Did God harden Pharaohs heart?

Did God harden Pharaohs heart?
 
Jacob Prasch answered a question on a Moriel Blog about whether or not god hardened Pharaohs heart. He said
"The Hebrew term is "v' yehizek" (from 'mehizek' ) literally meaning "to strengthen" in its infinitive 'Lehizek' as in : "to make his resolve steadfast"; God strengthened (or as it were 'solidified') what was already in Pharaoh's heart.
Thus, elsewhere in Exodus passages, without reference to the Lord, we read that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (the Hebrew infinitive for this action would be not "Lehizek" but the reflexive "L'hithazek").
In other words, the Lord (YHWH) did not initially cause Pharaoh to refuse to let the sons of Israel go, but rather (as it were in judgment) gave him over to that which Pharaoh ‚   himself had already purposed. The Hebrew meaning does not etymologically or grammatically support the false theological contentions of hyper Calvinists that the Lord arbitrarily hardened Pharaoh's heart in order to judge him, but rather the Lord re-enforced (strengthened, made steadfast) the wicked intent already in Pharaoh's heart (even though being omniscient, the Lord certainly foreknew what would happen and so forewarned Moses).
This giving over of a reprobate person by God to a wicked intent or practice in which the reprobate already persists, or in which they are already persisting, is an act of divine judgment that virtually assures eventual destruction. There are similar instances of this kind of action by God in 1 Kings with Ahab's false prophets, ‚  and eschatologically where the rejectors of truth who will follow the man of lawlessness (antichrist) are caused to believe a lie in judgment for their rejection of truth in 2 Thes. chapter 2. Another important example of this is in Romans chapter 1 where God gives homosexuals & lesbians over to the unnatural perversions of a sexually reprobate mind in judgment in order ‚   to secure the inevitability of their eventual demise. We see this in the arrogant confidence homosexual & lesbian activism demonstrate today, unable to recognize that this arrogant confidence in their sin is an expression of the fact that God has 'strengthened' their resolve to continue in these ultimately self destructive proclivities.
We might compare this "mehizek" to a "sting" operation by ‚   police of a hypothetical illegal drug trafficker. An undercover agent posing as a buyer purchases controlled substances from a major dealer, not once but several times. There is a multiple count indictment, a guaranteed conviction, ‚  and a much stiffer sentence. The police don't close in after the first few buys, but lead the dealer into a trap. S/he thinks s/he is pulling it off with impunity ‚  until s/he is in a legal quagmire from which there can be no escape or even a plea bargain.
There is more to be said about this subject both linguistically and doctrinally, but it is too involved to address at length by e mail. ‚   Additionally, while we don't mind answering the occasional Hebrew or Greek question, we can only explain linguistically related exegetical matters up to a limited point unless the inquirer has a knowledge of scriptural languages. However, Moriel does have recorded teaching titles dealing with aspects of this subject, including "the Damascus Road" and "The Spirit of Truth & the Spirit of Error" available in the newsletter or online catalogue"

My response

So who harden Pharaohs heart. The scriptures tells us as plain as day that God hardened pharaohs heart. This was God's intention, Gen 4:21. We don't need a Hebrew interpretation of what this means. This is often the problem with trying to win arguments. The simple folk are reminded to be Berean and so 6 months of studying the text (or more) we come back to the table and report our findings. Yes we say the scripture says God hardened Pharaohs heart. "Yes", they say, but because I am against hyper Calvinists there has to a more complicated way to interpret Ex 4:21 to win the argument, so you run along now and spend another 6 months being Berean and see what you come up with then. Another 6 months later. Ok Ex 4:21 says the same as it did before. God hardened pharaohs heart. Why does God do that? Was it to support the Calvinist camp? No, but because God (who we read) "could have obliterated Pharaoh and the Egyptians from the face of the earth" wanted to show His power and to make His name known in the whole earth". That's it. We don't need to get into some long-winded anti-Calvinist, intellectualism. Just read the text in context. This is the problem with having to be against something because the second a text comes up that those you're against use rightly or wrongly using to support their agenda, this then becomes the reason for the study. Along this same line, the argument around the hardening of Pharaohs heart is whether God made some to go to heaven and other to go to hades and the lake of fire. (Hell is not a correct biblical name by the way for all who like to quote it )The answer is scripture does not teach us that.  OK but simply saying the scripture doesn't teach that God made some to go to heaven or to hades is like saying that the scripture doesn't say God made some to go to the moon and others to go to Tesco'. But that's another subject for another day.

Going back to the line; 
"but rather the Lord re-enforced (strengthened, made steadfast) the wicked intent already in Pharaoh's heart (even though being omniscient, the Lord certainly foreknew what would happen and so forewarned Moses). This giving over of a reprobate"

Let's consider God being omniscient, that God foreknew that Pharaoh would harden his heart towards the idea of letting the people of Israel go. And so would then reinforce what Jacob Prasch is saying.
But wait. Why, if someone is already going to do something out of his own will (as in the case of Pharaoh hardening his heart) does God need to then tell Moses or a servant of the Lord that He is going to "strengthen what's there" No. The intent and the mind to act in this way was either there or going to be there regardless of anything God was going to do.    It doesn't make sense for God who already knew Pharaoh was going to harden His heart to say to Moses I am going to strengthen what's already in pharaohs heart. This would mean that Pharaoh had foreknowledge of Moses coming so that ahead of time he could start hardening his heart. We could  spend hours writing on this event with hypothesis after hypothesis and never conclude a thing. However, what if we took God at His word to mean what He said, that God intended to harden Pharaohs heart and told Moses of His intention.

The process of God's deliverance of His people was about to unfold and God had no plan B. The whole of  history was already known to God who at the appointed time would send forth His son to be the ultimate way all who are under the captivity of Pharaoh to be saved. The lamb would have to be slain, its blood was shed and so on. It was all to point to Christ.