By the time of the Exodus, Israel’s treatment at the hands of the Egyptians had become so harsh that they cried out to God for relief. (Ex 2:23-25) God responded to their cries by calling Moses and commissioning him to affect their delivery. (Ex 3-4)

In setting up the confrontation with Pharaoh, God framed the situation in terms that Pharaoh was fully equipped to understand. This was important because one of God’s stated goals was to use the Exodus as a way of demonstrating His character to both Egypt and the rest of humanity. In this He drew a clear distinction between His character and that of pagan gods. One of the characteristics of pagan religions is that the gods are capricious and difficult to get along with. Keeping them placated and gaining their favor required specialists who could read the omens, figure out the current situation, and make the proper sacrifices. The rules were not firmly established and it was entirely possible that some god could take a shine to your daughter and cause a war in heaven. One just never knew for sure.

God, on the other hand, assures us that He is consistent and does not change. He further gives His people a clear set of rules for dealing with Him and with each other. God’s rules are framed in terms that a shepherd or a fisherman could easily understand. Perhaps most importantly, they are published for anyone to read.

In Pharaoh’s world view, different peoples and different places had different gods. So, when Moses told him that the God of the Hebrews wanted His people to worship Him for three days, this was entirely understandable. Further, given the nature of pagan gods, it was completely reasonable. In refusing that initial request Pharaoh knew he was entering into a contest with himself and the Egyptian gods on one side and the God of the Hebrews on the other. In the world at that time, wars were understood to involve the gods. For example, when the Assyrians invaded Israel, their commander taunted the people of Jerusalem:

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ” (2 Ki 18:31-35).

In framing the confrontation with Pharaoh, God told Moses to say, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ” (Ex 4:22)

Thus, from the beginning Pharaoh knew what sort of contest he was entering and what the stakes were. He, of course, did not understand the nature and power of God or that the ‘contest’ would be entirely one sided. Part of God’s purpose was to develop that understanding first in Pharaoh and then in the rest of humanity.

During the confrontation God would inflict ten plagues upon Egypt. In the face of Moses’ repeated demands for the Hebrew’s release, Scripture describes Pharaoh’s heart as ‘hard.’ This description causes some to regard the confrontation as somehow unfair. If God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, then he had no real choice in the matter. In that view, God was simply being capricious in destroying Egypt and killing Pharaoh’s firstborn. Leaving aside for the moment the question of justice for the harsh conditions imposed upon the Hebrew slaves and for the murder of their babies, God did not initially harden Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh did that himself. There are two Hebrew words translated as hard. The first, חָזַק (chazák) in this context means to be strong, bold or courageous. In this usage, Pharaoh believed he was in the right and was going to prevail. In other words, he had made a decision and was going to stand by it. The second word in this context, כָּבֵד (kavéd) means to become heavy, dull or unresponsive. Through the first seven plagues Pharaoh strengthened his own heart. In the last three, God made his heart heavy and unresponsive.

God knew Pharaoh’s character and that he almost certainly would not acquiesce to the initial ‘reasonable’ demand, but it was Pharaoh who made the decision to refuse. In Pharaoh’s mind he was the ruler of the most powerful and prosperous nation in the region. He was simply not going to be coerced by some unknown god of an enslaved people. Once Pharaoh decided to enter the confrontation the decision on when to quit was no longer in his hands, it was in God’s. Thus, when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart late in the series of plagues, He was simply giving Pharaoh the courage of his own convictions. In other words, once the magnitude of the calamity for Egypt became clear to Pharaoh and his advisors, it was no longer possible to surrender. (Ex 10:7)