And Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had said.
Aaron's rod had just swallowed the rods of Egypt's magicians, and the king watched it happen — yet his heart stayed unmoved. The verse adds that this happened "as the LORD had said". So who hardens here — Pharaoh, or God?
The sign came in two stages. Egypt's experts matched the first; the second left them empty-handed.
Pharaoh had no faith. He was sure to demand a visible, miraculous sign to prove Moses was sent, so the sign of Moses' rod becoming a serpent was given. Aaron performed this, but the magicians of Egypt showed that they too could bring this wonder about. They acted under the power of Satan, who is the serpent. So they too could show that casting down authority produces what is satanic. The next move they did not expect and it was beyond them. Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. Divine power, even when cast down, proved itself stronger than the power of the enemy. But despite this there was no softening in the heart of Pharaoh.
The men whose trade this was knew what they had lost. Their reaction and Pharaoh's went opposite ways.
These magicians were in close touch with their god. We might almost say they were in spirit-contact with the hosts of the old serpent, the Devil. They had sought their god's power and had obtained it. Then, suddenly, the sign of that authority vanished. The loss of their rods ended the argument for them. That they were shaken in their hearts no one can doubt. But Pharaoh hardened his heart. He would not heed the word of God.
The wording here does not yet place the act on God's side. It describes a heart made strong against God.
Mercy had been within his reach, but he refused it again and again. Six times over terrible plagues warned him about the folly of resisting God, but each time he hardened his heart. Exodus 7:13 should read, "And Pharaoh's heart was hardened (or strong) so that he did not listen." The Lord did not harden him as a judgment until chapter 9:12.
Both truths stand: man hardens himself, and God hardens. The order between them settles the sense.
God sent a testimony to Pharaoh, as He does to everyone in some form or another. But man left to himself always refuses the testimony of God. He knows it is God. He is conscious that he is doing wrong in refusing it. Yet he refuses, because he does not like God and dare not trust Him, whose word interferes with everything he likes. So man gives himself up to unbelief. Then God may seal a person up in a judicial hardness, either at that time or later, according to His own wisdom. That hardness is a distinct positive act on God's part... God hardens because man refuses His word. So the hardening is a judicial act on God's part. It comes in after man has proved himself an unbeliever and has kept on in it. It was so with Pharaoh. His is a typical case — the permanent warning in the New Testament, and the first recorded instance in the Old.
Each time God lifted a plague, He showed mercy. That mercy is what the king used against Him.
Where does the sovereignty of God come in here? Is it not seen in this — that again and again, God acted in sovereign mercy in removing the plagues? But this mercy only became the occasion of Pharaoh hardening his heart (see Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7). In the end, after Pharaoh had hardened his heart, we read that "the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh" (Exodus 9:12).
This account is not just about one ancient king. It describes what happens to anyone who keeps refusing clear light.
If a man resists the light of divine testimony, he is shut up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. God leaves him to himself, and then Satan comes in and carries him headlong to ruin. Pharaoh had plenty of light. It showed him the extreme folly of his course in trying to detain those whom God had commanded him to let go. But the real disposition of his heart was to act against God, and therefore God left him to himself.
- Sign given. Aaron's rod swallowed the magicians' rods. Divine power, even when cast down, is stronger than the enemy's — and Pharaoh saw it.
- Sign refused. The magicians themselves were shaken by losing their rods; the king was not. He would not heed the word of God.
- Self-hardened first. Here the wording describes Pharaoh's own heart as hard. The Lord's hardening is not stated until chapter 9:12.
- Mercy misused. Every removal of a plague showed sovereign kindness. Each one became the occasion for further hardening.
- Then hardened by God. God hardens only after a man keeps refusing His testimony, never before it. That makes Pharaoh a standing warning to anyone who resists clear light.
And Jehovah said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened he refuseth to let the people go.
God's word to Moses here is a verdict, not a question: Pharaoh's heart is set, and he will not release Israel. A long chain of judgments on Egypt follows, and the verse raises the hardest question in the whole account: who hardened Pharaoh's heart?
The statement comes after Pharaoh has already seen a sign and turned from it. Commentators watch the order closely. Get it backwards and you misrepresent God.
In Exodus 7 the great struggle begins, and wonder after wonder falls on the doomed land of Egypt. Notice this about the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. It was in no way the case before Pharaoh openly declared his unbelief. God never compelled a man to be an unbeliever. In short, unbelief never begins as the result of God's judicial hardening. Is there then no such thing as hardening? Does not Scripture mean that there is? Undoubtedly there is hardening. There are two equal errors. One says God hardens a person when He first sends a testimony. The other denies that He hardens a person who has refused that testimony.
The Hebrew does not use one word here. The change of word tracks a change in who is acting.
"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart." This was stated before in chapter 4:21. Eighteen times we read of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. However, different words are used in the Hebrew to show an important distinction. One means to "make firm" or "strong." The other means "to make stubborn." Together these two words show Pharaoh hardening his own heart, and God hardening him after he continued in his wicked way. Scripture says five times that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Only then did God begin His hardening and make Pharaoh's heart stubborn. Pharaoh hardened himself, then God hardened him. Pharaoh had his opportunities, and because he refused and continued in unbelief, God made him stubborn. This holds a solemn warning. Thousands harden their hearts now.
The plain words need no softening. They describe God withdrawing, not God forcing.
This explains an expression that occurs very often in the earlier chapters of this book. "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart." No one needs to avoid the full, plain sense of this most solemn statement. If man resists the light of divine testimony, he is shut up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. God leaves him to himself, and then Satan comes in and carries him headlong to destruction. Pharaoh had plenty of light. It showed him the extravagant folly of trying to keep back the people God had commanded him to let go. But the real disposition of his heart was to act against God, and therefore God left him to himself.
God answers the refusal with a blow at the centre of Egypt's confidence. The Nile fed the land, and Egypt treated it as divine.
Their general object is clear when we remember what God's controversy with Pharaoh was about. He dealt with Pharaoh as the oppressor of His people... So first the waters of Egypt are turned into blood, the symbol of death and judgment. This meant above all the sacred Nile. It was the source of life and refreshment to Egypt and its people, from the king down to the humblest of his subjects. As a result, "the fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt." So the river they proudly boasted in as an emblem of God became an object of disgust and loathing.
The timing sharpens it. Pharaoh was on his way to the river that morning.
Those who have studied the records of ancient Egypt tell us that the Egyptians worshipped the Nile as representing one of the chief gods of that land of idols. And remember that when the river was struck under the first plague, Pharaoh was going in the same direction that morning. It gives us the impression that he was going out to worship the Nile-god, and just at that moment his god was smitten.
God does not strike without notice. Pharaoh heard the plague described before it fell.
The first plague God sent was announced beforehand to Pharaoh... Then he announced to Pharaoh that he would strike the waters of the river so that they might become blood... The announcement had no effect on Pharaoh, and the Lord commanded Moses to do just what he had warned.
- Refusal first. Pharaoh's unbelief comes before any hardening from God. God never compels a man to be an unbeliever.
- Then hardening. The Hebrew shifts from "make firm" to "make stubborn." Pharaoh hardened himself first, and only then did God harden him.
- Left to himself. God leaves the man who has resisted clear light. He does not force a will that wanted otherwise.
- Then judgment. God answers the refusal at Egypt's source of life. The Nile, which Egypt worshipped as a god, becomes blood — the symbol of death.
- Yet warned. God announces every blow in advance. The warning is real mercy, and Pharaoh's indifference measures his heart.