James Nisbet Commentary - Exodus 7:14 - 7:14

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James Nisbet Commentary - Exodus 7:14 - 7:14


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

THE HARDENED TYRANT

‘Pharaoh’s heart is hardened.’

Exo_7:14

I. It is necessary to recognise a change which the R.V. makes. The A.V. renders, ‘I will harden Pharaoh’s heart’ (ver. 3); the R.V., simply that his ‘heart was stubborn’ (ver. 14). In the first stages of this terrible conflict, such was the case. There was no Divine intention in the hardening of the tyrant’s heart. On the contrary, everything that could be devised was done to show him who Jehovah was, and to turn him from his purpose. That God’s dealings really issued in hardening was not the end of those dealings, but incidental to them.

II. Speaking after the manner of men, what God meant for good, Pharaoh’s nature transmuted into evil. God sent sunshine to soften, but in Pharaoh’s condition of mind it only hardened. God sent rain to fertilise, but when it touched the surface of his heart it turned to ice. God’s love showered flowers, but as in Dante’s poem, when they entered the atmosphere of his soul, they were changed to hot ashes, like those that cover the top of Vesuvius.

III. There were three processes in Pharaoh’s case, clearly indicated by the words used. First, his heart was hardened; this was the natural and automatic result of hearing and not doing. Next, he hardened his heart, by deliberately setting his will against his conscience. And, lastly, God hardened his heart, by leaving him to follow his own evil ways.

Illustrations

(1) ‘The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is predicted in Exodus 4, but nothing of the kind takes place, until a solemn demand has been made upon him and contumeliously refused. From the beginning of chapter 5 down to chapter Exo_9:34 we have two forms of statement intermixed; the one, that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and the other that he hardened his own heart. From this stage onward, Pharaoh seems to have fallen into an incurable obstinacy; and we are told in another place only that God hardened his heart. And so it is that would not ever passes into could not; that under the stern law of mental habits grounded in nature, the evil we have chosen takes deeper and deeper root, and at last passes beyond our power to recall. There are gradations of impenitence marked; an opportunity of free pardon is offered, and lighter punishments foreshadow the greater. When it is said that Pharaoh hardened his heart, we are viewing the voluntary and human side; when it is said that God hardened his heart, we see the judicial and penal.’

—
W. E. Gladstone.

(2) ‘The Almighty made him a monument of judgment. In that passage of Rom_9:17, the Divine side only appears, whilst the history of Pharaoh in the book of Exodus shows the double picture of human action arousing Divine condemnation. Men are “raised up” to different elevations; some, like David and Daniel, use their positions for God’s glory; others, like Pharaoh and Saul, use them for their own selfish ends, and falling from their high estate, exhibit the justice of God, after despising and rejecting his long continued goodness and mercy.’

(3) ‘It is an awful thing when the human will comes into collision with the Divine. If it will not bend it must break. For once Pharaoh, the child of an imperial race, had met his superior, and had to learn that it were better for a potsherd to strive with potsherds than for a mortal to enter the lists with his Maker. At the same time God is not unreasonable. He sets Himself to show us who He is, who demands our homage.’