Why did Pharaoh's heart become hardened?
Pharaoh's heart became hardened because he repeatedly made wrong choices and refused God's demand to let Israel go. Each decision confirmed his rebellious will and produced increasing hardness. Although Scripture says God hardened him, God only placed him on the spot; Pharaoh hardened his own heart under God's sovereign will.
Les explains that Pharaoh's heart was hardened because Pharaoh himself made the choice, lived with it, and then when faced with the next demand, he chose wrong again. In that process he became hardened. God put him on the spot by demanding that Israel go, but Pharaoh hardened his own heart, even though Scripture says God did it. Les applies this same principle to mankind as a whole: when a heart is hardened, it is not that God fries it; man does it to himself, yet it remains under God's sovereign volition. Their foolish heart was darkened as God's response to their choosing of their own will. Although God is sovereign and in total control, the exercise of free will is still man's. As people choose to put God out of their thinking and think only in the human, secular humanism, their foolish heart is darkened.
More Questions
What does it mean when the Bible says God hardened Pharaoh's heart?
In Pharaoh's case, God did not directly harden his heart; God put him on the spot with the demand to let Israel go, and every time Pharaoh hardened his own heart—though Scripture says that God did it.