The Hard Heart and the Heavy Hand
Introduction: The Terms of Engagement
We come now to the divine commissioning for the great confrontation. The preliminary meetings are over. Moses has returned to Egypt, he has spoken to the elders, he has presented himself to Pharaoh, and the result has been an increase of burdens for the Israelites. From a human perspective, the mission is already a failure. But God does not operate from a human perspective. He operates from the throne of the universe, and He is about to give Moses and all of us a master class in divine sovereignty.
This passage is a difficult one for the modern mind, which is to say, for the sentimental and man-centered mind. We want a god who is a celestial negotiator, a divine diplomat who respects the sacrosanct autonomy of the human will. But the God of the Bible is not running for office. He is the high King of Heaven, and He does what He pleases. Here, God lays out His battle plan for Moses, and it is a plan that involves not only the liberation of His people but also the judicial hardening of His enemy's heart. This is not an unfortunate side effect; it is a stated, instrumental part of the plan.
We must understand that what is about to unfold in Egypt is not merely a political contest or a labor dispute. It is a war of gods. Pharaoh is considered a divine being, the incarnation of Horus, the lord of the most powerful empire on earth. The plagues that are coming are not random acts of destructive power; they are a systematic, targeted dismantling of the entire Egyptian pantheon. God is going to war for His own name. And in this passage, He reveals the terms of that engagement. He will show that He is God, not just over Israel, but over those who hate Him, over the false gods they worship, and even over the rebellious inclinations of the human heart.
The Text
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "See, I set you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh's heart with stiffness that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not listen to you. And I will set My hand upon Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst." So Moses and Aaron did it; as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did. Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
(Exodus 7:1-7 LSB)
Delegated Deity (v. 1-2)
The commission begins with a staggering statement.
"Then Yahweh said to Moses, 'See, I set you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.'" (Exodus 7:1-2 LSB)
Pharaoh sees himself as a god. So, God says, in effect, "Fine. I will send a man to you who will function as God to you." This does not mean Moses is deified. It is a functional, representative role. To Pharaoh, the rebellious god-king, Moses will be the embodiment of divine authority. He will not come with his own opinions or negotiating points. He comes as a plenipotentiary, speaking the very words of the King. His authority is entirely derived, but it is absolute.
Aaron's role as prophet clarifies the hierarchy. A prophet speaks for God. Here, Aaron will speak for Moses, who is speaking for Yahweh. This structure emphasizes the nature of revelation: it is mediated, it is authoritative, and it demands submission. Moses is to speak all that God commands. There is no room to edit, to soften the blow, or to make the message more palatable to the royal court. The power is in the Word of God, not in the eloquence of the messenger. This is the perennial duty of all who preach the Word. We are not called to be creative; we are called to be faithful couriers.
The Divine Purpose in Hardening (v. 3-4)
Here we come to the theological heart of the passage, the part that causes so much consternation for those who want to place man at the center of the story.
"But I will harden Pharaoh's heart with stiffness that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not listen to you. And I will set My hand upon Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments." (Exodus 7:3-4 LSB)
Let us be clear. The Bible is unambiguous here. God declares, "I will harden Pharaoh's heart." Later in the narrative, it will say that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. There is no contradiction. God's sovereign hardening and man's responsible hardening are two sides of the same coin. Pharaoh was already a proud, cruel, and defiant man. He was already clay of a certain consistency. The same sun that melts wax hardens clay. God's commands, which would soften a repentant heart, serve to harden a rebellious one. God's hardening is a judicial act; He gives the sinner over to the sin he has already chosen and confirms him in it.
But why? God tells us plainly: "that I may multiply My signs and My wonders." God is not trying to get Israel out of Egypt by the path of least resistance. He is staging a cosmic drama for the education of the world. A quick release after one warning would not have accomplished His purpose. God required Pharaoh's intransigence. Pharaoh's stubbornness was not an impediment to God's plan; it was the linchpin of it. His rebellion provided the black velvet background upon which God would display the diamonds of His power. God tells Moses in advance, "Pharaoh will not listen to you." This is not a guess; it is a decree. The outcome is certain, and it will come about by "great judgments."
The Ultimate Goal: God's Reputation (v. 5)
Verse 5 gives us the ultimate telos, the final goal of all these judgments and wonders.
"Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst." (Exodus 7:5 LSB)
The central purpose of the Exodus is doxological. It is for the glory of God's name. The liberation of Israel is the glorious means, but the end is that the Egyptians, the Israelites, and all the nations who hear of it will know that Yahweh is God. This is not about making everyone feel good. This is about establishing the truth of who is God and who is not. This is evangelism by overwhelming force. The Egyptians will learn that Yahweh is the sovereign Lord, not through a tract, but through the systematic demolition of their entire religious and political world. God is jealous for His reputation, and He will vindicate His name on a global stage.
This is the purpose of all judgment and all salvation. When God saves a sinner, it is so that the principalities and powers might see the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. 3:10). When God judges a nation, it is so that the world will know that there is a God who judges on the earth (Psalm 58:11). History is the theater of God's glory, and He is the playwright, director, and principal actor.
The Obedience of the Elderly (v. 6-7)
The passage concludes with a simple, powerful statement of obedience and a biographical detail that underlines the source of the power.
"So Moses and Aaron did it; as Yahweh commanded them, thus they did. Now Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh." (Exodus 7:6-7 LSB)
After receiving this daunting commission, which included the guarantee of initial failure and a protracted, supernatural conflict, what do they do? They obey. "As Yahweh commanded them, thus they did." This is the nature of true faith. It does not require a guarantee of easy success. It requires only a clear command from God. Their earlier fears and hesitations are gone, replaced by a simple resolve to do what God said.
And then the detail about their age. Moses is eighty. Aaron is eighty-three. These are not young revolutionaries in their prime. They are old men. God waited until Moses was far past his own strength, stripped of his Egyptian prowess and his youthful vigor, before calling him to this task. Why? So that no one could mistake the source of the victory. The power that would bring Egypt to its knees was not the power of man, but the power of God working through two obedient, elderly servants. "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:26-27).
The Cross and the Hardened Heart
This entire episode is a paradigm for understanding God's work in the world, and it finds its ultimate expression at the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross was the greatest act of divine judgment and the greatest sign and wonder the world has ever seen. And how did it come about?
God's Word, in the person of Jesus Christ, came to the rulers of His day, to Herod and to Pontius Pilate. And what did God do? He hardened their hearts. The apostle Peter preaches that they did what God's "hand and His plan had predestined to take place" (Acts 4:28). The rebellion of sinful men was not an obstacle to God's plan of salvation; it was the very instrument He used to accomplish it. They would not listen, and so God set His hand against His own Son, pouring out the great judgment for our sin upon Him.
And what was the purpose? It was the same as it was in Egypt. It was "that they may know that I am Yahweh." The cross is the ultimate revelation of God's character. It is where His perfect justice against sin and His unfathomable love for sinners meet. Through that great sign, the resurrection, He brought out His people, His hosts, not from a geographic location, but from the bondage of sin and death itself.
Therefore, we must not stumble over the hard sayings of Scripture. We must not try to domesticate the Lion of Judah. The God who hardened Pharaoh's heart for His glory is the same God who, through the wicked hands of sinful men, crushed His only Son for our salvation. He is sovereign, He is good, and His ultimate purpose in all things is the magnification of His own glorious name. To that, we must bow in obedient faith, just as Moses and Aaron did.