An Analysis of Exodus 7:22-23: Heart Hardened, Eyes Closed

Context of the First Plague in Exodus 7

This moment comes right after God turns the Nile into blood - a powerful sign meant to show Pharaoh that the God of Israel is real and in charge.

Moses and Aaron did exactly what God told them to do, and the Nile, Egypt’s life source, became blood, killing fish and making the water undrinkable. Yet the Egyptian magicians copied the act using their secret arts, but Pharaoh wasn’t impressed and went back to his house, ignoring the miracle and the suffering around him.

This shows how someone can see evidence of God’s power and still refuse to respond - because their heart is already set against change.

The Role of Egypt's Magicians and the Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart

This moment is about power, pride, and how people respond when God’s authority challenges theirs.

In ancient Egypt, court magicians were seen as keepers of divine secrets and protectors of the king’s authority. When they copied the miracle of turning water to blood, they were trying to neutralize Moses’ message and protect Pharaoh’s sense of control. The text doesn’t say how they did it (and it may have been illusion or trickery), but the point is clear: human systems often try to explain away God’s work rather than submit to it.

Pharaoh’s heart being 'hardened' doesn’t mean he was forced to disobey. It shows a pattern - he repeatedly chose pride over repentance, control over compassion. Each time he saw a sign and refused to act, his resistance grew deeper, like a path worn smooth by repeated footsteps. This matches what we see later in Scripture, like in Romans 1:28, where people who reject God’s truth are 'given over' to harder hearts - not because God forces them, but because He allows the natural consequence of their choices.

Even when truth stands before us, pride can keep us from kneeling.

The next plague will come quickly, and again Pharaoh will hear God’s call - giving him another chance to respond before things get worse.

The Heart That Won't Listen

Pharaoh’s refusal to respond to the plague of blood, even after seeing it with his own eyes, reveals a heart so hardened that it can ignore both divine warning and human suffering.

He saw the Nile turn to blood, witnessed the people’s distress, and yet went into his house and carried on as if nothing had happened. This is a warning about what happens when we let our hearts grow numb to God’s voice and the needs of others.

Even when God's signs are plain, a stubborn heart can still walk away.

The Bible shows this pattern again in Jeremiah 4:23, which describes a world thrown into chaos because the people ‘had no understanding. They were foolish children, without sense. They were skilled in doing evil, but they did not know how to do good.’ Like Pharaoh, they saw the consequences of their rebellion, yet refused to turn back.

Pharaoh's Hardened Heart and God's Sovereign Mercy

Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to listen, even in the face of clear divine power, points forward to a deeper truth about God’s sovereignty in salvation - one that Paul explains in Romans 9:17-18.

There, Paul writes, '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.” So then He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He hardens.' This doesn’t mean God forced Pharaoh to sin, but that He allowed Pharaoh’s repeated choices to culminate in a hardened heart, using that moment to display both His power and the reality of human responsibility. In the same way, Jesus later reveals God’s mercy to those who believe, while warning that those who keep resisting the truth may reach a point of spiritual dullness.

God shows mercy to whom He will, but even in judgment, His purpose is to reveal His name.

This pattern - of God raising up rulers for His purposes, showing mercy to some and allowing hardness in others - prepares us for the Gospel, where Jesus, the true and humble King, offers softness of heart to all who will receive Him.

Application