Hardened his heart—the heart of Pharaoh was hardened— In ch. Exodus 4:21 the Lord says, I will harden his heart; and in the 1st verse of the next chapter, I have hardened his heart: while in several other places, as well as in the present, this act is attributed to Pharaoh himself; and, certainly, can be understood of God no otherwise, than as his judgments accidentally had this effect upon the heart of Pharaoh. The authors of the Universal History well observe, that the expression of God's hardening the heart can signify no other, than his suffering the heart to continue hardened. "Who can deny," say they, "that what God did to Pharaoh and the Egyptians was much more proper to soften than to harden his heart; especially when it is observable, that it was not till after seeing the miracles, and after the ceasing of the plagues, that his heart is said to have been hardened? We think ourselves, therefore, obliged to do justice to those learned critics who have been at the pains of clearing the Scriptures from charging the great Judge of heaven and earth with such soul injustice, by proving, even against the Jews, that the verbs here used are in the conjugations piel and hiphil, as they are called by the grammarians, and signify often a bare permission; of which they have given very many unquestionable instances, which we will not here trouble the reader with, seeing he may consult the authors themselves, whose names he will find below.* From all whose, and many more authorities, it is plain, that the words ought to have been translated, that GOD suffered the heart of Pharaoh to be hardened; as all those candid persons, who are ever so little versed in the Hebrew, will readily own. As for those places, where it is said, for this cause have I set thee up, that I might shew my power, &c. it is plain they ought to have been rendered, for this cause have I suffered thee to subsist, or to stand, &c. that is, I have forborne to cut thee off, or spared thee from the common ruin, &c. which bear quite another sense; and only shew, that though he had long ago deserved to be destroyed, yet GOD thought fit to let him subsist till he had, by his many wonders, delivered his people, in spight of all his opposition." See note on Exodus 9:16. Hardness of heart may be considered either as a sin, or a punishment; as a sin, it refers to man, who, by resisting all God's mercies and judgments, hardeneth his own heart: as a punishment it refers to GOD, who may be said to harden man's heart in a judicial way, either by withholding the outward means of softening, or the inward grace which alone can soften; or by giving men up to their own corrupt inclinations, and the temptations of the devil, the world, and the flesh: giving them over to a reprobate mind. When God has made use of every measure to convert and reclaim, and men abuse his mercies and judgments, hardening their hearts, he then permits them to go on in their impenitency, and thus may be said himself to harden their hearts: as it is not unusual in sacred Scripture to speak of God as the author of that which he permits to be done. But of this subject I shall treat more fully when we come to St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Though we use one word only in our version, the original employs three to express this hardening of the heart, which some suppose to imply a gradual increase of obduracy. Perhaps if it had been rendered, I shall harden, instead of I will harden, it would more plainly have indicated, that the hardening of Pharaoh would be the effect, but was not the design of God's punishments.
* Arr. Montan. de Idiom. Hebr. n. 42. fin. Can. Theol. cent. ii. Gerhard. de Provid. Calov. & Rung. in Exod. Hunnin. qu. de Provid. 57. 91. Meitzer, Disp. Giess. p. 745. Mesner, Anthropol. dec. i. Pfiefer dubia V. T. cent. i. l. 87. Pelling and Whitby against Predest. Le Clerc in loc. Grot. Le Scene Essay, & al.
REFLECTIONS.— How terrible the storm, how dreadful the havoc! While mighty thunders utter their voices in the heavens, and the lightnings flash around, the battering hail, resistless in its fury, beats down all before it. Egypt seems swept with the besom of destruction: men, cattle, trees, corn, lie in promiscuous ruin, while Goshen enjoys peaceful serenity. Pharaoh, astonished, humbles himself to the dust, confesses his wickedness, and entreats forgiveness. Moses immediately goes out. They need not fear, whom God protects. In the midst of the storm he prays, and is heard. Note; They who have learned to pray are thunder-proof. But no sooner does the storm cease than Pharaoh recants. Confessions extorted by fear are scarcely sooner made than revoked. How many a sinner hath trembled like Pharaoh, and, for a moment, owned a God of judgment; and then, when the danger was past, perhaps laughed at his own fears, and carried it off with a bravado.