Exodus 7:3-4 states, “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out…my people the Israelites.” This passage raises a significant question: Is it just for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart and then punish him and Egypt for the subsequent decisions made under this hardened heart? Why would God intentionally harden Pharaoh’s heart, seemingly to escalate the judgments against Egypt through further plagues?
First, it’s crucial to understand that Pharaoh was not a righteous ruler. He was a ruthless dictator presiding over the brutal oppression of the Israelites, a population likely exceeding 1.5 million at that time. For 400 years, the Egyptian pharaohs had subjected the Israelites to slavery. A preceding pharaoh, possibly even the one in question, had decreed the infanticide of male Israelite newborns (Exodus 1:16). The pharaoh whose heart God hardened was undeniably an evil man, and his regime, supported by the Egyptian populace, condoned or at least passively accepted his wicked actions.
Furthermore, scripture indicates that Pharaoh himself hardened his own heart on multiple occasions. Exodus 8:15 notes, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart.” Similarly, Exodus 8:32 states, “But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart.” This reveals a dual agency in the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart – both Pharaoh’s own will and God’s sovereign action were at play. As the plagues intensified, God progressively warned Pharaoh of the ultimate judgment to come. However, Pharaoh chose to invite further devastation upon himself and Egypt by persistently hardening his heart against God’s commands.
It is plausible that Pharaoh’s initial stubbornness led God to further harden his heart, paving the way for the final, more severe plagues and a fuller manifestation of God’s glory (Exodus 9:12; 10:20, 27). Pharaoh and Egypt had incurred these judgments through 400 years of enslavement and mass murder. Considering that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and Pharaoh and Egypt had gravely sinned against God, complete annihilation of Egypt would have been a just consequence. Therefore, God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was not an act of injustice. Instead, the ensuing plagues, despite their severity, demonstrated God’s mercy by not utterly destroying Egypt, a punishment they justly deserved.
Romans 9:17-18 clarifies, “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.” From a limited human perspective, it may seem unfair for God to harden someone and subsequently punish them. However, biblically, all humanity has sinned against God (Romans 3:23), and the deserved penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). Consequently, God’s act of hardening and punishing is not unjust; it is, in fact, an act of mercy when compared to the ultimate penalty deserved.
