Exodus 7:14

Exodus 7:14

And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

a. ASV: And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, he refuseth to let the people go. [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

b. YLT: And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'The heart of Pharaoh hath been hard, he hath refused to send the people away; [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. Classic Amplified: Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hard and stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. NLT: Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, and he still refuses to let the people go. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

e. Stone Edition THE CHUMASH, Rabbinic Commentary: HASHEM said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn, he has refused to send the people.  [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE CHUMASH Copyright 1998, 2000 by MESORAH PUBLICATIONS, Ldt.]

f. Torah, Judaism and Jewish information on the web: www.chabad.org; Online English Translation of the Tanakh (Jewish Bible): The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is heavy; he has refused to let the people out. [English Translation, Ⓒ Copyright The Judaica Press All rights reserved.]

1. “And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.”

a. [And the] LORD [Strong: 3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw' from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

b. said [Strong: 559 'amar aw-mar' a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]

c. unto [Strong: 413 'el ale (but only used in the shortened constructive form sel {el}); a primitive particle; properly, denoting motion towards, but occasionally used of a quiescent position, i.e. near, with or among; often in general, to:--about, according to ,after, against, among, as for, at, because(-fore, -side), both...and, by, concerning, for, from, X hath, in(- to), near, (out) of, over, through, to(-ward), under, unto, upon, whether, with(-in).]

d. Moses [Strong: 4872 Mosheh mo-sheh' from 4871; drawing out (of the water), i.e. rescued; Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver:--Moses.]

e. Pharaoh’s [Strong: 6547 Par`oh par-o' of Egyptian derivation; Paroh, a general title of Egyptian kings:--Pharaoh.]

f. heart [Strong: 3820 leb labe a form of 3824; the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything:--+ care for, comfortably, consent, X considered, courag(-eous), friend(-ly), ((broken-), (hard-), (merry-), (stiff-), (stout-), double) heart((-ed)), X heed, X I, kindly, midst, mind(-ed), X regard((-ed)), X themselves, X unawares, understanding, X well, willingly, wisdom.]

g. [is] hardened [Strong: 3515 kabed kaw-bade' from 3513; heavy; figuratively in a good sense (numerous) or in a bad sense (severe, difficult, stupid):--(so) great, grievous, hard(-ened), (too) heavy(-ier), laden, much, slow, sore, thick.]

1). Looking at this verse alone it appears that Pharaoh had no free will and that God hardened his heart and Pharaoh had no choice. But that is not the case, within this drama between God and Pharaoh there are a number of Scriptures that just say that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and others that say Pharaoh hardened his own heart.

a). Exodus 7:14   And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

b). Exodus 7:22 And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said.

c). Exodus 7:23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.

d). Exodus 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

2). I think it is clear that Pharaoh of his own free will, caught up in idolatry and lust, hardened his own heart and would not let Israel go. The word of God warns us not to harden our hearts through willful disobedience.

a). Hebrews 3:7-13 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

3). The cause of this confusion is the often neglected Hebrew Idiom of Permission. In his book “God Is Said To Do What He Only Permits”, Troy Edwards cites a number of Hebrew scholars that teach the knowledge of this Hebrew Idiom.

a). John Foyster Goodge, Sermons (London: Ibotson and Palmer, 1826), p. 90: “In the language of Scripture, natural consequences are sometimes spoken of as though they were preordained and irrevocable decrees. What happens solely through the permission of the Almighty, in the ordinary course of his Providence, is described as though it had taken place through some special irresistible intervention of his hand. This is a mode of writing peculiar to the Hebrew idiom; an idiom which prevails everywhere throughout the New Testament as well as the Old. Thus, when the sacred writers represent God as “blinding the eyes of men that they should not see, and hardening their hearts that they should not understand;” their meaning generally is, that he does not powerfully interfere to prevent those evils which are the natural fruits of our own folly, perverseness, and impenitence.

b). James Kendall, A Sermon, Delivered at the Ordination of Rev. Oliver Hayward (Samuel T. Armstrong, 1816), pp.7, 8.: “There is likewise an idiom peculiar to the language of every nation, more especially of the Eastern nations, which it is necessary, as far as may be, to learn; otherwise we shall make the sacred writers say more or less, then they intended to say; and shall be liable to wrest some things, which they do say, to their dishonour and our own destruction. For instance, in the language of Scriptures God is sometimes said to do what he only permits to take place under his moral government; to do what he gives power or opportunity to his  creatures to do themselves; to do what he foretells will take place by the agency of others; to do what naturally results from his having withdrawn those influences of his grace, which have long been abused, resisted, and quenched. Now to understand such passages literally and without any qualification would be to make a pure and holy God, with whom is no iniquity, and who cannot look upon sin; the principal and immediate agent in the most horrid crimes recorded in the inspired volume; and this, too, in the face of the most solemn prohibitions of the inspired writers themselves, who forbid any man to say, or even think, when he is tempted, that he is tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man.” 

h. [he] refuseth [Strong: 3985 ma'en maw-ane' a primitive root; to refuse:--refuse, X utterly.]

i. [to] let…go [Strong: 7971 shalach shaw-lakh' a primitive root; to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications):--X any wise, appoint, bring (on the way), cast (away, out), conduct, X earnestly, forsake, give (up), grow long, lay, leave, let depart (down, go, loose), push away, put (away, forth, in, out), reach forth, send (away, forth, out), set, shoot (forth, out), sow, spread, stretch forth (out).]

j. [the] people [Strong: 5971 `am am from 6004; a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock:--folk, men, nation, people.]