Yes! But why, you may ask. In Exodus 7:3-5 God said he would harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, that the Egyptians might know that He is the Lord. Exodus 7:22, 8:14, 8:19, 3:32, 9:7, 9:12, 9:35, 14:8 are all times God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Again, why? Exodus 9:16 says, “I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” This was God’s purpose in hardening Pharaoh’s heart – that His power and name be proclaimed.

What shall we say then, is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!, For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” Our sovereign God has chosen to show mercy to whomever He wills. His will is to show mercy to people of faith.

God raised Pharaoh up and used him for His purpose. God endured with much longsuffering Pharaoh, a man worthy of wrath from God, readied for destruction (Rom. 9:22). It does seem God manipulates the utterly lost – those who have no hope of salvation – to bring about His purpose. Consider Judas Iscariot.