In the seventh chapter of Exodus, third verse and part of the fourth, and in several places in the following chapters, we read that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he would not let the Israelites go; and in the fourth verse of the fourteenth chapter it is recorded that God said: "I will harden Pharaoh's heart, to follow after them." Why did God adopt a means of escape for the children of Israel, and then harden Pharaoh's heart while ten plagues were sent, and the firstborn slain, and finally harden his heart to follow them, to his destruction?
This is a frequently recurring question, and the answer is found in the perception of the method, by which it was done. This we find in the narrative itself. In answering this question, we cannot do better than we have done in The Everlasting Covenant; so we will turn to that book and read a few pages together:
Preaching to Pharaoh
It is a truth that: "God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that fears Him, and works righteousness, is accepted with Him." (Acts 10:34-35)
This was not a new truth in the days of Peter, but has ever been true, for God is always the same. The fact that men have usually been slow to perceive it, makes no difference with the fact. Man may fail to recognize the power of God, but that does not make Him any the less powerful; so the fact that the great mass of God's professed followers have usually failed to recognize that He is perfectly impartial, and have supposed that He loved them to the exclusion of other people, has not narrowed His character.
The Promise to Abraham Included the Egyptians
The promise was to Abraham and his seed. But the promise and the blessing came to Abraham before he was circumcised, "that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also." (Romans 4:11) "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:28-29)
Therefore the promise embraced even the Egyptians, as well as the Israelites, provided they believed. And it did not embrace unbelieving Israelites any more than it did unbelieving Egyptians. Abraham is the father of those who are circumcised, but only of those who "are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised." (Romans 4:12)
If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, their uncircumcision is counted for circumcision. (See Romans 2:25-29)
God's Longsuffering
It should not be forgotten that God did not begin at once to send the plagues upon Pharaoh and his people. He did not propose to deliver the Israelites by killing their oppressors, but rather by converting them, if it were possible. "[God is] not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) "[He] will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4) "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." (Ezekiel 33:11)
All men are God's creatures, and His children, and His great heart of love embraces them all, without respect to race or nationality. Accordingly, at the first, the simple demand was made upon Pharaoh to let God's people go free. But he impudently and haughtily replied, "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?" (Exodus 5:2)
Then miracles were wrought before him. These were not at the first judgments, but simply manifestations of God's power. But the magicians of Pharaoh, the servants of Satan, counterfeited these miracles, and Pharaoh's heart became harder than before. Yet the careful reader will see that even in the miracles that were counterfeited by the magicians, the superior power of the Lord was manifested.
Pharaoh's Heart Hardened
When mild measures failed to cause Pharaoh to acknowledge the power of God, judgments were sent. God, who knows the end from the beginning, had said that Pharaoh's heart would be hardened, and even that He himself would harden it; and so it was.
Yet it must not be supposed that God set about deliberately to harden Pharaoh's heart against his will, so that he could not have relented if he had wished. God sends strong delusion, that men should believe a lie, only upon those who have rejected the truth and who love a lie. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)
Everyone has just what he most desires. If any man wishes to do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine; but to him who rejects truth, there is nothing left but darkness and deception. (See John 7:17)
Hardened by Mercy
It is well to note that it was the manifestation of the mercy of God that hardened Pharaoh's heart. The simple request of the Lord was scornfully denied. Then the plagues began to come, yet not immediately, but with interval enough to allow Pharaoh to think. But as long as the power of the magicians appeared to be as great as that exercised by Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh would not yield. Soon it became manifest that there was a power greater than that with his magicians. They brought frogs upon the land, but they could not drive them away. "Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat the Lord, that He may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord." (Exodus 8:8)
He had already learned enough of the Lord to call Him by His name. "And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried unto the Lord because of the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields. And they gathered them together upon heaps; and the land stank. But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said." (Exodus 8:12-15) "Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord." (Isaiah 26:10)
Thus it was with Pharaoh. The judgment of God caused his haughty purpose to weaken; but "when [he] saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart." (Exodus 8:15)
Again there came swarms of flies, at the command of the Lord, and Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God inthe wilderness; only you shall not go very far away; entreat for me. And Moses said, Behold I go out from you, and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord. And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord. And the Lord did according to the word of Moses; and He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go." (Exodus 8:28-32)
And so it went on throughout the plagues. All the steps in each case are not recorded, but we see that it was the longsuffering and mercy of God that hardened Pharaoh's heart.
The same preaching that comforted the hearts of many in the days of Jesus, made others more bitter against Him. The raising of Lazarus from the dead fixed the determination in the hearts of the unbelieving Jews to kill Him. The Judgment will reveal the fact that everyone who has in hardness of heart rejected the Lord, has done so in the face of the revelation of His mercy.
God's Purpose With Pharaoh
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will this time send all my plagues upon your heart, and upon your servants, and upon your people; that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I had put forth my hand, and smitten you and your people with pestilence, and you had been cut off from the earth; But in very deed for this cause have I made you to stand, for to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." (Exodus 9:13-16,RV)
The still more literal rendering of the Hebrew by Dr. Kalish, reads that: "For now I might have stretched out my hand, and might have smitten you and your people with pestilence; and you would have been cut off from the earth. But only for this cause have I let you exist, in order to show you my power, and that my name may be acknowledged throughout all the earth." (Exodus 9:15-16)
A close comparison will show that this idea is expressed in the Revised Version, as quoted above, but not so clearly.
It is not the case, as is too often lightly supposed, that God brought Pharaoh into existence for the express purpose of wreaking His vengeance upon him. Such an idea is most dishonoring to the character of the Lord.
But the true idea is that God might have cut Pharaoh off at the very first, and so have delivered His people without any delay. That, however, would not have been in keeping with the Lord's invariable course, which is to give every man ample opportunity to repent. God had borne long with Pharaoh's stubbornness, and now proposed to send severer judgments; yet He gives him fair warning, that even yet he may turn from his wickedness.
God had kept Pharaoh alive, and had delayed to send His severest judgments upon him, in order that He might show unto him His power. But the power of God was being manifested at that time for the salvation of His people, and the power of God unto salvation is the Gospel. Therefore God was keeping Pharaoh alive, in spite of his stubbornness, to give him ample opportunity to learn the Gospel. That Gospel was as powerful to save Pharaoh as it was to save the Israelites.
The revised renderings have been used because they are clearer than those of the common version, and not because the same truth is not set forth in each. Take the common rendering, "In very deed for this cause have I raised you up, for to show in you my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth," (Exodus 9:16) and grant that it refers to the bringing of Pharaoh to the throne. Even then it is far from showing that God raised him up for the purpose of plaguing and killing him. The text says that it was for the purpose of showing God's power, and causing His name to be known throughout all the earth. To infer that God can show His power and make known His name only by the destruction of men, is dishonoring to Him, and contrary to the Gospel. "His mercy endures for ever." (1 Chronicles 16:21)
To Declare the Name of the Lord
God's purpose was that His name should be declared throughout all the earth. This is what was done, for we read that forty years later the people of Canaan were terrified at the approach of the Israelites, because they remembered what God had done in delivering them from Egypt. But the purpose of God would have been accomplished just the same if Pharaoh had yielded to the wishes of the Lord.
Suppose that Pharaoh had acknowledged the Lord, and had accepted the Gospel that was preached to him: what would have been the result? He would have done as Moses did, and have exchanged the throne of Egypt for the reproach of Christ, and a place in the everlasting inheritance. And so he would have been a most powerful agent in declaring the name of the Lord throughout all the earth.
The very fact of the acceptance of the Gospel by a mighty king, would have made known the power of the Lord as effectually as did the plagues. And Pharaoh himself, from being a persecutor of God's people, might, like Paul, have become a preacher of the faith. Sad to say, he did not know the day of his visitation.--Present Truth, July 11, 1901--Included in: The Everlasting Covenant (1900), ch. 16, "Preaching the Gospel in Egypt," which in turn was taken from an earlier article, "The Promises to Israel. Preaching the Gospel in Egypt," in Present Truth, September 3, 1896.