Hardening is not difficult to understand, we see it all the time. For instance, when you show someone to be in error, oftentimes a person will get angry. You have offended their pride. No one likes or enjoys being corrected, but some people are humble enough to admit when they are wrong, while others become obstinate and stubborn. Deep down they know they are in error, but they are not going to admit it. With folks like this, if you persist, they will become even angrier and resolve to be more obstinate.
When I say this, I am not pointing fingers at anybody. I do not like to be shown wrong myself, and I am not good at admitting it.
Pharaoh was hard for several reasons. The Egyptians believed the Pharaohs to be decendents of the gods. This would tend to make a person very proud. He was also used to giving orders, not taking them. And we can see this in his first response to Moses.
Exo 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
At this point Moses and Aaron were only asking that the Israelites be allowed to have three days off to go into the wilderness and hold a feast to the Lord. Pharaoh did not want to lose three days labor and so refused. But you can also see how clever Pharaoh believed himself to be, he commanded that the straw that was provided to make bricks be taken away to make the Israelites labor more difficult. He was going to show Moses and Aaron a lesson for daring to give him a command from God. He also knew this would turn the people against Moses. Very clever.
Exo 5:6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.
So, we see Pharaoh hardening his heart from the beginning. Moses and Aaron had showed no signs to Pharaoh, there had been no plagues yet. He was already a very proud and obstinate man before Moses ever approached him.
And this is why I believe God chose Pharaoh personally to show his wrath. Pharaoh was incredibly proud and stubborn. I can't imagine any man who could see miracles of God with his own eyes and still resist and disobey God, but Pharaoh did. God in his foreknowledge could see how stubborn and rebellious Pharaoh would be, and so raised him up to become king. He did not make Pharaoh evil, Pharaoh was evil of his own free will, but God used Pharaoh's wickedness to demonstrate his power and make his name known to the world.
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Calvinists love this verse, but overlook two important words. First it says God is longsuffering. God is very patient with a sinner and gives him every opportunity to repent. But this verse also says these persons are "fitted to destruction". It is for just reason God destroys these persons. God does not simply choose to destroy men for his pleasure. No, he justly condemns men who by their own free will and actions choose wickedness over righteousness.
He did not make Pharaoh hard in that he caused Pharaoh to have a quality he did not already possess. But by confronting proud Pharaoh, he knew Pharaoh would harden his own heart and become increasingly obstinate.
The root of hardening is pride.
Dan 5:20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
When I say this, I am not pointing fingers at anybody. I do not like to be shown wrong myself, and I am not good at admitting it.
Pharaoh was hard for several reasons. The Egyptians believed the Pharaohs to be decendents of the gods. This would tend to make a person very proud. He was also used to giving orders, not taking them. And we can see this in his first response to Moses.
Exo 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
At this point Moses and Aaron were only asking that the Israelites be allowed to have three days off to go into the wilderness and hold a feast to the Lord. Pharaoh did not want to lose three days labor and so refused. But you can also see how clever Pharaoh believed himself to be, he commanded that the straw that was provided to make bricks be taken away to make the Israelites labor more difficult. He was going to show Moses and Aaron a lesson for daring to give him a command from God. He also knew this would turn the people against Moses. Very clever.
Exo 5:6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.
So, we see Pharaoh hardening his heart from the beginning. Moses and Aaron had showed no signs to Pharaoh, there had been no plagues yet. He was already a very proud and obstinate man before Moses ever approached him.
And this is why I believe God chose Pharaoh personally to show his wrath. Pharaoh was incredibly proud and stubborn. I can't imagine any man who could see miracles of God with his own eyes and still resist and disobey God, but Pharaoh did. God in his foreknowledge could see how stubborn and rebellious Pharaoh would be, and so raised him up to become king. He did not make Pharaoh evil, Pharaoh was evil of his own free will, but God used Pharaoh's wickedness to demonstrate his power and make his name known to the world.
Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Calvinists love this verse, but overlook two important words. First it says God is longsuffering. God is very patient with a sinner and gives him every opportunity to repent. But this verse also says these persons are "fitted to destruction". It is for just reason God destroys these persons. God does not simply choose to destroy men for his pleasure. No, he justly condemns men who by their own free will and actions choose wickedness over righteousness.
He did not make Pharaoh hard in that he caused Pharaoh to have a quality he did not already possess. But by confronting proud Pharaoh, he knew Pharaoh would harden his own heart and become increasingly obstinate.
The root of hardening is pride.
Dan 5:20 But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
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. They are already dead to spiritual matters. They are already being hardened by their own nature. I dont know how, but maybe as I have said before God's hardening was not saving them by entering their minds, hearts, and wills and changing them in the mysterious work of the Spirit that teaches the person the message that in and of themselves they cannot understand because they are spiritually discerned. But to those He didnt harden He gave to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, and the hardened, as I said, it was just parable jibberish. God can also guide their hard hearts (by nature) to do His will. I think the most confusing part of God's sovereignty is how He moved Judas without sinning, tempting, and so forth.