Did God Harden Pharaoh’s Heart?

Does God choose some people to be saved and condemn the rest? Does God harden the hearts of some so they can never come to repentance?

You might think so after reading this verse:

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.” So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. (Romans 9:17–18)

You may recall the story. Moses said, “Let my people go,” Pharaoh stubbornly said, “No,” and the outcome was destruction for Egypt and liberation for Israel.

And apparently, Pharaoh’s intransigence was all God’s doing.

Who hardened who?

The story of Pharaoh comes to us from Moses. On several occasions, Moses tells us that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (see Ex. 4:21, 7:3, 9:12, 10:1, 14:4). But Moses also said that Pharaoh hardened his own heart:

• When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart (Exo. 8:15)
• Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and did not let the people go (Exo. 8:32)
• When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants (Exo. 9:34)

What’s going on? Pharaoh is not the Lord. Was Moses confused?

Old Testament writers sometimes said that God hardened hearts (e.g., Jos. 11:20). But people harden their own hearts by resisting the Holy Spirit and yielding to the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13). It is pride that hardens hearts.

Pharaoh was a tyrant who rejected the word of the Lord. Pharaoh had a front-row seat to some of God’s most dramatic signs and wonders, yet he closed his eyes and hardened his heart. He refused to believe what he was hearing and seeing.

Who raised who?

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up… (Romans 9:17)

This makes it sound like Pharaoh had no choice in the matter. Pharaoh was God’s puppet. But the Scripture that Paul is quoting is this one:

But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you my power and in order to proclaim my name through all the earth. (Exo. 9:16)

There’s a difference between “I raised you up” and “I allowed you to remain.” The true meaning comes out more clearly in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures), where the original quote reads like this:

And for this purpose hast thou been preserved…

God could’ve removed Pharaoh at any time, but he didn’t. In his mercy, God preserved Pharaoh’s life. Because that’s what God does. He preserves and saves people. God gave wicked Pharaoh multiple opportunities to repent – that’s mercy.

The tragedy of Pharaoh’s wickedness is that many people lost their lives. But what Pharaoh meant for evil, God turned around for good. Because of Pharaoh’s stubbornness, the whole world heard about God’s powerful signs and wonders. We still talk about them today.

God chooses mercy

The WRONG conclusion to take from this is that “God saves some and damns the rest.” Paul never says this. Instead, he says:

So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. (Romans 9:18)

Which is to say that God is free to show mercy or harden hearts, and he chooses mercy.

I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. (Romans 9:15b–16)

God abounds in mercy

It’s amazing how often people get this wrong. They lift a scripture out of context and come up with all sorts of screwy ideas about God’s divine lottery. But if you read everything in context, the message of mercy comes across loud and clear.

In the middle chapters of Romans, Paul recounts the stories of Israel’s history to remind us of a great truth: God is merciful. “The Lord your God is a merciful God” (Deu. 4:31). Indeed, God abounds in mercy (Eph. 2:4).

Those who have been raised under a merciless law imagine God to be harsh and unforgiving. They imagine God is picky and punitive, punishing unrepentant Pharaohs and the profane.

But the God Jesus reveals is not like this. “He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Ps. 103:8). It is on account of his mercy that we are saved (Tit. 3:5).

The Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. (James 5:11)

He is a God of mercy, not hardening.

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Update: My new book on The Parables of Jesus will be released next year. I have just uploaded another draft chapter to Patreon. Contrary to what you may have heard, “The Vineyard Workers” is NOT about rewards in heaven, enlightened labor-management relations, why one church has revival but yours doesn’t, or the sovereignty of God and why he anoints other people more than you. Check it out.