Had Pharaoh allowed the implications of this to enter his heart, he would have had to abandon the struggle; he would have had to recognize YHVH’s true identity as the Heavenly Power that has no competition. But Pharaoh does not do this. He “hardens his heart,” keeping the threatening evidence at arm’s length. He blinds himself to the implications of what he’s just seen, and continues his struggle against the God of the Hebrews. All of a sudden, Pharaoh has a new enemy. It is no longer just Moses, or even Moses’s God, that Pharaoh opposes. He is now at war against the ancient and timeless enemy
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