why did God harden pharoah's heart?

Jenniferdiana

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I was reading the part where God kept hardening pharaohs heart and it seemed pretty daunting as I kept reading it. I know God has his reasons for the things he do but this one was really profound..and overwhelming..the things he does is great but kinda scary though..hehe
 

Job8

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I was reading the part where God kept hardening pharaohs heart and it seemed pretty daunting as I kept reading it. I know God has his reasons for the things he do but this one was really profound..and overwhelming..the things he does is great but kinda scary though..hehe
God hardened Pharaoh's heart after giving him multiple opportunities to repent. Every sinner receives multiple opportunities to repent, but the day comes when God hardens his heart and HE CANNOT REPENT.

Take the case of Hillary Clinton. She has had multiple opportunities to confess her sins, ask the American people for forgiveness, and step away from her efforts to become President. Instead, she has hardened her heart and laughs off her crimes and sins.
 
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DiscipleHeLovesToo

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this is a difficult saying, because it implies that God overrode pharaoh's free will - but remember that the OT was written thousands of years ago by people of a different culture than exists today; they had many 'sayings' that weren't literal such as the modern phrase 'act of God' that's used to describe horrific storms that God did not create to cause destruction.

focus instead on God's mercy toward pharaoh; He could have dealt with him the way He dealt with sodom and gomorrah - He gave pharaoh multiple evidences that he needed to let God's people go or be destroyed, but pharaoh trusted in his own wisdom and strength instead and eventually lost everything including his life.

God prefers mercy over judgment, and it grieves Him to see any of His creations reject His goodness and mercy - even the pharaohs of our modern time. the mercy He showed to pharaoh He shows to everyone. pharaoh's biggest problem was the he preferred judgment over mercy, ignoring his own faults as he sought to enforce man's slavery laws on others without mercy. none of us is qualified to throw stones at others; only God can see beyond visible actions to the heart's intent.
 
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LionL

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Take the case of Hillary Clinton.
Or Donald Trump, but that is really going off topic and bringing politics into this thread so let's not go there shall we?
 
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davidcrosby

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Pharoah commanded the hebrew male babies to be killed. In return the egyptian first born sons were put to death by God Himself. Its the principle of sowing and reaping.
Yes, just some thoughts as it makes me think that it was more about justice than judgement. And with all the plagues, God was just really rubbing their noses in their Satanic inspired gods because Pharaoh's hardened heart.
But more to the subject as I was reading some commentaries. We read that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh but also Pharaoh hardened his own heart. The thing is, is there are two different Hebrew renderings for "hardened". It's important because hardened in verse 3 ("I will harden") literally means to make stiffer or stiffen. Whereby the other Hebrew rendering of "Pharoah hardened" means hardening in the sense of prevailing against. So Pharaoh hardened his heart, and God strengthened him in that position. Because even though God let Pharoah set his course, He strengthen him in that course in order to magnify His power over Pharoah for His glory to be made known. Like He tells them in verse 5; "and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord."

I can't help but to think though, that in God's solverienty He already knew Pharaoh's evil heart wouldn't let His people go, as Verse 4 says but Pharaoh will not heed you. So with that, God delivered Israel out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And by great judgments of Justice against Egypt's wickedness.

... rethink me if need be.
 
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paul1149

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I think of cases like this as an interplay between our choices and God's response, or even, between our choices and their natural consequences. We have free will, and we get to make our choices, but once the choices are made we do not get to choose their consequences. Pharaoh made his choices, and reaped their consequences. This harmonizes with Ezek 18:23, "Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?", and with Lamentations 3, where Jeremiah says that God does not afflict willingly. If God was actively in the mix, I trust He had good reason to be, as His judgments are perfect.

Paul talks about the balance between God's side and man's side in Romans 1, where he shows God progressively "handing them over" to the next level of consequences the disobedient had opted for. It seems like more of a passive role for God, and you can picture Him wishing at each stage that men would repent, for in the end lies God's wrath, which is serious business indeed.
 
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Greg J.

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God never, ever overrides someone's free will (in this life). Pharaoh's heart was hardened because of his sins.

God wouldn't have even had to choose to punish him for this to happen. The natural consequence of sin is death (which manifests in various forms).
 
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Jenniferdiana

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The only reason why I asked is because it said pharaoh harden his own heart...I just got confused to why God harden it when pharaohs already had done that....it's a really profound story.. I like it
 
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Soyeong

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I was reading the part where God kept hardening pharaohs heart and it seemed pretty daunting as I kept reading it. I know God has his reasons for the things he do but this one was really profound..and overwhelming..the things he does is great but kinda scary though..hehe

Note that that same word for "harden" can mean "strengthen" such as hardening a fortress's defenses or hardened armor. So it can also be translated as God strengthening Pharaoh's heart. In other words, Pharaoh was going to give in after I think it was the 6th plague, but God gave him the strength to resist doing His will, so God gave him more options to choose from instead of limiting them.
 
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saved24

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Pharoah commanded the hebrew male babies to be killed. In return the egyptian first born sons were put to death by God Himself. Its the principle of sowing and reaping.
yes, true!
And as for all the other plagues, the people suffered as they made the people of Israel suffer! just in a different way.
 
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Kit Sigmon

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I was reading the part where God kept hardening pharaohs heart and it seemed pretty daunting as I kept reading it. I know God has his reasons for the things he do but this one was really profound..and overwhelming..the things he does is great but kinda scary though..hehe

Jenniferdiana: Hardening... means made firm or strong/strengthened...Pharaoh's wickedness didn't change, God continued using the man's own set way(or heart) to show that the only one to be worshiped is the one true God, not gods made after things of the earth or man's imagination.
3 times or more the bible reveals Pharaoh hardened his own heart, that he was wicked and more than that, he also promised several times to let the hebrew go but recanted... at some point he crossed the line, in Exodus 12:31-32 Pharaoh tells Moses to take his people and livestock and go; he also asks Moses to bless him...or preserve his life. You see, Pharaoh stayed too long in sinning and blaspheming God... Pharaoh himself would not submit himself unto God, at no time in the book of Exodus did he ever turn to God, even after he saw all that God did in Egypt, Pharaoh would hold to his idols and to his own authority...even though Pharaoh admitted he'd sinned, the man didn't repent...as scripture say..."for the wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23.
 
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