The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart

Is it fair for God to harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he has no choice but to be mean and be punished for it?

God says He will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will not let the people go.

There are three different words in Hebrew that reflect the hardening of the heart.

• chazad, which means to harden, to strengthen
• qashah, which means to be hard, severe, or fierce
• kabad, which means heavy, weighty or burdensome

If you look at the link, you can see that there is a wide range of translations of these verbs. The hardening of the heart by God uses all three of these verbs, but there are many examples where Pharaoh also hardens his heart.

Take your time to go through the examples, but the idea is this: God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not give up when he saw God working, but would have the strength to resist God, which he used very often.

Pharaoh’s active rule is revealed during the first devastating plague of the hail, where he admitted that he had sinned, and when the hail stopped he sinned again and hardened his heart.