To discover what constitutes hardness of heart we will look at some of the examples described in the Bible. The first person said to be hard of heart is the Pharaoh to whom God sent Moses with the message that he must let his Israelite slaves (God’s chosen people) leave Egypt. God knew that Pharaoh would oppose Him and He said:
Exodus 7:3 “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.”
As we look at the Biblical account we can see that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was a process that was set in motion by his choices.
The first plague God sent caused all the water in the land to turn to blood. This caused a major problem for the Egyptians because they had no drinking water.
Exodus 7:22-23 shows us Pharaoh’s response: “…Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the LORD had said. [23] And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this.”
Pharaoh’s hard heart was manifested both in his unwillingness to listen to Moses and Aaron, who spoke for God, and in his total lack of concern for the suffering of His people.
The second plague of frogs moved Pharaoh to plead with Moses to end it. However, “when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not heed them, as the LORD had said.” (Exodus 8:15)
The third plague was an outbreak of lice across the land. Even Pharaoh’s advisors recognised that this was the work of a powerful God, but again Pharaoh stubbornly refused to submit.
Exodus 8:19 “Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.’ But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had said.”
We see the same pattern with the fourth plague of flies and the fifth plague, which was a disease of livestock. Each time Pharaoh made the choice to harden his heart it became less likely that he would respond any other way.
Exodus 8:32 “But Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also; neither would he let the people go.”
Exodus 9:7 “Then Pharaoh sent, and indeed, not even one of the livestock of the Israelites was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh became hard, and he did not let the people go.”
By the sixth plague of boils we see that Pharaoh has passed the point of return. His attitude has become entrenched. God recognised that his mind could not be changed.
Exodus 9:12 “But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses.”
Even though God sent four more plagues, Pharaoh refused to budge from his position.
Exodus 9:34-35 “And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more; and he hardened his heart, he and his servants. [35] So the heart of Pharaoh was hard; neither would he let the children of Israel go, as the LORD had spoken by Moses.”
Exodus 10:20 “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.”
Exodus 10:27 “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.”
Exodus 11:10 “So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.”
Eventually his stubbornness caused the death of himself and the men of his army.
Exodus 14:8 “And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness.”
Exodus 14:28 “Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.”
Another hard-hearted person mentioned in the Old Testament was Zedekiah.
2 Chronicles 36:11-13 “Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. [12] He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD. [13] And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel.”
This young king had an unteachable heart. He refused to humble himself to any authority and, as a result, his nation was destroyed and he ended his days blinded and broken in captivity in Babylon.
King Nebuchadnezzar was also hard of heart until God humbled him.
Daniel 5:20 “But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.”
We can see that hard-heartedness puts a person in direct opposition to God. It is characterised by pride, rebellion, stubbornness, spiritual blindness and indifference to how one’s choices affect other people. Hard-hearted people refuse to change their opinion even in the face of compelling evidence.
Zechariah 7:11-12 tells us of the hard-hearted response of those who heard the God-given message of the prophet Zechariah:
“But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear. [12] Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.”
In the New Testament the Pharisees exemplify this attitude. Mark 3:1-6 describes just one of the many occasions when their hardness of heart was manifested.
“And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. [2] So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. [3] And He said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Step forward.’ [4] Then He said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they kept silent. [5] And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. [6] Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.”
The Greek word translated as “hardened” is poroo, which means “to petrify, to form a callus to make hard”. The religious leaders stubbornly refused to accept Jesus’s message and denied His authority, despite the evidence before their eyes. They were self-righteous and hypocritical, prioritising their legalistic man-made traditions over the needs of people. They thought they were spiritual but the condition of their hearts was just like that of the spiritually blind Gentile unbelievers that they despised.
Ephesians 4:17-19 “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, [18] having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; [19] who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
Hard-heartedness separates people from God and blinds them to who He is and what He is doing. It causes them to be complacent and unteachable, self-centred and lacking in compassion for others. We can see that this is the condition of those who reject God completely and of those who settle for empty, legalistic religion. But what about true Christian believers? Is this something that can affect us? That is what we will consider next week.
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