# What is the orthodox interpretation of Exodus 9:12



## Anglicanorthodoxy (Sep 18, 2017)

I attend a Catholic college, and we are going to have a seminar on Exodus tomorrow for History class. Exodus 9:12 will be discussed, and the question of whether God hardens hearts will be brought up. From what I see, it's clear God had already for-ordained the hardening of Pharoah'S heart. Some Catholics won't like that interpretation, and they might argue that God would never interfear with free will. How should I approach this?


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Sep 18, 2017)

You'll really want to read this: The Two Wills of God Made Easy.

The longer version is here.

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## greenbaggins (Sep 18, 2017)

It is clear that in some instances Pharaoh hardens his own heart, and in others that God hardens his heart. The important point, then, is that God gives Pharaoh what Pharaoh wants. Hardening does not interfere with free will at all, if free will is understood correctly (being able to choose anything which is our own nature to choose). In the case of Pharaoh, God is giving Pharaoh what he already wants. Pharaoh doesn't want to let the children of Abraham go. He hardens his heart. He withdraws His softening grace, if you will, much like the sun draws out moisture from bricks, leaving them hard.

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## Edm (Sep 18, 2017)

Well...it says " And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharoh". Not " and the Lord gave Pharoh the free will to harden his own heart".

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## greenbaggins (Sep 18, 2017)

I did not actually say that the Lord gave Pharaoh the free will to harden his own heart. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh also hardened his own heart. The way in which these two statements interact is, I think, a bit mysterious. My other point is that the Lord's hardening did not coerce Pharaoh against his will _in this instance_. This means that the Lord was not doing something to Pharaoh that Pharaoh didn't want. This is not to say that the Lord's working always goes like this. The Lord can change someone's heart against their own will (in that it was not something that they wanted). In so doing, the Lord changes their will to want God afterwards, even though that change is not something they would have wanted before.

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## Justified (Sep 18, 2017)

Be thankful that they are at least giving you a _Christian _interpretation of any kind on the book of Genesis. It could be worse. Many of my professors were telling me that the Exodus never happened.

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## timfost (Sep 18, 2017)

I think we have to be careful not to separate God's hardening of Pharaoh from Pharaoh's own hardening his own heart. Other Scriptures that speak of hardening demonstrate that they are one and the same:

Consider Isaiah 6:10:


> Make the heart of this people dull,
> And their ears heavy,
> *And shut their eyes*;
> Lest they see with their eyes,
> ...



(Also consider Is. 48:18:

They do not know nor understand;
For *He has shut their eyes*, so that they cannot see,
_And_ their hearts, so that they cannot understand.)

When quoted in the NT, we have these variations:


> For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
> _Their_ ears are hard of hearing,
> *And their eyes they have closed*,
> Lest they should see with _their_ eyes and hear with _their_ ears,
> ...



In effect, they have closed their own eyes so that they could not see.


> *He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts*,
> Lest they should see with _their_ eyes,
> Lest they should understand with _their_ hearts and turn,
> So that I should heal them. (John 12:40)



This passage makes clear that God has blinded them.

It seems the only possibilities are that either Matthew, writing under the inspiration of the Spirit *a)* missed the point of the passage, or *b)* accurately requoted/reinterpreted the same text while putting the act of hardening on the people. (I think we can all agree "a" is an absurdity.)

Romans 1:24 also gives us insight:


> Therefore *God gave them up to uncleaness*, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves...



God strives with the ungodly in His mercy (see Gen. 4, 6:3, Acts 7:51, Rev. 2:21, etc.), yet _in time_ after continual rejection, gives "them up to uncleaness, in the lusts of their hearts."

We understand that God has an eternal purpose to the glory of His name in even the hardening of some, including Pharaoh (Rom. 9:17). But this hardening is not God directly _making_ someone become hardened. Rather, He withdraws Himself-- often after striving with them for a long time-- and they make themselves hard as a result of God's withholding common graces/mercies and their own sinful natures becoming less restrained.

Pharaoh, thus, isn't sometimes passively hardened by God and sometimes actively hardening himself. Rather, we see first and second causes working simultaneously, leaving God free from any taint of guilt in Pharaoh's own volitional wickedness.

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## Edm (Sep 18, 2017)

Lane,
That was not in reference to you at all. I was just stating that. I have noticed that most Catholics I debate with pick and choose certain verses to say " it says!!" And others they say don't mean what it says...I was being flippant, but not at you.

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## py3ak (Sep 18, 2017)

God didn't need to interfere with free will to harden Pharoah's heart. The liberty and contingency of second causes is not taken away, but rather established, by God's supreme decree (WCF 3.1). The existence and obstinacy of Pharaoh served God's purpose to make his name known rather slowly and in considerable detail, while Pharoah was demonstrated to be in the wrong. It's all spelled out in Exodus 9:15-17, although each of those points appears in various ways throughout the plague narratives.

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## Dachaser (Sep 19, 2017)

Anglicanorthodoxy said:


> I attend a Catholic college, and we are going to have a seminar on Exodus tomorrow for History class. Exodus 9:12 will be discussed, and the question of whether God hardens hearts will be brought up. From what I see, it's clear God had already for-ordained the hardening of Pharoah'S heart. Some Catholics won't like that interpretation, and they might argue that God would never interfear with free will. How should I approach this?


God raised that Pharoe up to be in power at the time of the exodus, as God did harden the heart of his to not repent/relent concerning the people of God, but he also chose to do that, so to me, he was the same as Judas, as both wanted to do what they do, and God also used them to have His will get done.


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## Anglicanorthodoxy (Sep 19, 2017)

greenbaggins said:


> It is clear that in some instances Pharaoh hardens his own heart, and in others that God hardens his heart. The important point, then, is that God gives Pharaoh what Pharaoh wants. Hardening does not interfere with free will at all, if free will is understood correctly (being able to choose anything which is our own nature to choose). In the case of Pharaoh, God is giving Pharaoh what he already wants. Pharaoh doesn't want to let the children of Abraham go. He hardens his heart. He withdraws His softening grace, if you will, much like the sun draws out moisture from bricks, leaving them hard.


We just had our seminar, and we came to this conclusion. At the end of the discussion, the professor( a very conservative Catholic historian ) said that he didn't think the Catholic interpretation of this particular verse differs significantly from the Reformed interpretation

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## timfost (Sep 19, 2017)

Anglicanorthodoxy said:


> he didn't think the Catholic interpretation of this particular verse differs significantly from the Reformed interpretation



It doesn't. I looked into both Augustine and some references to Aquinas, and they both spoke of God sovereignly withdrawing Himself from Pharaoh. Even advocates of middle knowledge, as they try to reconcile God's sovereignty with free will, don't offer a solution that most people would be happy with today.

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