Romans 9:17-19 – Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart

Calvinism and Reformed Tradition often point to Romans 9:17-19 as proof text for their doctrine. They believe that before creation, God had Elected and Predestined certain individuals to serve as objects of His wrath. This pre-selection, consistent with deterministic theism (meaning selected and designed by divine decree), ensures that those elected unto salvation would better appreciate His glory, power, and mercy.’ However, neither this passage nor the Old Testament passage that Paul paraphrased implies that God unilaterally  hardens hearts against Him or to keep one from obtaining salvation.

When God placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the middle of the Garden of Eden, He did not tempt, forcibly compel Adam or Eve to eat of its fruit. Instead, God not only commanded Adam and Eve not to eat the forbidden fruit but also forewarned them that they would surely die on the day they did so. God made man in His image, to be moral agents, by providing them with the practical availability and awareness of a choice to be enacted upon?  Granted, one might say that  by giving Angels and Man the ability of moral agency, God created the potential of sin and evil, but God never tempted, coerced, deceived, forced or even necessitated Adam and Eve to disobey, and to choose death. Had that been the case then Eve would not have accused the Serpent of deceiving her (Genesis 3:13 ) but rather she would have accused God of deception.

In light of James 1:13-15, it is difficult to reconcile that God who does not tempt anyone unto evil would somehow, in the conventional sense, harden an individual’s heart, thereby necessitating, compelling, deceiving, blinding, or coercing one into unbelief, sin, and evil. To claim such a thing would be to confound the righteous purposes of God with the unrighteous purposes of Satan and Man himself  John 8:44.

Scripture must be allowed to interpret Scripture

When it comes to interpretation, Scripture must be allowed to interpret Scripture over all other methods. Interpretation and Doctrine(s) must be supported contextually and consistently throughout all Scripture, in a progressive manner. God is not a God of contradiction and so neither does His word contain contradictions or paradoxes.

Interpretations must not contradict Scripture or the nature and character of God

Therefore any interpretation that contradicts Scripture even in part or that contradicts the nature and character of God, must be considered incomplete or completely wrong 1 Timothy 6:20.

It is important to understand the back story

When we read Romans it is important to understand that the Roman community Paul was addressing was at least familiar with the Torah, which he endeavored to connect some Old Testament passages – often by paraphrasing and by leaving out much of the lengthy back story – with the Gospel message to show that neither of these are in conflict with God’s promises to Israel. For us as the modern reader of the book of Romans, knowing and understanding these back stories is critical to maintaining proper context of Paul’s message. Likewise, much of the language, the terms, and phrases that Paul uses are not fully explained / defined in Romans. Further context, explanation and definitions of these terms can be found in his earlier writings like Galatians and 1 Corinthians etc. Therefore, it is advisable to read these letters and or epistles prior to reading Romans or to make use of a good concordance that will point to critical references in other books, as well as a good dictionary of Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek. 

When we look to the backstory of Exodus, we see that it was the Pharaoh himself who first hardened his heart and rejected God. Exodus 5:2 ESV: “But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go“. One should be cautious of the questions one asks, if there is even a remote chance that they may not like the answer and the Pharaoh was not going to like God’s answer Exodus 7:5. However, while God may allow and use hardened hearts, it does not mean that God wishes, desires or necessitates anyone’s heart, including that of the Pharoah’s heart to be hardened, else that would be contrary to God’s very nature.

It is important to understand the meanings of the original Hebrew and Greek words.

In the Old Testament, the word “harden” is an English translation of the Hebrew word “chazaq” and according to the Strong’s Concordance “chazaq” can be translated as H7185 (Exodus 4:21) and or H2388 (Exodus 7:13):

• To make strong, be strong, grow strong
• To make or to be resolute
• To make or to be sore
• To make or to be grievous
• To harden,
• To prevail over
• To produce courage or to be courageous
• To repair and sustain.

Interestingly, it is only in the Book of Exodus that the Hebrew word “chazaq” is translated as “harden” or “hardened” in the Old Testament.

It is important to understand God’s natural attributes, like that of Omnicience.

God foreknew that the stretching out of His hand against the Pharoah would only further enrage him and make him only stronger, more resolute, more grievous and more hardened. However, this does not mean that God forced the Pharoah’s heart to be hardened. God no more forced the Pharoah’s heart to be hardened than His favoring of Able’s offering forced Cain to murder his brother. The Pharaoh’s hardened heart, from beginning to end, was his own doing—without coercion or culpability on God’s part—and was made only stronger/harder in unrighteousness by his own anger and resentment of God’s answer to His question. We might call the Pharoah a lost cause because even when he finally realized the truth of God, he rejected the opportunity to humble himself and submit to Him.

So why then does God take credit for hardening the Pharoah’s heart?

Well because God did harden the Pharoah’s heart BUT not in the context of the conventional sense that it is often taught. In other words, God did not arbitrarily create some to have a hardened heart, nor did He reach into a person’s unhardened heart and make it hard. Instead, it was the righteous truth of God and His word that provoked humbleness in the receptive heart and hardening of the unreceptive heart. Take a look at Romans 11:14 in which Paul says, “in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.” This verse reflects the Apostle Paul’s desire to reach his fellow Jews with the message of Christ, hoping that their jealousy over the blessings received by the Gentiles would lead them to embrace the faith. It emphasizes the strategic approach to evangelism within God’s redemptive plan, to provoke envy among those who do not share the same humble “heart-felt” values and all for the purpose of producing a change of heart in some. Paul’s statement “save some of them” does not indicate that he or God desires only some to be saved, as if they are selective. Rather, it indicates that some hearts are so hardened that they are indifferent and unreceptive to God’s leading, and may even develop a sense of grievous bitterness.

It is important that interpretations fit contextual throughout Scripture

Consider the words of Jesus in John 8:45-47: “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. [46] Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? [47] Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God“. This verse is not implying that the Jews did not believe Jesus because He told them the truth. Instead, it says the reason they did not hear and believe Him when He told them the truth was that they were not of God. Instead, they were of the Devil who is a liar and deceiver. Jesus was not taking credit as the reason for their unbelief, but rather that, for the “fact that” they were of Satan, they were hard of understanding, hearing and as we might say hard of heart. Too hard of heart to hear or to believe the truth. Neither does Jesus take credit for initiating their hardened unreceptive hearts as that hardening was self-inflicted and grew only stronger, more resolute and was provoked to grievous anger when Jesus spoke the truth to them. So much anger that they picked up stones to throw at Jesus, John 8:59. 

We find this same context in John 12:39-40, where John – paraphrasing from Isaiah 6:8-10 -says “he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart”.  This means that John’s use of the word “hardened” takes its context from Isaiah 6:8-10 which reads: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” [9] And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ [10] Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed“. Take careful note that Isaiah 6:10  does not use the word “hardened: but instead uses the word “DULL”. The English word “dull” is translated from the Hebrew word “shaman”, meaning to become fat, grow fat and show fat. They became fat – filled, fattened and dulled in slumber – from Isaiah’s continued warnings that they were not seeing with their eyes and understanding with their heart. Isaiah’s message became like an irritant grievous noise that they did not want to hear and thus tuned it out and ignored it. God knew what would happen but God told Isaiah to keep on warning them despite the fact that they would tire, that they would not understand and that they would grow dull from hearing it. 

Now lets ask ourselves who is the “He” – that John was speaking of in John 12:39-40 – whom “has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, , lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn”? It would be more than difficult to reconcile that God was the one blinding and hardening the hearts of the people rather then the “ruler of this world” – Satan – when God clearly says “and I would heal them”. Again, context is everything and the first six chapters of Isaiah provides a contextual story of Isaiah repeatedly saying “woe is thee” to the people of Israel, Isaiah 3:9 “For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves. Now allow me to repeat the last six word of that verse that says “they” – being the nation of Israel – “brought evil” – being Satan – “on themselves”. And that would be further contextualized in 1 John 5:18-20, where we clearly see that man is the one who hardens his heart in rejection of God and His word. When a person rejects God in hardness of heart, he brings evil upon himself and becomes deaf and blind to the word of God and this is exactly what John was referring to when he paraphrased Isaiah who said “make the heart of this people dull …”.

But what of 2 Thessalonians 2:11, if God sends delusions can He not harden hearts ?

If understood in proper context, the same aforementioned concepts apply to 2 Thessalonians 2:11 ESV: “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false”. Paul was speaking 2 Thessalonians 2:1 where he said there were already many false teachers, who were proclaiming a different gospel and that the second coming of Jesus had already taken place. This would have undoubtedly shaken any Christian who might fall  prey to such deception and believe they had been left behind. Thus, Paul says – in 2 Thessalonians 2:2-4 – “not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. [3] Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, [4] who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 

The “man of lawlessness” that Paul is speaking of is the Antichrist in which he asks the rhetorical question 2 Thessalonians 2:5 ESV: “Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?“, and furthers to explain 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 ESV: “And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. [7] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. [8] And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming”.  The “what is restraining him” is none other than God. However, the mystery (not yet revealed) of lawlessness is already at work in deceiving people, and Paul clearly explains that 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 ESV: “ The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, [10] and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved”.

There should be no question or doubt that as per the context of this passage, Paul is clearly attributing “all wicked deception”, to Satan, and not to God. In clarification there is no such thing as a righteous lie or a righteous deception, for all falsehoods, lies and or deceptions are evil, wicked. Satan is the father of all lies, whereas God is the truth. There is no deception, falsehood or lies in God or from God. To believe such a thing is in and of itself to be deceived by Satan.  Paul has said that God has restrained Satan but only for “now so that he may be revealed in his time”. For the reason that / for the fact that God is omniscient and foreknows what Satan will do once unleashed of God’s restraint, Paul says, 2 Thessalonians 2:11 ESV: “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, [12] in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness”. Basically, Paul is saying that despite being told the truth, despite being warned they still reject God and so there is going to come a time when God is going say so be it and let Satan – the deceiver – have at them.  The “them” and the “they” are those “who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness”. Take close notice of this sentence for “For the fact that” they “did not believe the truth”, in and of itself means that they were those who had been told / exposed to the truth, else the verse would have to read that they did not know the truth. Thus, 2 Thessalonians takes on the same context as John 8:45-47: “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me“, the reason for their delusion is not because of Jesus, but because they  “are not of God”. They are instead of Satan, who “is with false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved”.

God knows what He is doing, and He knows how to turn the disbelief, blindness and Hardness of heart to good and to bring about His plan. The hardened heart of an unreceptive unbeliever can be used to soften the heart of another. Sometimes God will leave an individual to their own hardened heart allowing them to hit rock bottom, to become broken, humble and then receptive. Likewise, sometimes God’s punishment toward those with hardened hearts is to simply leave them to their own hardened hearts and certain demise. However, in each case both their hardened heart and demise was of their own doing.

Such was the case with the Pharoah that his heart was hardened by self-infliction, by pride. Listen, God is Omniscient, He knew that by deliberately stretching out His hand against Egypt in answer the Pharoah’s question of “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?” that it would only provoke grievous bitterness and further hardening – making stronger more resolute and more angry –  the Pharoah’s already self-inflicted hardened and unreceptive heart.

So why then does God do these things, knowing it will only further harden the Pharoah’s heart and prolong exodus?

Again, while God is neither the creator nor the author of sin / evil, He will purposefully use the willful, sinful and evil actions of Satan and or of Man to do His will in bringing about good. Thus, God deliberately used the Pharoah’s heart, resolute in its rejection of God to “bring out the people of Israel from among them”. We should make no mistake about the “fact that” God purposefully and righteously revealed Himself to the Pharoah whom He foreknew would only strengthen in his resolve to reject God and punish the Jews. Unfortunately, we today as the modern reader often read into the story of the Exodus with somewhat of a biased view. Traditional teachings of the Exodus would have us understand that it was only the Pharoah that was preventing the Jews from leaving Egypt. However, if that was the case, why then did God continue with the plagues – Exodus 10:16-20 – knowing full well that it would make the Pharaoh’s heart only more resolute in it hardness, and make life more difficult for the Jews when He knew the Pharaoh would have otherwise relented and set the Jews free?  

To wrestle the nest

Unlike most traditional teachings or the Charlton Heston movie of the “Ten Commandments”, it was the Jews themselves that were preventing themselves from being free of Egypt. After all, the majority of the Jews who cried out for deliverance were too broken by harsh slavery listen to Moses and perhaps too afraid to leave Egypt. We read in Exodus that even before Moses went to the Pharoah and said Exodus 9:1 ESV: “… ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, ‘Let my people go, …’”, that he first spoke to the Jews, but they would not listen to him, Exodus 6:9 ESV: “Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery”.

Now consider for a moment, the relatively recent emancipation of black slaves in the United States. When the slaves in America were freed, it was not a uniform experience. Many chose to remain on the plantations where they had been enslaved. Their decision to stay was often influenced by their circumstances of having a broken spirit after years of harsh slavery, poor health, no money, and no other place to go. With no leverage to negotiate wages or working conditions, many continued working on the plantations just for the sake of having a place to reside, and food to eat. In essence, and despite the emancipation, many so called “freed slaves” experienced no practical change in life from before the emancipation.

For similar reasons, we should be able to understand the Jews reluctance to listen to Moses and eagerly leave Egypt. Besides, these were a people who had preconceived notions and ideas of how God was to deliver them from their bondage and those preconceived notions did not include being led out of Egypt into a perilous Desert by a white-haired man armed with only a stick. Take note of the paradigm between the Exodus account of Moses the Deliverer and the Gospel account of Jesus the Messiah. The Jews in the time of Jesus likewise had preconceived notions of how the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem as a conquering King. Notions that kept many from recognizing Jesus the son of a carpenter as the Messiah who conquered sin and death.

If we can appreciate and understand these things, then we gain a better understanding of the point Paul was in part expressing to his audience in so much that God keeps His promises to Israel even in despite of their faithlessness, brokenness or preconceived notions of how God will do it. Thus, just as a mother bird wrestles the nest to make it so uncomfortable that the chicks leave, so too would God use the hardening of the Pharoah’s heart to make it that much more uncomfortable for the Jews to remain in Egypt, then to venture out into the inhospitable desert. All for the purpose that they should serve Him, “Let my people go, that they may serve me’”. In contrast of the North American emancipation of slaves, God’s emancipation of the Jews from Egyptian bondage would be a tangible liberation.

Thus, God raised the Pharaoh up

Now let us consider for what purpose God said He had raised the Pharaoh up, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth”. It was not the Pharaoh who was purposed to proclaim God’s name throughout the world, but instead it was to be “God’s children”, 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. Galatians 3:26 ESV: “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith”, in Christ. However, in order for that to happen as per God’s predestined plan and promise that the Messiah would come from the nation of Israel, Israel would first need to be free of its bondage in Egypt and relocate to the promised land of Cannan. Take Note of how Paul opens his letter to Romans when he says to the Christian community in Romans 1:8 ESV: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world”.

Thus, the purpose God had raised the Pharaoh up was as God said, “that I might show my power in you”, so that those who were broken from harsh slavery and reluctant to leave Egypt, would see God’s power and have faith. Paul was expressing to his audience that God has never forsaken Israel; God has never forsaken His promises for God has always desired that Israel be His children.

According to Strong’s Concordance the English term as used in Romans 9:17, “ … raised you up … ” is a derivative of “raised” or “raised up” but in this instance is identified as the Greek word “exegeiro”, G-1825. The word “exegeiro” is only used twice in Scripture, once in Romans 9:17 and once in 1 Corinthians 6:14: “And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power”.  It takes it context from the Greek words G-1537 and G-1453 ,(easily looked up) and provides the following definition

1. From G1537 and G1453, to rouse fully that is (figuratively) to resuscitate (from death) release (from infliction): – to raise up.
2. Used in 1 Corinthians 6:14, The resurrection of the believer, and in Romans 9:17, raising a person to public position as said of Pharoah by God.

1. Thayer’s Definition
2. to arouse, raise up (from sleep)
3. to rouse up, stir up, incite

Interestingly, another English word and synonym would be that of “to provoke”, as in to rouse up, incite and or provoke anger. Therefore, in its proper context the term “raised you up” does not equate with the term “made” as in “created” out of nothing but is more akin to “raising a person to a public position” and or to have caused someone to have been “aroused”, “stirred up” or “incited”. This would be in complete context with the Old Testament passage that Paul had been quoting, Exodus 9:15-17: “For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go”.

God in His endless wisdom, used the Pharaoh’s anger to push the Jews out of Egypt

If we understand the adage, “the best revenge is to live well”, then we understand the adage means to take no revenge at all on those who wish you unwell. One might say that by living well, you will make your enemies burn with jealousy and anger but in reality that jealousy and anger is manufactured by and within the heart of your enemy. In a similar manner, God being true to His immutable nature, of both what and who He is, openly, truthfully, justly and righteously answered the Pharaoh’s question. The fact that God answered the Pharaoh’s question as He did, does not diminish the fact that the manufacturing of Pharaoh’s hardened heart from conception to its finality was by the Pharaoh’s own doing. God both allowed and used the Pharaoh’s unrighteous pride and anger that was directed at the Jews to wrestle the nest and progress his plans, to bring about good for  Israel. God in His infinite wisdom allowed and used the Pharaoh’s unrighteous anger not to merely allow the Jews to leave Egypt but moreover, and ironically to have the Pharoah push each and every Jew out of Egypt taking with them not only their own belongings but also taking / plundering Egypt’s of its gold, silver and jewelry, Exodus 12:33-36. God kept His promises to the Jews despite their brokeness.

I hope that the posted audio files provided will offer another perspective of “the hardening of the Pharaoh’s heart” that as I believe you will see, fits contextually with both Scripture and the character of God.