Why did God harden Pharaoh’s heart?

Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart? Was it unjust for God to harden the heart of Pharaoh and then punish Egypt for what Pharaoh did as a result of his hardened heart?

[waxworse]

The same way that the possible unseen presence of a cop car will cause you to obey the speed limit, God's plagues caused Pharoah to give in for relief. Afterwards, he would change his mind because of contempt for God. God's punishment to Pharaoh and his land was proof of His power, which was deserved due to being forewarned. Pharoah's armor of pride and entitlement in the presence God's power and authority was the catalyst of that hardening of his heart. God did not control him like a robot.

[mary-hgz]

I always have had this question for so many years. I've heard many explanations and interpretations and seems not to be right until I heard it from a wise man that makes sense. The Lord hardens Pharoah's heart because the Lord does not want Pharoah to decide to let go of the Israelites just because he is intimidated by the plague but to truly decide to let them go because it is the right thing to do.

[WasBlind_NowISee]

As I was reading this book this morning I had the same question…”why would the coach who is coaching his team captain then go move the goal post at the same time making it difficult for his own team to score.
I have to constantly remind myself Gods thoughts are much higher and greater than mans thoughts”..

But the question kept lingering so i prayed and i think this question has multiple answers…although yes it could be that God shows his mercy and tolerance even for the greatest sinners but in Exodus 9: 16 it says..

‘But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the Earth.’

Anyone feel free to elaborate. God bless.

[junfour]

Came here expecting damage minimization. Instead what I got was "everyone is a sinner and deserves death". That's damage maximization. I am in awe.

[jccoming]

I agree with you, and I would go further to say that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was part of The Father's judgment plan in carrying out the just judgment against Pharaoh for all evil he had done...for we know Elohim is just!

[junfour]

Wow, this is going in my "evil in their own words" playlist

[Luonn]

What a poor justification for harding his heart. The ultimate gaslight lol

[AppInventorCode]

You’re adding too much salsa to your taco on this explanation.

[lancetschirhart]

"Destroying Egypt" would have been perfectly just? That sounds like something only a psycho would say

[mercyrose]

I think another reason is so Moses can see how horrible pharaoh is, since he keeps trying to convince pharaoh to let them go, and they were brothers even. So maybe god wanted to see the true side of him

[whatisthetruth]

This answer leans more on the Calvinistic approach but I understand. It's ok to agree to disagree because we can also read that Pharaoh hardened his heart, in Exodus 8 then God hardened Pharaoh's heart in Exodus 9. God showed signs and wonders to Pharaoh to prove His point but Pharaoh rejected it, that's how God hardened his heart.

[kennethogorman]

Here we go with theology again tried to clean up the terrible mess in the Bible

[Thor.Jorgensen]

1:00 Pharaoh ordered that male Israelite babies be killed at birth on a certain day, because it was prophesized that on that day, a man would be born who would go on to plague Egypt and kill millions of Egyptians.
Maybe God either shouldn't have made that prophecy, or he shouldn't have included the killing of millions of Egyptians into the prophecy.

[EL_FIN_ESTÁ_CERCA]

How a *calvinist* should approach a person with *his* “gospel”:
"Hi! I have good news for you! I don't know if God loves you, the most likely is that He hates you.
I also don't know if He died for you on the cross, only a very few were chosen… But Listen!"

Sad but true! This is the false gospel that is being preached in many churches.
We need urgently to bring back the *powerful, simple* and *true gospel* summarized in *John 3:16.*

If God says that He died for everyone, *it means that He died for EVERYONE:*
*Isaiah 53:6* ; *John 1:29* ; *John 3:16, 17* ; *John 4:42* ; *2 Corinthians 5:14, 15* ; *Romans 5:18* ;
*1 Timothy 2:6* ; *1 Timothy 4:10, 11* ; *Titus **2:11* ; *1 John 2:2* ; *John 12:47* ; *1 John 4:14* ; *Hebrews 2:9* …etc

Let's be very careful, let's not be found liars.

[ine]

Man, this was truly terrible. Your justification sounds like an abusive bf who beats up his gf and blames her for causing him to do that

[charlesthompson]

Imagine having to be the bad guy in life to show everyone god. Would be hard to accept truly! Keeps us human in the presence of god

[proverbalizer]

God is all powerful, but instead of using his power to soften Pharaoh's heart he hardened it. God is loving, but Instead of simply killing Pharaoh because of Pharaoh's crimes (and his hardened heart) he chose to kill every innocent first born child in the land of Egypt. God is all-knowing....but in order to know which children he should spare from his genocidal rage he required his "chosen ones" to put lambs blood over their doors.

Pure hypocrisy and extreme cognitive dissonance

Even a bad judge knows to punish the actual person accused on the crime

Even a bad parent can recognize their own child without any special symbol needed

[PigeonD]

You literally just proved that there's no such thing as free will for everyone in this religion.
God's will matters more than human free will. Thank you for debunking Christianity

[allegory]

What no teachers ever answer is HOW did God harden pharaoh's heart, i.e. what does that phrase even mean?
God "hardened" pharaoh's heart not by intervening in pharaoh's will but by putting pharoah to the test, the test of obeying God's will or rejecting God's will.
God's circumstances hardened pharaoh's heart, and pharaoh's will hardened pharaoh's heart.
BTW, God in Bible always gives a period of grace before he renders a judgement, and pharaoh experienced that repeatedly with God. Pharaoh just kept on exercising negative volition.

[TinyRedFlags]

I compare the Egyptians to those who supported the Nazis and Hitler and it helps me to understand God's actions more. With the Israelites, they show fervent obedience to God, whose detailed instructions about the sacrifice of the lamb seem odd but the lesson is that they must blindly obey, no matter how strange the command. Their obedience and showing of gratitude to God for rescuing them is rewarded. Obedience and gratitude are meant to be fundamental foundations of our faith.

What God did to Egypt (note the Egyptian people are perfectly fine with the Israelites being enslaved and they don't revolt against Pharoah) would be more understandable to us in modern times if we thought of Egypt like Germany and Austria and countries who supported Hitler. The Egyptian people ALSO needed a lesson on obedience and fear of the Lord and his dominion over all of earth, not just their king. After Pharoah defies him more than once, God then hardens his heart even more so that God could then use him as a tool. Hardening Pharoah's heart tp justify the plagues is meant to show the Egyptians whose the real Boss and how powerless Pharoah is in comparison. As the video says God could have just wiped them all out, but instead spares them and tries to compell them to recognize Him as their true king. Things went so far that he used the killing of first born sons to wake them up. Their wickedness ran deep.