Why did God Harden Pharoah's heart?

And Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go." (Ex. 5:2)
You don't speak to God that way folks! He paid dearly for his defiance.

 

No, God told Moses before He sent him that He would harden Pharaoh's heart. it wasn't a reaction to Pharaoh. It was His sovereign choice.

 

To show His power not only to the Hebrews, but to the Egyptians and eventually the rest of the world.

Julia

 

Foprtunately, we need not guess at the answer to this question. God has told us in no uncertain terms why he did this.

Exodus 9:16 "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.

Romans 9:17 17 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."

God's hardening of Pharoah's heart was not his response to Pharoah's own hardening. God promised Moses he would harden Pharoah's heart in chapter 4, before Pharoah hardened his own. This was God's doing and for his own purposes.

 

Oh yes, I have no doubt the Sovereign Lord hardened Pharoah's heart that He might display His power and glory. But there is no indication that God began His hardening of his heart before 5:2. He was an evil man that displayed his true colors from the very beginning.

 

Amen, Brother Watchman -- Preach it!

 

Except for 4:21, which comes before 5:2. Pharoah was an evil man who did just what he wanted to do. And God hardened his heart to not let his people go. Pharoah's response of 5:2 was due to God's promise of 4:21.

 

I read somewhere once [I believe it might have been in the New Testament], that GOD had tried to touch Pharoah's heart many times. Pharoah rejection of GOD's attempt left him open to GOD's wrath; so GOD hardened Pharoah's heart when the time came. I think I read this in the New Testament but I don't know where, I will try and find it. In Christ

 

I don't think you read that in the NT. You may have read that from someone who didn't like what the text of Scripture says. That would be my guess, but I don't know any where in Scripture where any such thing is said.

 

Hi everyone;
The fact that God did harden Pharaoh's suggest that if He hadn't harden his heart, things wouldn't turned out as they did, because of Pharaoh's freewill. It very clearly shows that the false assumption that we are all predestined unalterably to either destruction or Salvation isn't true. God had to harden His heart because Pharaoh would have given in. Then God wouldn't have show His awesome power
May Christ Shine His Light On Us All;
Mike

 

What was foreordained was the deliverance of Israel. Pharoah at first hardened his own heart, and that means he freely chose to not let Israel go. So God hardened his heart so that Pharoah would be letting God get the glory for the delivery of Israel.

A similar situation came up with Cyrus and the release of the people of Israel from the captivity. Cyrus had the opportunity to let the people go, and he did so freely, and gained a good place in history for doing that. Should he have objected to their going back to restore the nation, no doubt the people of Israel would have been able to go back anyway through God's intervention, probably in a way as unpleasant for Cyrus as it was for Pharoah, but fortunately we don't have to find out what that way would have been.

 

This is a great point, Paul, with only one
slight flaw - it's exactly the opposite of what the Bible says. Other than that it's great.

 

Except for 4:21, which comes before 5:2. Pharoah was an evil man who did just what he wanted to do. And God hardened his heart to not let his people go. Pharoah's response of 5:2 was due to God's promise of 4:21. </font>[/QUOTE]4:21 says "I will" not, "I have", so I guess it would be presumptuous to say exactly when God started hardening his heart. I can't say dogmatically, but I think Pharoah had a chance until his pugnacious reply in 5:2. Anybody with any sense at all would have relented after one or two of those plagues. Because God did not want him to give in, THEN is when the hardening began. IMHO

 

So he had no free will.

 

No he didn't.
I certainly believe in free will. But here, in this one case, free will was taken from Pharoah (after 5:2) for God to display His power.

 

Pharoah did freely harden his own heart, but God is the one who did it. You know, it is funny to read what some people will say to avoid what Scripture says. Why not just accept the text? Why redefine it to make God fit your little conception of what he can or cannot do?

 

Pharoah did freely harden his own heart, but God is the one who did it. You know, it is funny to read what some people will say to avoid what Scripture says. Why not just accept the text? Why redefine it to make God fit your little conception of what he can or cannot do?

Watchman does the same thing. 4:21 says "I will" and 5:2 gives the results of that.

 

"Pharoah did freely harden his own heart, but God is the one who did it."

You got me there Larry.