And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.” (Exodus 4:21)

The Heart Of Pharaoh

After Joseph, his brothers, and his generation died, a new king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt. Fearing the growing power of the Hebrews in his land, Pharaoh established laws seeking to genocide the Hebrews out of existence. The people continued to grow in number. As the king made life for the Hebrews harsher, they cried out to the Lord because of their taskmasters and sorrow of heart. God chose Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and to use Pharaoh as an example of the power of the Almighty.

God told Moses Pharaoh would harden his heart against the word of the Lord. Through the signs and wonders God performed in Egypt, He would show the world how great the power of the Almighty would be against any nation that opposed Him. At the time, Egypt was a superpower in the world. When God finished with the Egyptians, all their glory and power would be gone. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh seeking permission to let the Hebrews go. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and it became a serpent. In like manner, the magicians of Egypt, through their enchantments, turned their rods down to become serpents. Pharaoh’s heart grew hard.

A series of ten plagues were brought upon the nation of Egypt. Pharaoh’s heart grew hard after the water turned to blood, and he did not heed them, as the Lord said. Following the terrible plague of frogs that covered the land, Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not heed Moses and Aaron, as the Lord had said. This hardening of the heart repeated itself after the plague of lice flies and the death of the livestock. The sixth plague was boils breaking out as sores on the Egyptians. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Next, thunder and hail enveloped the Egyptians with fire, destroying everything. When the plague stopped, Pharaoh sinned yet more and hardened his heart. After the plagues of locusts and darkness, the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and the king did not let the children of Israel go.

The final plague was the death of the firstborn over the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s household suffered the same fate as every house of the Egyptians was stricken with the death of a child or animal. No home was spared. Pharaoh relented and let the people leave Egypt. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh a final time when the king decided to go after the escaping Hebrews with his army. Pharaoh’s army perished in the Red Sea with the seashore scattered with the dead. God’s promise had come to pass. He had told Moses He would perform mighty works against Egypt to show His great power, and no God is as great as the Lord God.

God executed His great vengeance on the Egyptians with a furious rebuke so they would know that He was the Lord when He brought His vengeance against them. The Lord did not harden the heart of Pharaoh because the king of Egypt possessed a pure heart. Pharaoh considered himself a god and demanded his people treat him as a god. When Pharaoh wrestled with the true God, he was destroyed. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart because nothing was redeeming remaining. The Lord used Pharaoh as an instrument for His glory to show the world the Lord reigns in the affairs of nations. This has been repeated throughout history and continues to this day. God still works in men’s affairs, raising nations and bringing nations down.