![]() “And hardens the heart of whomever he wishes.”Īs theologians attempt to justify God’s behavior, some secular biblical scholars posit that the God of Exodus simply isn’t concerned with free will. “God has mercy on whomever he wishes,” the apostle wrote. Paul, chalked the whole thing up to the inscrutability of divine will. “Whether the phrase can be understood … as if were saying, ‘I shall show how hard his heart is.’ ” Others, such as St. Augustine avoided the episode’s messy implications by positing that God did not in fact deprive Pharaoh of free will. “This is stern dealing,” wrote early 20 th-century evangelist Reuben Archer Torrey, elaborating on Luther’s point. The great Egyptian-Jewish scholar Maimonides argued that God hardens Pharaoh’s heart as punishment for previous sins, while Martin Luther interprets God’s interference as a necessary demonstration of divine power. The first-century Rabbi Yochnan ben Zakai, for example, wondered whether Pharaoh’s lack of volition might provide “heretics with ground for arguing that he had no means of repenting.” Others have sought to defend God’s actions. “And he hearkened not unto them as the Lord had spoken unto Moses.” Theologians have been grappling with these questions for hundreds of years. “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,” Exodus 9:12 reads. ![]() Following the sixth plague, however, Pharaoh seems to lose his nerve and God steps in, hardening his heart for him. Towards the beginning of the story, Pharaoh hardens his own heart (or it “is hardened” in the passive voice). After seeing the frogs hopping around his bedchamber, Pharaoh calls to Moses and asks him to “intreat the Lord, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people and I will let the people go.” God obliges, calling the plague off, but “when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them.” And so the pattern continues. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house.” Pharaoh’s hard-hearted refusal brings on the next plague, frogs. ![]() As the King James Bible puts it, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them as the Lord had said. ![]() On seeing the effects of this plague, Pharaoh seems to reconsider. In turn, God brings down the first of 10 plagues, the transformation of water to blood. Tyrant that he is, Pharaoh rejects the brothers’ request outright. A quick refresher, for the biblically illiterate: As per God’s instructions, Moses and his brother Aaron go to Pharaoh’s court and ask him to free the enslaved Hebrew people. ![]()
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