Why would the leader of a nation continue to pursue a harmful course of action in the face of increasing punishments? I’m not talking about Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine in spite of severe international sanctions; I’m talking about Pharaoh’s unwillingness to let the Israelites go free while his country was pummeled by plagues. Human nature can cause us to behave irrationally, to dig in our heels, to double-down and accept severe consequences rather than admit we were wrong and willingly change course.
The concept of a hardened heart appears 39 times in the Bible. Twenty of those occurrences are about Pharaoh’s response to the plagues (19 in Exodus 4-14 and one in 1 Samuel 6:6). Although the text indicates several times that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, Joseph Smith revised each of those passages to clarify that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. (See the Joseph Smith Translation in the footnotes of Exodus 4:21, Exodus 7:3, Exodus 7:13, Exodus 9:12, Exodus 10:1, 20, 27, Exodus 11:10, Exodus 14:4, 8, 17.)
Hardened hearts are also a significant theme in the Book of Mormon, appearing about 95 times. It begins with Nephi, who prayed to have his own heart softened (1 Nephi 2:16), then lamented several times the hardness of his brothers’ hearts (1 Nephi 2:18, 1 Nephi 7:8, 1 Nephi 15:10, 1 Nephi 17:46). Many times, Book of Mormon prophets referenced the admonition in Psalm 95:8, “Harden not your heart.” (See Jacob 6:5-6, Alma 12:33-37, Alma 13:4-6, Alma 34:31, Helaman 7:18.) And the prophet Alma proclaimed that revelation will only come to those who choose not to harden their hearts (Alma 12:9-11).
As I’ve thought about these passages today, I’ve asked myself the following questions:
- Am I willing to accept new information which may call into question my previous decisions?
- Do I really want to know God’s will for me, and am I willing to prioritize what He wants me to do over what I want to do?
- If my heart is harder than it should be, am I willing to ask God to help me soften it?
Today, I will avoid hardening my heart. I will remember Pharaoh’s error and will strive to be receptive and willing to change. I will seek God’s help in humbling myself so that I can receive and follow His guidance.
Hi Paul, I recognise that this not a place for political discussions but I feel your point about Putin needs bearing out. When I started reading your post and before I got to you mentioning Putin, my first thoughts were about Biden. Why does he pursue strategies and policies which undermine the stability of the US despite those policies having a detrimental effect upon the people and the country. We have examples from the Book of Mormon that governments fall because of secret combinations, so surely this isn’t simply about Putin having a hardened heart, this goes much deeper and the reasons why he is making the decisions he is, in fact Biden has recently acknowledged that sanctions will hurt the US (People, not him) as well, so who has the harder heart?. In fact I would suggest that there is much more of a case for US politicians having hardened hearts than Putin.I have more of a problem with the West that the East and I suspect God is the same, based on the information we have (Discernment needed) it is easy to make a decision on the evil nature of Putin and his regime, however, surely the West are worse in God’s eyes (I’m in the Uk) as we commit atrocities under the guise and banner of virtue whilst all the while being the worst hypocrites. The fact of the matter being that they are all wrong, we know that Jesus Christ is the only answer, I follow and enjoy your insights regularly. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing your perspectives, William. I’m glad that you enjoy the blog.
As you mentioned, the purpose of this blog is not to engage in political discussion but to share divine principles I’ve learned from the scriptures. I definitely see parallels between President Putin’s current situation and Pharaoh’s during the plagues. My main point in sharing those two examples was to make a general observation about human nature: We all have a tendency to harden our hearts, It’s hard to humble ourselves. It’s hard to admit we’re wrong, even when the evidence is overwhelming. It takes effort to soften our hearts, and we may need God’s help to do so.
I am personally horrified by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and devastated by the suffering of so many innocent people, including millions of refugees. But I’m certainly not in a position to judge the relative hardness of anyone’s heart. My takeaway is that we should each look for signs of hardness in our own hearts and follow Nephi’s example in praying for the Lord to help us be more humble (1 Nephi 2:16).
I hope that’s helpful.
Paul
This is nit-picky, but just had to put it out there, because I’ve been thinking a lot about this…
You said, Nephi “prayed to have his own heart softened (1 Nephi 2:16)”
Nephi prayed, but it doesn’t say he asked for his heart to be softened (which doesn’t mean he didn’t- it just doesn’t say), then the Lord softens his heart.
“…wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart…”
I just read this: “Softening and hardening hearts appear to be opposites according to the dictionary definitions. But softening the heart and hardening the heart do not seem to be opposites in the Book of Mormon because softening the heart does not appear to be voluntary while hardening does.”
Also, “The two terms are not used together and are used in different genres and grammatical forms.”
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/english_symposium/2018/mormon/2/
I think this is an important distinction- we can harden our own hearts, but it’s only Father who can soften them. So, our part is to ask Him to do that ☺️
Thank you for the comment! Hardening and softening of hearts is an important theme in the Book of Mormon, and I’m glad you’re thinking about it.
You are correct that Nephi doesn’t specifically say that he asked God to soften his heart. I tend to think that he did, but the text only tells us that his heart was softened when he prayed. This could have an interesting implication: Is it possible that even if we don’t ask God to soften our hearts, the very act of praying may open our hearts enough that He can soften them?
I read the essay you recommended by Maren Johnson about the meaning of “hardened hearts” and “softened hearts” in the Book of Mormon. She didn’t convince me that the terms are not opposites. In fact, she acknowledged the strongest counterexample, in 1 Nephi 7:19, where the text pretty clearly states that Laman and Lemuel “did soften their hearts.” Nevertheless, it is true that the Book of Mormon speaks many times about the Lord softening people’s hearts, while we are repeatedly admonished to “harden not [our] hearts,” a phrase which I think originates in Psalm 95:8. Certainly it is better not to harden your heart in the first place, and certainly we may need the Lord’s help when our hearts need to be softened.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!
Paul