- If God "Hardened" Pharaoh's Heart, Was It Possible for Him to do Otherwise than He Did?

95. If God "Hardened" Pharaoh's Heart, Was It Possible for Him to do Otherwise than He Did?
The true interpretation is that the divine message of warning and the plagues which followed were the occasion of Pharaoh's heart being hardened. Thus the expression which has been translated as "hardened," is, in Hebrew, "strong," implying that the influence of the events had been to make the king's heart stubborn or rebellious. (See Exodus 7:13-14, Exodus 8:19, and Exodus 9:35.) Elsewhere in the same narrative the Hebrew expression is capable of being translated "made heavy" (as in Exodus 7:14 and Exodus 8:15 and Exodus 8:32, also Exodus 9:-34). The passage in Exodus 7:1-25; Exodus 8:1-32; Exodus 9:1-35; Exodus 10:1-29; Exodus 11:1-10; Exodus 12:1-51; Exodus 13:1-22; Exodus 14:1-31; Exodus 15:1-27; Exodus 16:1-36; Exodus 17:1-16; Exodus 18:1-27; Exodus 19:1-25; Exodus 20:1-26; Exodus 21:1-36; Exodus 22:1-31; Exodus 23:1-33, which may be rendered as in the Authorized Version, and also as "he (Pharaoh) set his heart even to this," expresses the condition of Egypt's ruler, who had set his face like a flint against Jehovah, and was alternately depressed and defiant, but not repentant