Reading Exodus：The Ten Plagues (2)—Human Response

“But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh…”（Ex 4:21b; 7:3; 9:12a; 10:20 etc.）

As we read through Exodus 4–12, the sovereignty of God is unmistakably present behind this unfolding series of overwhelming judgments. Yet this also raises a related question. If the outpouring of the plagues took place under the sovereign will and purpose of God, then what of Pharaoh’s response to them? Was his reaction, too, under that same sovereign purpose?

To put the question more plainly: was Pharaoh’s hardened heart itself the work of God? After all, when God first entrusted Moses with his mission, He had already said to him with unmistakable clarity: “But I will harden his heart…” (Ex 4:21).

At first glance, it may indeed appear so. Yet such a conclusion risks reading this long section of Exodus (4–12) through an overly simplistic determinism. For if we look more carefully at how Pharaoh actually responds to the LORD’s demand—that His people be released from Egypt to go into the wilderness and serve Him—we may begin to see something more complex unfolding.

What this narrative reveals is not arbitrary manipulation, but a profound interaction between the sovereignty of God and the rebellion of man—an interaction that ultimately brings to fullness the freely embraced hardening of Pharaoh’s own heart.

When speaking of Pharaoh’s “hardened heart,” we must first recognise that, in Hebraic thought, the “heart” is not primarily understood as the centre of emotion, as it is often perceived today. In the Hebrew worldview, intense emotion is more commonly associated with the inward parts—the “gut,” rather than the “heart.” The heart, instead, is the seat of thought, will, and perception. It is with the heart that one discerns, chooses, and commits oneself.

And so, when Scripture speaks of a hardened heart, it is not describing emotional coldness or the absence of feeling. It speaks rather of a resistant will—a deeply entrenched self-rule that refuses to yield.

J.M.W. Turner, The Tenth Plague of Egypt, 1802

What deserves our attention next is this: in this section of Exodus, the word translated in our major English Bibles as “harden/hardened” is, in the Hebrew text, expressed through three different yet closely related verbs. Through them, the author of Exodus portrays the inner posture behind Pharaoh’s response.

The basic meaning and usage of these three terms may be briefly outlined as follows:

(1) חָזַק ([c]hazaq)—— to strengthen, to make firm, to become stubborn or resolute in one’s stance

Within this context, Pharaoh’s hardened heart often describes his continued strengthening of a posture he has already chosen to embrace. He persists in his refusal, reinforcing his resistance, until his opposition toward the LORD becomes increasingly entrenched and unyielding.

(2) כָּבֵד (kabed)—— Its most direct meaning is simply this: to become heavy. And so, a heart that has become “heavy” comes to describe a person who has grown unresponsive—spiritually dull, insensitive, and unable to perceive rightly.

After several of the plagues, the author of Exodus uses this word to describe Pharaoh’s hardening. And in doing so, he is not merely stating a fact. He is also exposing Pharaoh’s spiritual numbness. Pharaoh’s heart has become so “heavy” that he is no longer capable of responding rightly. Instead, he sinks deeper and deeper into his own resistance.

(3) קָשָׁה (qashah)——To be hardened, stubborn, resistant— to make matters difficult.

In Exodus, this word appears only twice, and both occurrences are found in summary-like reflections upon the larger narrative. The first prepares Moses and Aaron for what lies ahead, making known to them the depth of Pharaoh’s stubbornness and resistance (Ex 7:3). The second appears shortly after Israel’s departure from Egypt, when God, through Moses and in the context of establishing the Passover, recalls how He brought His people “out of the house of slavery” by His mighty hand and outstretched arm, delivering them from the grasp of Pharaoh, whose heart had remained hardened (Ex 13:15).

Yet if we are to approach the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart more faithfully, then understanding the meaning of “hardening” alone is not enough. More important still—and more consistent with sound principles of reading Scripture—is that we follow the development of the narrative itself, tracing carefully and patiently how Pharaoh’s hardening actually unfolds.

Only then can we avoid isolating the statement that “the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart” from its wider context, and reading it in a distorted way. Otherwise, we may arrive at deeply mistaken and damaging conclusions—not only about who God is, but also about the very faith we profess.

In truth, from the very beginning of this narrative—and indeed from the opening of Exodus itself—Pharaoh already stands before us as a ruler secure in absolute power: a king who could enslave the Israelites at will, and even order the large-scale killing of Hebrew infant boys in order to control them. And so, when he first hears the name of the LORD and the demand that accompanies it, Pharaoh’s response is immediate: “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice and let Israel go?” (Ex 5:2).

We may be quick to see arrogance in Pharaoh—and arrogance is certainly there. Yet from Pharaoh’s perspective, this response would have seemed entirely natural. Who is this LORD? Perhaps merely the god of some people, tied to some region or land. And by what right should this LORD come into the domain of Pharaoh—the son of the sun god—and demand the release of such a vast labour force?

From the very beginning, then, Pharaoh’s posture is already one of opposition.

Ex 4:21 functions as a thematic declaration, establishing the direction in which the narrative will unfold. It prepares both hearers and readers not to be surprised by the posture Pharaoh will eventually adopt.

Then, beginning from the moment Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh—when Aaron’s staff becomes a serpent and swallows up the serpents produced by the staffs of the Egyptian magicians, yet Pharaoh’s heart “remained hardened, and he would not listen to them” (Ex 7:13)—the confrontation formally begins.

From this point onward, Pharaoh’s hardening becomes the repeated pattern of response to each successive plague. And gradually, the nature of this hardening unfolds as well: what begins as Pharaoh hardening his own heart increasingly develops into “the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”

From the very moment Pharaoh asks, “Who is the LORD?”, he has already chosen a posture of opposition—one of resistance, refusal, and defiance. Yet the LORD continues to give him opportunity after opportunity. As wave after wave of judgment unfolds, we may, from the standpoint of our modern sensibilities, feel that God’s actions appear severe—or perhaps unnecessarily prolonged. Why not simply perform one overwhelming miracle and deliver Israel at once? Why allow matters to unfold in this way?

Yet when these plagues are read against the backdrop of the ancient Near Eastern world, a different picture begins to emerge. The ten plagues are not merely ten acts of judgment; they are also ten opportunities to turn back.

Tragically, from the first plague—the Nile turned to blood—to the fifth plague of pestilence, Pharaoh continues to persist in his hardening. His resistance grows increasingly entrenched. At moments, he appears to show signs of regret. Yet whenever God hears Moses’ intercession and, in mercy, brings relief from the plague, Pharaoh once again hardens his heart (Ex 8:15; 8:32) and refuses to let Israel go.

All this reveals that Pharaoh’s apparent repentance is little more than a temporary strategy for escaping judgment. What he desires is relief from punishment—not true surrender beneath the sovereign rule of the LORD.

And it is precisely at this point, beginning with the sixth plague of boils, that we begin to encounter statements such as: “the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”

Again and again, the LORD gives Pharaoh opportunity to turn back, for He is a God merciful and gracious. Yet at the same time, He is also a God righteous and just. And when grace is repeatedly rejected, God gives Pharaoh over to the path he himself has chosen to walk.

This is what biblical theology often describes as judicial hardening. Before “the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart,” Pharaoh had already set himself upon the path of hardening. Though opportunity after opportunity for repentance was placed before him, he refused to turn back and persisted in his defiance. And so, the hardening he himself embraced eventually became the very judgment God gave him over to. Pharaoh would face the final judgment of God within the very hardness he had chosen for himself.

This theme of judicial hardening runs deeply through Scripture. The first generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt continually grumbled against God in the wilderness and questioned His leading. When they stood on the threshold of the land He had promised them, their unbelief gave way to open complaint. They even accused God of bringing them into the wilderness only to fall by the sword. And then God Himself declared: “As I live… what you have said in my hearing I will do to you” (Num.14; cf. vv. 28–30).

The prophet Isaiah, too, after beholding the vision of the LORD in the temple and receiving his commission, is shown that the people to whom he is sent will be hard of heart—unable to turn and receive the message of judgment and salvation entrusted to him (Isa. 6).

And in the New Testament, perhaps the clearest example of judicial hardening is found in the opening of Romans, where Paul repeatedly speaks of how “God gave them over” (Rom. 1:18ff.).

“The LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart” does not describe arbitrary manipulation or a harsh and unreasonable overriding of Pharaoh’s will, as though Pharaoh himself had no room to choose and could only submit to a fixed destiny. Rather, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is the consequence of Pharaoh’s own persistent insistence upon hardness. Again and again, he is confronted with opportunities to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and again and again, he deliberately turns away.

That the sovereignty of the LORD extends over all things and governs the course of history is beyond question. And this is meant to be a source of comfort to us.

The question is: when our own desires stand in opposition to His will, when the sovereignty of God confronts our own perceived rights and claims—will Pharaoh’s response to the plagues serve as a warning to us, or has it already become a reflection of us?