God judged Pharaoh by sending the plagues. But how did God do this? By hardening his heart (Exodus 4:21). This raises some troubling questions for us. It seems like God made Pharaoh resistant to what God sent Moses to accomplish. So how much control does God have over human life? How does he exercise this control? Frankly, questions like this are either avoided by Christians or they are answered in ways that basically chop up biblical texts into so many out of context pieces they become devoid of their original meaning. To avoid this, and to instead rightly exegete, or interpret, this passage (and really this applies to right exegesis of any biblical passage), we need to follow two basic rules:
1) See the verses in question in context, both the immediate context and the context of the entire Bible. We want to appreciate what the verses actually say and then put them alongside other verses that speak on the same or similar subject.
2) Let the Bible interpret the Bible. In other words, we have to give great weight to when the Bible references and comments on another part of the Bible. So in our case, what Paul says about the hardening of Pharaoh's heart in Romans 9 should greatly inform our understanding of what was going on in Exodus 7-10.
Looking back then at Exodus 4:21, we need to define some key words. With the word "harden" there are several similar meanings. One meaning has the sense of strength or conviction. So in some passages Pharaoh's resistance is essentially a strong absolute conviction to not let Israel go. Another meaning has more the sense of heaviness or weightiness. So in some passages (ex. Exodus 7:14), Pharaoh's heart is being described as being very heavy, unwilling to even budge. With the word "heart" we are talking about the inner core of a person, the real "you," so to speak. It is the point where your will, your desires, and your motives come together.
Thus, Exodus 4:21 is saying that in the core of his being, Pharaoh will resist God. And God is going to be the one who makes this happen ("I will harden his heart"). God then is in control of Pharaoh's failure to obey God. This is clearly what Exodus 4:21 is saying. And note that this verse is set up as a kind of theme statement for all the other verses that follow after it. God is saying that when it comes to the various miracles (i.e. plagues) he will do - notice that miracles is plural, which means that for all of them – God will be orchestrating Pharaoh's response.
Now when we go through Exodus 7-10, we do see Pharaoh's heart described in several different ways. For the first five of the plagues, it is said that Pharaoh hardened his heart (see Exodus 7:13, 8:15 for instance). With the second five plagues God is mentioned more directly and it is said that he hardened Pharaoh's heart (see Exodus 9:10 for example). At first glance then it appears that what happened was that Pharaoh hardened his heart in the beginning and then afterwards God began hardening his heart. However, this ignores one basic fact – that the whole story of the plagues actually begins back in Exodus 4:21. Before anything started with Pharaoh God makes clear that throughout this process he will be the one hardening Pharaoh's heart. In fact, even when it is said that Pharaoh hardened his heart, the Bible often adds that this happened "as the Lord had said" (see again Exodus 8:15 or 9:35; see also 10:1).
Clearly, if we are being faithful to these passages, we see that Pharaoh's resistance can be directly attributed to the influence and manipulation of God. Naturally this raises a whole host of questions for us. Does this mean then that humans are basically robots? Doesn't this make God out to be some kind of cosmic tyrant? Really, the most basic question we are asking here is what all this says about God and his sovereignty and how that fits with human's responsibility to obey God.
To answer this basic question we must tie in verses from other parts of Scripture. This leads me to assert two biblical facts related to human responsibility and four biblical facts related to God's sovereignty.
Two facts concerning our responsibility:
1. Each person is fully accountable for their sin against God.
See Psalm 51:3-4. David identifies his sin of adultery and a murder cover up as being primarily against God.
2. God is not responsible for anyone's sin. He does not sin and he does not cause others to sin.
See James 1:13 and Luke 17:1-2. However we speak of God and human sin, we should never place the responsibility on God. Nobody will be able to stand before God one day and blame him for their sins. See also Job 34:10. So, when we ask the question, who is guilty of defying God in the case of Pharaoh, the answer is Pharaoh! This is why the Bible speaks of Pharaoh "sinning" (see Exodus 9:34). God cannot sin (for if sin is rebellion against God, how could God rebel against himself), only we can sin. And when we do sin, we are the ones who are rightfully held accountable.
Four facts concerning God's sovereignty:
1. God is all powerful and in control of all things. He is sovereign.
We DO NOT have a passive God. As Mark Dever notes, "Circumstances do not determine God's plan; God's plan determine circumstances." God exercises complete power and control over everything. There are many many examples of this in the Bible, just two would be Exodus 4:11 or Prov 21:1.
2. God will sovereignly judge those who continue to defy him by their sin.
God doesn't just allow judgment. He actively initiates it and carries it out. See Exodus 7:4.
3. God is so sovereign, he is able to use people's sin to judge them for his sin.
This is where it gets tricky. Some would say, how could this be? Can God actually be sovereign in this way and still not be directly responsible for sin. The biblical answer to this is, "Yes!" God is just that good at what he does. Certainly, there is a certain degree of mystery in how all this fits together.
However, the main point here is to see that in God's interactions with Pharaoh he was showing his unique and complete sovereignty over everything, and deliberately at the expense of Pharaoh. Pharaoh was seen, and saw himself, as an incarnate God. He believed he could do anything he wanted. So God exposes Pharaoh by essentially taking away his supposed "will." Pharaoh is not a god at all if his ability to respond and make decisions are in fact completely in the Lord's hands.
God allows things to progress as they do so that the judgment on Pharaoh might be increased. All of this is a natural consequence of rejecting God. See 2 Thess 2:9-12 and Romans 1:28-32. The Romans 1 passage is particularly instructive. It speaks of man having a "debased mind to do what ought not to be done." This shows our accountability before God for our sin and that sin originates within man. At the same time, the passage notes that God "gave them up." RC Sproul describes this as being like leaving clay out in the sun. As clay is left out it will naturally dry out and get brittle and crumble. So also God can give us up to our sin so that we eventually crumble. And it is God's initiative and prerogative to do this, whenever he wants to.
No wonder than the Bible says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
4. All God's sovereign judgments fit the crime; they are completely fair and perfect.
God does not sin nor does he cause people to sin. However, God does command, orchestrate and direct sin and sinners to accomplish his purposes. And he does this in a way that is consistent with his character – thus, in a way that is always ultimately good and perfect and right (cf Deut 32:4). As I noted earlier, a big chunk of this must remain a mystery to us. We are not given the full answer to how all this exactly fits together. Nevertheless, we must affirm all of it. And by doing this we can begin to apply this biblical teaching to our lives in ways that will produce rich and abundant thankfulness to God.
We will be thankful…
1. For the greatness of God's mercy.
Romans 9:14-18 gives us the definitive word on understanding the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. In the end, as the passage says, God has mercy on whom he will have mercy. The important thing to see here is that God does in fact show mercy! God could easily not show any mercy at all. God could act as a sovereign tyrant. Instead, he chooses to act as a sovereign dad, showing more mercy towards his creation than we deserve.
2. For the good news of God called the gospel. It is more beautiful and powerful than we realize!
As Romans 1:16 tells us, the gospel is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." The astounding beauty of the gospel is that God shows us mercy by putting the judgment we deserved for our sins on his Son Jesus Christ so that we might have life. The unbelievable power of the gospel is that it really can does save people. Indeed, how could it not save people, since it was planned and carried out by a God who is completely sovereign?
This then is why we must say that no one can save themselves by their own power. Only God can do it. A heart can't changed unless it is worked on by God, the only expert heart surgeon able to come in and make a hard heart soft and new and able to receive faith and grace. And God has given to believers the task of telling others about what God is able to do to their hearts (Rom 10:14-15).
We are invited to believe in God. But God can harden people if he chooses, which would be a fair and righteous act of judgment on his part. We should not wait for that moment to come. Instead, let us passionately call people to accept God's gracious invitation, and God by his grace will act in saving ways in many lives. And ultimately, in all this God will get all the glory, as he deserves.
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