Did God Really Harden Pharaoh’s Heart? Understanding Exodus 9:12 and God’s Sovereignty

If you’ve consistently read the Bible for any length of time you’ve no doubt had what I like to call a, “hold up, what now,” moment. You’re cruising along verse by verse through a chapter and all of a sudden you read something that leaves you with some big questions. Exodus 9:12 might be one of those for you; 

"But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses."

“Hold up, what now?” That sounds a lot like God CAUSED Pharaoh to be disobedient. If God is good, how could he intentionally harden the heart of someone and cause them to do evil? To really answer this question we must start with another question;

What Process Should We Use to Interpret the More Difficult Texts in God’s Word? 

For starters, we must understand a foundational truth about God’s Word; Scripture always INTERPRETS scripture. What does that mean? It means that we MUST always match up more difficult and unclear passages in scripture with other scripture that IS clear. If we don’t, there is a great danger in taking scripture out of context and misinterpreting it badly. 

In the case of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, it would be very easy to make the assumption; God is CAUSING Pharaoh to do something evil! But, if we match that up with the whole of scripture we KNOW that cannot be true. Let’s just look at a few of the verses that are very clear on this issue;

• Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. James 1:13

• This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:15

• For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. Psalm 5:4

• The Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Psalm 92:15

• This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

It is undeniable throughout scripture, God cannot do evil. He is righteous and Holy and good in every possible way. 

Why Understanding Who Pharaoh Was Matters When Interpreting Exodus 9:12

In light of that clarity from the rest of scripture what do we do with a verse like Exodus 9:12? We must learn to dig deeper. Part of the reason so many people misinterpret scripture is they “stay on the surface.” They don’t drill down and explore historical context, context within the chapter/book, original language etc. In the case of Exodus 9:12 it is essential to recognize one critical fact from the rest of the Exodus story; Who Pharaoh ALREADY WAS. 

Pharaoh was an evil man. His heart was wicked long before Moses came and commanded him to, “let my people go.” He had enslaved over a million people and treated them with brutality and contempt. Exodus 5:2 tells us; 

“Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

His contempt and disregard for God was clear and defiant. Not only that, but Exodus 8:15, 8:32 and 9:34 all directly say that, “Pharaoh hardened his heart.” He hardened HIS OWN HEART. 

So, what is happening when it says, “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart?”

Was Pharaoh just a chess piece to be used by God or was he completely responsible for his decisions? It is very hard for us to understand in our humanness but the answer is, BOTH. 

Exodus is clear, Pharaoh had a hardened heart toward God and was completely responsible for His actions. But it is also clear that God hardened Pharaoh's heart to accomplish his purposes and put His glory on display. The reality is, God could have just wiped the Egyptians off the face of the earth to free his people if he so chose. But that was not his plan. His plan was to use Pharaoh, who was a wicked man, to show His power. The bottom line; the Lord is perfectly righteous in his sovereignty. The apostle Paul actually references this whole situation in his letter to the Romans and helps bring great clarity to this theological conundrum; 

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For 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.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. Romans 9:14-18

Paul basically says, “listen, it might seem like what God did was unjust, but the reality is Pharaoh didn’t deserve mercy. NONE OF US deserves mercy. God graciously gives it, to put HIS glory on display. If Pharaoh had not hardened his own heart and instead chose to obey God, the Lord would not have needed to harden his heart further, and he would have chosen someone else to accomplish his purposes. 

While that may be hard for us to understand, and we may question how God chooses to accomplish his will and purpose, there is one thing we can know for certain. That God loves us deeply and does not desire to see anyone’s hard heart keep them from salvation. How do we know this? Once again, scripture backs up scripture, Romans 5:8 says;

But God demonstrates his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The Most Unexpected Part of God’s Sovereignty

In spite of how hard and sinful the human heart is, God loved us enough to send his son to die for us and set us free from our sin, BEFORE we ever softened our hearts towards him. If there is anything that doesn’t make sense about the sovereignty of God, it’s that He would sacrifice his perfect son in place of a bunch of wicked people who don’t deserve it. Yet, that is exactly what the Lord chose to do, and I am so grateful he did!