Magicians and the Hardness of Pharaoh’s Heart

 Exodus 7

          Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh a second time. (This may be obvious, but I realize I’ve never explained it: Pharaoh is the title of Egypt’s ruler, not a proper name. Every ruler of Egypt would have been called Pharaoh, just as every ruler of ancient Rome was called Caesar and every sovereign of Great Britain is called King.) Anyway, Moses and Aaron confront this Pharaoh a second time and show one of the proofs the Lord had given them: Aaron’s rod turns into a snake. Unfortunately, the Egyptian magicians did the same. Since “secret arts” are invoked (v. 11), it’s possible that there was some kind of demonic power at work. There’s also a thought that the magicians’ rods were snakes the whole time; apparently some snakes can be charmed in just such a way. (I’m inclined toward the second explanation.)

          In a similar way, the Egyptian magicians replicated the turning of water into blood. Here again we have two possible explanations: the involvement of demonic powers or some kind of trickery. And again I’m inclined toward the second. I tend to think that the first nine plagues are natural phenomena, which is why it was easy for Pharaoh to dismiss them. (The miraculous elements are that they happened at God’s command and with an intensity rarely seen.)  There are two possible explanations for the Nile turning red like blood: sediment released from flooding up river or an algae bloom. Both are plausible. If we assume the phenomenon passed, then the magicians would either have to time out another, smaller case of the same phenomenon or just resort to some kind of trickery with dye.

          Because his magicians could repeat the ‘miracles,’ Pharaoh wasn’t convinced that anything extraordinary was happening and “his heart became hard.” The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is difficult to understand. In 4:21 and 7:3, the Lord says that He will harden Pharoah’s heart, which can seem like the Lord is damning Pharaoh, which seems out of character for a God who delights in humans and wants everyone to be saved. So, what’s going on? First the data:

 

Hardening Pharaoh’s Own Doing	Hardening Ascribed to God
	4:2 (God will)
	7:3 (God will)
7:13 (became hard)
7:14 (was unyielding)
7:22 (became hard)
8:15 (Pharaoh hardened)
8:19 (was hard)
8:32 (Pharaoh hardened)
9:7 (was unyielding)
	9:12 (God does)
9:34 (Pharaoh hardened))
	10:1 (God has)
	10:20 (God did)
	10:27 (God did)
	11:10 (God did)
	14:4 (God will
	14:8 (God did)

 

Notice that although the Lord said He would harden Pharaoh’s heart, in reality Pharaoh was the agent of his own hardening seven times before the Lord actually hardens Pharaoh’s heart. What we have here is the Lord consigning Pharaoh to his own sinfulness. Basically, the Lord lets Pharaoh have it his own way. It's rather like a parent who’s had enough of arguing with their child saying, “OK, do it your way.” The parent knows better, but the parent also realizes that the child is only going to learn by doing it the hard way. (Similarly, in Romans, Paul speaks of God consigning humanity to their sinfulness; cf. Romans 1:26.)

            One could, of course, say more about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, and I may come back to it later, but let that be enough for now.