Originally posted by Lion
We don't know HOW God hardened Pharaoh's heart. We just know that He did. It is quite likely that God knew what would harden Pharaoh's heart and brought about those circumstances. Pharaoh still made the decision to harden it, thus making Pharaoh to blame.
No, this is not the OV side. The OV side says that you are all asking the wrong question. It isn't
who hardened Pharaoh's heart, but
how his heart was made hard. That leads us to the answer of
who is responsible.
God's tells us exactly
how He hardened Pharaoh's heart:
Ex.7:3 'And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
The way God hardened Pharaoh's heart was to perform miracles, there by shoving His power into the face of a
proud man. God knows the reaction of proud men, and expected the same reaction of Pharaoh.
It is the analogy of the wax and the clay. Set a lump of both on a windowsill and see what happens when the sun's rays strike them. The wax melts and the clay hardens. When God shows His awesome power to a humble man, he melts. Conversely when God shows His power to a proud man, he hardens. It is the same sunlight that strikes each, but it is the character of the substance that determines how it will be affected.
So then the question is, can a proud man help it, or did God just make him that way. The answer is here:
Ex. 10:3 So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, 'Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me'
God wants Pharaoh to humble himself. That means it is, and has always been Pharaoh's decision as to whether or not he will humble himself. If Pharaoh had done so earlier, would God have been upset because now He couldn't show His great power? No way! His power would have been magnified by having the proudest man in the world willing to humble himself and allow God's people to leave Egypt with no conflict, a first in human history. God's character shows that He would have been gladdened and happy that Pharaoh repented and came to Him.
So the answer, easy to see, is that Pharaoh is guilty of hardening himself at all times, and God is blameless.
