Why would God harden someone’s heart?
Discussion
51 comments
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He gives you over to your own desires – sin is the heart-hardener.
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Even God’s patience comes to an end. You apparently are thinking of pharoah. We only blink. About it because Scripture tells us, . Even his people were exasperated by he behavior. As is so often said, pride comes before the fall and blind a person. David Spaude
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Why not, for He has absolute authority over His creation, including us all, right?
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He gives them over to their desire’s.
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He didn’t. And he wouldn’t.
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We all have free will
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Sovereignty, justice….
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Cause he can , for his purpose
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Was it that God was the actor on pharaoh? Or was the reality of God what lead pharaoh’s heart to be hardened?
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Romans 9:11-24 English Standard Version (ESV)
11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion,[a] but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
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The Ten Plagues and Pharaoh’s Heart
Blood: Pharaoh’s heart “became hard” (7:22)
Frogs: Pharaoh “hardened his own heart” (8:15)
Gnats: Pharaoh’s heart “was hard” (8:19)
Flies: “Pharaoh hardened his own heart” (8:32)
Livestock die: Pharaoh’s heart “was hard” (9:7)
Boils: “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (9:12)
Hail: Pharaoh “hardened his own heart” (9:34)
Locusts: God announces that he has “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (10:1,10:20)
Darkness: God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (10:27)
Death of the firstborn: God “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (11:10)
Here we are able to draw several conclusions. First of all, in plagues 6-10, we hear four times that God has hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Can you see how this is a distinct change from plagues 1-5? In those stories, Pharaoh explicitly hardened his own heart (plagues 2 and 4), or the source of the hardening was ambiguous (plagues 1, 3, and 5). Interestingly, in the 7th plague of hail, we first see Pharaoh harden his own heart (Ex 9:34
Exodus 9:34
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), but afterward the narrator uses the ambiguous verb “became hard” to describe it. This means that all of the other uses of the ambiguous verb (plagues 1, 3, and 5) do not imply that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but just the opposite! -
God gives chance after chance after chance but because of unbelief people’s hearts can be hardened or because of thier rebellion they’re hearts can be hardened.
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It’s not that God hardens a heart it’s that He already knows that persons heart and what they are going to do, we all have free will God knows our heart and intentions whether they be for good or evil.
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Thanks for the question:
First, we both agree that this isn’t literal. You don’t think that the pharaoh’s cardiac muscle hardened, right? So, we agree that it is a metaphor. The question is what does it mean.
We have two hypotheses:
1) God removed the pharaoh’s freedom to obey Moses’ warnings
or
2) God knew pharaoh would freely choose to ignore Moses’ warnings if God sent plagues on Egypt. Thus, God hardened his heart in the sense of placing the pharaoh in a situation where the pharaoh would freely choose to reject God.
Your interpretation is 1). You seem to think that God worked against the pharaoh’s freedom, which would seem evil. But God’s isn’t evil; thus, something is wrong with this picture. The problem is how you’re interpreting the metaphor here. Interpretation 2) is consistent with scripture’s teaching about free choice. Since 1) isn’t, then the best interpretation would be one that is consistent with scripture and doesn’t attempt to contradict it. Interpretation 1) isn’t necessary either. Check out Peter:
Acts 2:23 (NET)
this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles.
So, God knows what a person would freely choose to do. He places the person in a situation knowing this. Thus, he is figuratively said to have hardened pharaoh’s heart by placing him into a situation where the pharaoh would freely choose to reject the warnings of God. He still had a choice. He made his choice and God knew what he would choose.
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Romans 9:17-21
For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”
No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? -
How does God harden a person’s heart. The example we are given is that of Pharaoh. God hardened his heart by giving him ten opportunities to do what was right, but with each passing opportunity Pharaoh just played games with God. People do this all the time when they attempt to bargain with God, and when God does not respond in a way they think He should, they respond with anger.
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He doesn’t, we do.
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He hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he couldn’t keep from physically enacting what was already enacted in his heart. God hardened it so he couldn’t back out at the last minute with a pretense that he didn’t really mean it. The same thing is happening in this ending age.. Romans 9:17-23 is quite emphatic that God suffered the evil Pharaoh a long time, as He does His other vessels of wrath that He fashioned to be destroyed, in order to show His power and wrath and cause His name to be spread across the Earth. He also makes the riches of His glory known on His vessels of mercy. The idea is that Pharaoh was already against God; God just made it obvious enough to reclaim that man’s evil for His own purpose in order to do the positive work of making His good power, wrath and name famous in front of everyone.
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Hardening of the heart is a term that probably could better translated as “releasing them to their own desires”. Think of it like this… You are holding a boat in the water keeping it from going over the waterfall, but the passengers are insisting that you let go of the boat. You keep hold because you are trying to help them out. When God releases people, their heart becomes hard.
Romans 1:24 (NLT)
So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. -
To do his will..
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Plenty of reasons, but it generally happens after they themselves harden their own heart, or to make an example out of them like Pharoahs case in the Exodus
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“Neither here nor anywhere else is God said to harden anyone who had not first hardened himself. That Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and refused to humble himself is made plain in the story. So God’s hardening of him was a judicial act, abandoning him to his own stubbornness.” – John Stott (considering Romans 9)
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Because He’s sovereign
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God turns the repeatedly rebellious, unrepentant, atheist over to internalize a debased and depraved mind after they have repeatedly rejected God’s call upon their life…God ultimately gives the atheist what they desire…a life of nihilism-naturalism leading to death in sin and Hell. The Holy Spirit explains the progression of the atheist into a life of debasement in the attached Scripture.
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1. That person was already inclined on that path.
2. To show the folly of having a hard heart.
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Rebellion leads to a hard heart
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Romans 9 says why
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It is His plans.
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To get some glory
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So Donald Trump could get elected
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It’s all in Gods sovereign will to bring Him glory. His ways is above our self righteousness.
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Because they have an attitude of having a harden heart to begin with.
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Romans 9:18
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why would man his creatur question a soverign?
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because they were chosen to perform an ignoble task that ultimately brought forth God’s Will
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Well because they choose to harden their heart several time before God did. An example would be pharaoh
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God doesn’t force us to do things. But He will give us over to the way we’ve chosen. Take Pharaoh for example. He was an evil man and already had a hard heart, and he wasn’t willing to change, so God gave him over to that, but in doing so used it for His glory in delivering the Israelites.
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When God takes an active role in hardening a person’s heart it is because the individual has been so obstinate that they’re under divine judgment. Pharoah is a prime example.
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My be something needed to help bring him or her home after the rapture
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It’s more of the effect God had on him. Like bananas might turn your stomach nauseous.
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The catfish made me sick.
GOD hardened pharaoh’s heart. -
They themselves harden their heart. God just allows
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Permissive will.
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To hasten and confirm the confirmation of that person’s already hard heart that he hardens even more with the justice of God. If a person insists in justice in pride instead of mercy God answers that person’s prayer also.
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Sovereignty
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Pride
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Example there is king pharaoh in the book of exodus… Firstly pharaoh is hard headed n didn’t believe God ,evil and idolaters..n so on…..so God give him a lesson to learn… To see and experienced who really God is.. Remember. Every thing that God makes have purpose n that we can’t fathom or understand but all things word together for good.
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To give them what they want. If someone doesn’t want God and wants to live for self centered desires, then that person would not be able to comfortably enjoy the lust of the flesh, because they would be disturbed by the knowledge of God and coming judgment. God is allowing people live the way they want to and He is providing for all people, sinners and those who repenting and believe. He is giving them the life they want.
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“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.”
Romans 1:18-24 -
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