The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 329

Ver. 8.--Jehovah liardening Pharaoh's he,a,rt. I. NoTicE THE EMPHASIS WITH wmoa 'l'HIB FAOT IB STATED. The hardening of Pharaoh's he9.rt is mentioned, not in one place only, but in many. If it were mentioned in one place only, it might be in some doubtful way, such as would excuse us for passing it over without much examinn.tion. But being mentioned so ma.ny times, we de.re not lea.ve it on one side as somcthin"' to lie in necessary obscurity, meanwhile consoling ourselves that the obscurity is u;im- portant. 'l'he statement meets us in the very midst of the wa.y of Jehovah's judgments on Pharaoh, and we must meet it in return with a resolution to understand it as far as believers in J ehova.h ma.y be able to do. Noti.ce, then, exactly, how often the statement is repeated. Jehovah says to Moses, or ever he leaves Midian, "I will harden Pharnoh's heart that he shall not let the people go" (eh. iv. 21). Again, just as Jehovah's dealings with Pharaoh were beginning, he says : " I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt" (eh. vii. 3). After th~ rod was changed to a serpent his heart was still hardened (eh. vii. 13). Nor was there yet any change after the waters were turned to blood ( eh. vii. 22). He yielded a little when the frogs came, but as soon as they vanished and there was respite, he hardened his heart once more (eh. viii. 15). When the magicians confessed the finger of God in the gnats, his heart remained the same ( eh. viii. 19). The flies were taken away, and "he hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go" (eh. viii. 32). In eh. ix. 12 we have an express statement that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. After the visitation of the hail there seems to have been a complete sur- render; but as soon as it ceases the hardening returns (eh. ix. 35); and so the references continue down to the end ( eh. x. 1, 20, 27; :xi. 10 ; xiv. 4, 8, 17). Making these references, we are led to notice also the variety of expressions used. Sometimes it is simply said that Phara.oh's heart was hardened, sometimes that Pharaoh hardened it, sometimes that God hardened it; and once or twice the expression rises to the emphasis of the first person, and Jehovah himself says" I will harden Pharaoh's heart." JI, NOTICE THE CONSEQUElIT OBLIGATION TO MAKE DEVOUT ANU REVERENT INQUIRY I:S'TO THIS MATTER.-There is no way to escape from the feeling that Jehovah did actually harden Phara.oh's heart. We must treat the hardening of his heart as a great fact just as Moses did the burning bush; not doubting at all that it did happen, but rather asking how and why it happened. We must turn a.side and see this great sign, why Jehovah exer- cised such a fearful power over Pharaoh that the end of it was the destruction of his host in the waters of the Red Sea. It is a commonplace of speech to say that the expression here is one of the most difficult in all the Scriptures. It is also a commonplace of action to shake the head with what is meant for pious submission to an impenetrable mystery. But what if this be only an indolent and most censurable avoidance of earnest thought on the ways of God towards men? No one will pretend that the mystery of this expression is penetrable to all its depths; but so far as it is penetrable we are bound to explore. How are we really to know that a thing is unfathomable, until we make an attempt to fathom it? A devout Israelite, although excluded from the Holy of Holies, did not make that a reason for neglecting the temple altogether. Our duty then is to inquire what this hardening of the heart may be, in what sense it is reconcilable with the goodness and righteousness of God. One reason why this statement is put so prominently forward in one of the most prominent narratives of Scripture, and therefore one of the most prominent in all history, may_be thi~, that we should be kept from wrong conclusions on man's agency as a responsible be!Dg ; con- clusions dishonouring to God and perilous to ourselves. Is it not a great deal gained if only this narrative sets people thinking, so as to deliver them from the snaros of fatalism r III. Whatever view we take of this statement must evidently be IN THE LIGHT OF ~LL WE .L.RE PERMITTED TO KNOW CONCERNING THE CHABACTEB OP JEHOVAH. In considering all difficult statements as to the Divine dealings, we must start with certain postulates as to the Divine character. Before we can say that God does a thing we must ~ow that the thing done is not out of harmony_ with the rest of hi~ ascert~ined ~01Dgs. T'nere may be plenty of evidence as to the thing done, when there 1s very little ev1de1;1ce as to the doer. That the streams of Egypt were actually turned to blood was a. thing that could be certified by the senses of every one who inspected those_ streams. But that God wrought this strange work could only be made sure by asking, first, what OJI. XIV, 8.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 325