” ‘You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you… Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’ So Moses and Aaron… did just as the Lord commanded. Still Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go. Say to Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.” ‘ But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. So Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.” (v2-4a,9b-10,13-14,19,22)
The phrase “hardened heart” is used roughly 45 times in scripture, 19 of which (over 40%) are in the book of Exodus. What is a hard heart, and more importantly, how and why does God harden someone’s (eg. Pharaoh’s) heart?
First, a being hard-hearted means lacking sympathy and compassion toward others – synonyms include being callous, cold-hearted, cold-blooded, merciless etc. Okay, since God gave us free will, we can choose to be this way toward others. But how and why does God harden someone’s heart? Doesn’t that sound like the opposite of His goal to soften hearts toward Himself? There are two reasonable explanations I can think of for this behavior of God’s.
One, the person whose heart God hardens has already made up their mind (through their free will) that they will never bow before God, and knowing this, God then uses their sinfulness for His own purposes. Let’s say someone (Pharaoh in this case) will never love and follow God – since God knows everything and can see the future, He might then influence that person to play into His plan to further His kingdom (such as allow God to exhibit many signs and wonders as He did with the plagues in Egypt). God’s people can experience deliverance and redemption from those hard-hearted individuals, God can be glorified, and no additional lives are lost (I mean in eternity). Only those who have already willfully chosen their eternal fate are affected.
The second possible explanation is that God again allows their free will to remain intact, and doesn’t actually do anything to the person directly. God hardening their heart is actually them seeing who God truly is, and in response to them seeing who God is, their heart is hardened of their own free will. Just as followers of God can see who God is and voluntarily soften their hearts, haters of God can see who God is and voluntarily harden their hearts. So God doesn’t change their heart (which He has the power to do), because of who He is they change their own heart, so God hardens their heart by no fault of His own.
Either way, this is not a theological problem for Christians, because it is still God’s moral will that none would perish, though His sovereign will must allow for some to perish of their own free will. Those who unfortunately choose to perish, can still be beneficial to the Kingdom of God by unknowingly helping point others in the right direction.
Father God, we admit that Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and Your ways are higher than our ways. Even though we may not always understand how You work all things together for the good of those who love You, we can trust in Your promise that all who hear You knocking, hear Your voice, and open the door, You will come in and eat with them. Thank you for Your gift of salvation, and thank you that is a free gift for all to receive, whether they choose to or not. (Isa 55:9, Rom 8:28, Rev 3:20 par)
~ Conqueror in Training