures say both, which is why it’s at the center of this debate. Both camps claim it for their side.
As we go through it, you may see a trend that’s very relevant to the debate, but even better, we’re going to see how it ties into God’s grand plan of redemption. We’re going to see His ultimate purpose behind it, and it’s awesome.
What I’m going to do here is track every time the word “harden,” or some form of it, is used, and keep a running score.
But by the end, we’ll see it isn’t about the score at all. The story has a much greater and wonderful purpose: It points to Jesus Christ.
All part of the plan
The first instance is in Exodus 4. Moses has just seen the Lord in the burning bush, where He has given Moses his mission of going before Pharaoh and demanding the release of the Israelites. Moses goes back to Midian, and the Lord appears to Him again there. Verse 21:
And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.”
Let’s start the scoreboard:
God 1, Pharaoh 0
This is a very strong point for God hardening Pharaoh’s heart because He says it in advance. This covers the entire story and shows that it was all already planned out by God. He sovereignly ordains how it’s going to go.
The second time we see these words is in chapter 7. Moses and Aaron have already gone to see Pharaoh once, and not only did he blow them off, but he increased the slave labor for the Israelites. That made them mad at Moses, and it was very discouraging for him.
The Lord speaks to Moses again, and the last thing He says is:
3 “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”
So again, God lays this all out in advance, and He shows that it is purposeful (“so that …”). God is not going to just react to what happens between Moses and Pharaoh; He has already determined what He is going to do. These points carry more weight because, again, they’re about the whole story.
God 2, Pharaoh 0
Further down in chapter 7, Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh again, and this where Aaron’s rod became a serpent. But Pharaoh’s magicians did the same thing, and his heart hardens:
13 And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. 14 So the Lord said to Moses: “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go.”
Wherever it doesn’t say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, I’ll count it for Pharaoh hardening his own heart. It says there twice that Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and so the score is tied:
God 2, Pharaoh 2
Then the plagues begin. First, the waters turning into blood. For some reason, Pharaoh’s magicians show that they also can turn water into blood (harming their own people):
22 Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.
Pharaoh takes the lead:
Pharaoh 3, God 2
The second plague is the frogs. It’s here in chapter 8 that Pharaoh first offers to let the people go:
8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Entreat the Lord that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.”
We quickly see that he didn’t really mean that. As soon as the frogs go away, he reneges on his word:
15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the Lord had said.
Pharaoh 4, God 2
Then the third plague, the lice. Once again, the magicians try to do it themselves, but this time, they can’t.
19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.
Pharaoh 5, God 2
Pharaoh increases his lead, but notice that everything is going just as God purposed that it would.
The fourth plague is the flies. Once again, Pharaoh tries to bargain here:
25 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.” … 28 So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Intercede for me.”
Moses, having been lied to once, warns him, “let Pharaoh not deal deceitfully anymore.” The flies go away …
32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.
Pharaoh 6, God 2
To this point, the plagues have been mostly nuisances: frogs, lice, and flies. Even when the water turned into blood, the Egyptians found a way around that.
But the fifth plague had more serious ramifications: All the livestock of Egypt died. Not only was this a massive hit economically — this was their property being destroyed, and animals were a huge part of their economy — but animals were also part of their religion. The bull was sacred to them, and cows represented a goddess.
The plagues are getting progressively worse. Keep that in mind.
However, in chapter 9, verse 7 says:
But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go.
Pharaoh 7, God 2
It’s looking pretty good so far for Team Free Will! If you’re on the other side, just keep reading.
The sixth plague is the boils. Here’s where it becomes personal, as God strikes the Egyptians themselves. Verse 11 says the boils were on the magicians and all the Egyptians. This is mass suffering in Egypt; this is a major medical emergency.
Here, the Lord gets a point:
12 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.
Pharaoh 7, God 3
Notice that as the plagues get worse, that’s where we see God become more active in the hardening.
And then, the seventh plague: a massive, devastating hailstorm. This isn’t just bad weather; this is death raining from the sky. Not only huge balls of hail, but also fire, the text says.
Every animal that was outside was killed, and many people surely died, too, as well as countless trees and crops. This is an apocalyptic cataclysm. To the Egyptians, it’s as if the earth itself is destroying them, and all their gods are either turning against them or being destroyed themselves.
Significantly, Pharaoh gets nervous:
27 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. 28 Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”
Whether Pharaoh really meant this or not, it’s pretty humiliating language for him. But even now …
34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had spoken by Moses.
He may have been lying, or just became stubborn and couldn’t accept defeat, and changed his mind. But whatever the case …
Pharaoh 8, God 3
However, look at how chapter 10 begins:
1 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”
This puts a new light on the whole story. Even where it has said Pharaoh hardened his own heart, God now says He’s done it. And again, He says that it’s purposeful: that God may shows His signs to Pharaoh, and that the mighty things He’s done will be told in future generations, so they will know that He is the Lord.
In chapter 9, verse 16, God said that even Pharaoh’s reign was His sovereign will: “But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” God sovereignly controlled everything about Pharaoh.
As God tells Moses to go before Pharaoh again, even though He’s hardened Pharaoh’s heart, He’s indicating that there is no chance that this story will end any other way. God is going to accomplish all His purpose.
Pharaoh 8, God 4
Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh again. After the hailstorm, Pharaoh’s servants are saying, let them go! They tell him, “Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”
Pharaoh says, “Go, serve the Lord your God,” but nothing he says stops the eighth plague. God sends locusts to eat every herb of the land — all that the hail has left.
15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.
This is the total destruction of Egypt’s ecosystem. Pharaoh is shaken; he is truly wavering:
16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.”
Was Pharaoh finally and honestly ready to let the Israelites go? We’ll never know, because God steps in:
20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.
Pharaoh 8, God 5
See the trend here? Pharaoh is not going to score any more points.
The Lord doesn’t even wait for the next encounter. He sends the ninth plague — darkness over all the land of Egypt, a darkness that was even felt (verse 21). For the Egyptians, this is the defeat of Ra, their sun god. God has destroyed their economy, and now He’s destroying their religion.
Pharaoh’s even more shaken now: In verse 24, he says, “Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you.”
The fact that he put a condition on it means he really meant it. Pharaoh is ready to let the Israelites go.
27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.
Pharaoh 8, God 6
I have no doubt that Pharaoh would have caved then, but God stopped him. Whatever was in Pharaoh’s heart, God overrode it. Why would He do that? Why not just end it there?
God has already stated, and will again state, His purpose of showing His signs and wonders so that the Egyptians would know that He is the Lord. He’s doing this for His own glory, and He’s not done yet.
But I think there’s another reason here, a more ultimate purpose. If Pharaoh had let the Israelites go before the final plague, there never would have been a Passover. That is the tenth plague, when God strikes dead all the firstborn of Egypt.
God would have struck the Israelites, too — because they deserved death just as much as the Egyptians — but He gave them a way to live. They were to put the blood of a spotless lamb on their doorposts, so that when God saw the blood, He would spare them.
Passover is the most prominent type of Christ in the Old Testament. Jesus is our Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
This is why there had to be a tenth plague. This is the ultimate purpose of it all, and no one’s free will was going to get in the way of that.
In chapter 11, Moses warned Pharaoh what was about to happen, but God not only told him that Pharaoh wouldn’t give in, but that his God-ordained obstinance was, again, intentional:
9 But the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” 10 So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.
Pharaoh 8, God 7
At this point, the 8 points for Pharaoh don’t matter. This was God’s will all along. There was no way He was going to allow Pharaoh to let the Israelites go — for His own glory, and for the institution of the Passover.
A devastated Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go. But as they’re heading out in chapter 14, God indicates that He’s still not done with him:
4 “Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
God 8, Pharaoh 8
Then in verse 17, God says He’ll harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they’ll follow the Israelites into the Red Sea. This is recounted in Psalm 105:25, which unambiguously says God turned the Egyptians’ hearts to hate His people.
God 9, Pharaoh 8
Not that the score matters anymore, but God wins. The final tally isn’t as important as how it trended — as the plagues got worse, Pharaoh’s heart seemed to soften, and the hardening clearly became the Lord’s doing.
It reflects what Proverbs 21:1 says:
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord,
Like the rivers of water;
He turns it wherever He wishes.
Of course, it’s not as simple as a scoreboard. When God hardens someone’s heart, He’s giving them over to the hardness of their own heart. It’s not like Pharaoh didn’t start with a hard heart.
But when we get bogged down in debates over free will and who hardened Pharaoh’s heart, we may miss the powerful way God established one of His most prominent signs pointing to Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb.
The free will question
As far as whether we have free will, my answer is, our will is as free as God allows it to be, and His will is more free than ours. He can override our will anytime He pleases.
I usually don’t argue about this, but sometimes I’m disturbed by how adamant some people are that we have free will, as if they’re demanding their autonomy.
Why would we want that? What is our will free from? God? Freedom from God means nothing but sin and death. A human will that is truly free will always choose death. If that’s how you define free will, then it’s bad news.
Some people say we can’t truly love God if we don’t have free will, that we’re just robots without it. But on our own, we can’t truly love God at all. We’re incapable of that.
1 John 4:19 says we love Him because He first loved us. That’s the only way it’s even possible. Any love that we have for God comes from Him; we’re just reflecting it back. It didn’t originate with us.
If that’s what God did for me, then I’m going to thank Him for all eternity for saving me from my free will. Our free will dooms us; God’s free will saves us. That’s good news.
Instead of insisting on our free will, let’s exalt His, amen?
