The Exodus account repeatedly states that it is God who hardened Pharaoh's heart (4:21, 7:3, 9:12, 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8). This is evidently something that the Spirit wishes to emphasize, so that no one would miss it or come to some other conclusion. There are only several instances when the language appears to suggest that Pharaoh hardened himself (8:15, 32; 9:34), but this is nothing more than relative language, since it is clear that, even in these instances, it is God who directly hardened Pharaoh.

For example, 9:34 says, "He and his officials hardened their hearts." And of course they did. But when God refers to the same instance just two verses later, he says, "I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them" (10:1). Later in chapter 14, it is said that "Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds" (v. 5). Of course they did, but what changed their minds? Verse 8 explains that they changed their minds because "The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh." It is the action of the creator that explains the action of the created, the ultimate that explains the relative, and not the other way around.

So Pharaoh hardened his heart in a sense, but God made it happen by directly controlling him. Likewise, when a person believes the gospel, he believes the gospel – God is not the one who believes, but he is the one who makes the person believe. And when a person prays, it is not God who prays but the person who prays, but it is God who causes the person to pray and who controls his every thought and utterance as he prays.

The Bible teaches that it is God who directly hardens someone's heart against his word so that this person would not receive mercy but would rather incur greater and greater divine wrath against himself. To illustrate, consider Joshua 11:19-20: "Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses." God controlled the thinking of these nations. He made them attack Israel, so that they would in turn incur the wrath of God and be destroyed by his people, "exterminating them without mercy."

Then, Isaiah 63:17 says, "Why, O LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance." God makes them wander and hardens their hearts. How will the people stop wandering and how will their hearts stop being hardened? It will happen when the Lord returns to the people, and not when the people return to him. Of course the people must return. Of course they must stop wandering, and of course their hearts must soften. But why would they do it? They would – they could – do it only when God returns to them and favors them again.

The New Testament is just as clear about this. John 12:40 says, "He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn – and I would heal them." Throughout this process, God remains righteous because it is his prerogative to control his creatures in any way and for any purpose that he pleases. To even protest against this teaching betrays a sinful defiance against the Lord (Romans 9:14-24).

(to be continued)

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