It is true that the language of scripture would have us believe that God hardened Pharaoh's heart:

 

      "But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you." -Exodus 7:3, 4

 

     However, there is an important distinction to be made here- otherwise we would have to ask: If God hardened Pharaoh's heart, was it fair for God to punish him? 

     God did NOT harden the heart of Pharaoh. He predicted that Pharaoh’s heart would be hardened as a result of the message sent to him by Moses and Aaron. Actually, in the account of Exodus, Pharaoh was repeatedly shown mercy. But rather than having a favorable response, it caused him to harden his own heart. People often mistake God's patience regarding the toleration of evil as a weakness and become even more set in their ways.

 

     "When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong." -Ecclesiastes 8:11

 

     God brought ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. During the plagues, Pharaoh's heart would relent; but each time a certain plague ended, Pharaoh's heart would harden. God did not harden the heart of Pharaoh, or cause it to relent, so that he lost his free will in the matter. Pharaoh's heart hardened because the message given to him by Moses and Aaron caused him to react stubbornly and in anger. Since the message Moses and Aaron delivered was really God's message, the scripture says God hardened Pharaoh's heart.

     The mercy shown repeatedly to Pharaoh by ending one plague after another did nothing to soften him, but, as is often the case with tyrants, leniency on God's part only made Pharaoh more determined in his opposition and brought out more of his badness.

     The result of God's mercy was thus:

 

     "But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said." -Exodus 8:15

 

     And again after ending another one of the plagues:

 

     "But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go." -Exodus 8:32

 

     Notice it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart. That was what actually happened. That was how Pharaoh reacted to God's miracles. Is that reaction limited to powerful sovereigns of foreign nations? Consider a similar situation-

     At Isaiah 6:10, God tells Isaiah:

 

     “Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

 

     Did God really want Isaiah to harden the hearts of his listeners, and dull their ears, and close their eyes to forestall any repentance? No, but he was predicting that that would be the result of the message Isaiah had been commanded to give to the people, that the people themselves would close their eyes and refuse to listen and harden their hearts, just as Pharaoh had done, and that they would not repent and turn to God for healing. God's message made them unreceptive because it did not please them, and since Isaiah delivered the message, he was said to have done these things to them. But they did it to themselves, and this is shown by none other than Jesus himself. In quoting this prophecy as having fulfillment upon those in his day, Jesus said:

 

     "For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.” -Matthew 13:15

 

     Consider the relationship between God and our free will. It is not unusual for God to test an individual by causing or allowing certain circumstances to happen, or by causing an individual to hear an inspired message, which results in the exercise of his free will and reveals the condition of his heart. This actually happens all the time, we might even recognize that it has happened in our own lives. According to the way a person responds, God molds him in the course he has chosen. Having reached a certain point of his own choosing, his course can be known by God without interfering with his free will.

     According to most translations, God said to Moses that He would "harden [Pharaoh's] heart." But a more appropriate rendering of the Hebrew verse is that God "let [Pharaoh's] heart become obstinate."

     God permitted Pharaoh to harden his own heart; and gave him the opportunity of working out the wickedness that was in him. As the verses quoted above show- Pharaoh made his own heart unresponsive, he exercised his own will and followed his own inclination, which God accurately foresaw and predicted. But even a heart opposed to God can have the effect of glorifying God. The apostle Paul explains this very well, quoting God's words to Pharaoh:

 

     "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." -Romans 9:17