ABSTRACT
Moral quandaries over God’s having hardened Pharaoh’s heart, having robbed him of his free will, and then having struck him with plagues, are based on the assumption that the plagues are Pharaoh’s punishment. As I read the story, these moral concerns are extraneous to it. I urge that we take the plagues for what God declares them to be–God’s means of demonstrating His power so that the Israelites will believe in Him and know Him. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart in order to ensure that His plan will succeed.
When God sends the tenth plague, Pharaoh’s heart “unhardens.” His will is freed, he recognizes God’s power, and he sends out the Israelites. This was inevitable, as it was inevitable that the Israelites would come to believe in God. God does not take control of the Israelites’ hearts, however. Rather, by means of the plagues and miracles God provides the Israelites with very good reasons to believe in Him. Does true belief that was purposefully induced by means of signs and wonders count as knowledge? Or, is it disqualified as epistemic luck? On an evidentialist notion of justification the Israelites indeed came to know God.
