“But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.”
My Notes
What Does Exodus 8:15 Mean?
The pattern that defines the entire Exodus narrative appears here: Pharaoh experiences relief from a plague and immediately hardens his heart. The word "respite" (revachah — breathing room, widening, relief) describes the moment the pressure lifts. And the moment the pressure lifts, Pharaoh's heart returns to its default state: hard.
The phrase "he hardened his heart" (hikhbid et-libbo — he made his heart heavy, he caused his heart to be stubborn) in these early plagues attributes the hardening to Pharaoh himself. God will later be described as hardening Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 9:12), but here the agency is Pharaoh's. He chooses to harden when the pressure releases.
The rhythm — plague, promise, relief, hardening — is a cycle that will repeat through all ten plagues. Pharaoh doesn't harden during the plague (when he's scared). He hardens after the plague (when he's comfortable again). The respite is the danger zone. Comfort is where stubbornness regenerates.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Where do you harden your heart during comfortable seasons rather than during crises?
- 2.How does the respite-hardening pattern (relief → stubbornness) show up in your own spiritual cycles?
- 3.Why is comfort more dangerous to the soul than crisis?
- 4.What promises made during pressure are you at risk of forgetting now that the pressure has lifted?
Devotional
The frogs are gone. Pharaoh can breathe. And the moment the pressure lifts, his heart snaps back to hard. Relief produces resistance. Comfort produces stubbornness. The respite is where Pharaoh fails.
This pattern is the most predictable cycle in the Exodus: crisis → promise to repent → crisis removed → heart hardens. Every plague follows the same script. Pharaoh is terrified during the plague and stubborn after it. The moment the suffering stops, the softening reverses. The heart that was pliable under pressure becomes concrete under comfort.
The timing of the hardening is the diagnostic. Pharaoh doesn't harden during the suffering — he's too scared. He hardens when the suffering stops — when he's comfortable enough to forget the fear. The danger zone for his soul isn't the plague. It's the respite. The comfortable moment between crises is where the stubbornness regenerates.
This is the most human pattern in the Bible. When things are hard, you pray. When things ease up, you stop. When the crisis passes, the promises you made during it evaporate. The relief that should produce gratitude instead produces amnesia. You forget what scared you the moment it stops scaring you.
Pharaoh's heart hardened in the respite because he confused relief with resolution. The plague was removed but the God behind the plague hadn't changed his demand. Pharaoh mistook the pause for the end. And every time he mistook a pause for an end, his heart got harder.
Where are you hardening in the respite? Where has the lifting of pressure produced forgetfulness instead of follow-through?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And the Lord said unto Moses,.... On the twenty seventh day of the month, according to Bishop Usher, the same day the…
Pharaoh is here first threatened and then plagued with frogs, as afterwards, in this chapter, with lice and flies,…
Exo 7:14 to Exo 11:5
The first nine Plagues
The narrative of the Plagues, like that of the preceding Chapter s, is…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture