Exodus 7 · a question people ask
Did God make Pharaoh refuse?
Before any sign, God says, "I will harden Pharaoh’s heart" (7:3) and "Pharaoh will not listen to you" (7:4). When it happens, the text says "Pharaoh’s heart was hardened" without saying who hardened it, and adds "as the LORD had spoken" (7:13, 7:22). The LORD tells Moses, "Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go" (7:14), and after the river turns to blood, Pharaoh "didn’t even take this to heart" (7:23). The honest question in Exodus 4 follows the wording through all the plagues. Christians agree that God is just and that Pharaoh is held responsible ("he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart", 9:34); they differ on how the two sides fit together.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
God's choice comes first
Those who hold this view start from God's words before the first sign, "I will harden Pharaoh’s heart" (7:3), and note that each time the heart is hardened in this chapter, the text adds "as the LORD had spoken" (7:13, 7:22). Paul quotes what the Scripture says to Pharaoh and concludes, "he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires" (Romans 9:17-18).
Exodus 7:3 · Exodus 7:13 · Exodus 7:22 · Romans 9:17-18
God confirmed Pharaoh's own choice
Those who hold this view note that the LORD himself says of Pharaoh, "He refuses to let the people go" (7:14), that Pharaoh "didn’t even take this to heart" (7:23), and that in the plagues that follow, Pharaoh "hardened his heart" (8:15, 8:32) before the text says "The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh" (9:12). They read God's hardening as giving Pharaoh over to what he had already chosen.
Exodus 7:14 · Exodus 7:23 · Exodus 8:15 · Exodus 8:32 · Exodus 9:12
The verses
“I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.”
“Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken. The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.”
“The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as the LORD had spoken. Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he didn’t even take this to heart.”
“The LORD said to Moses, “When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.”