8186. 'And I, behold, I am hardening the hearts of the Egyptians' means obstinate resistance by falsity arising from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'hardening the heart' as obstinacy, dealt with in 7272, 7300, 7305, 7616; and from the representation of 'the Egyptians' as those steeped in falsities arising from evil, dealt with in 8132, 8135, 8148. When the Word says that Jehovah hardens the heart and also that He is responsible for something ill, the meaning in the internal sense, where the truth itself exists unclothed, is that people ruled by falsity and evil are themselves the ones to harden their hearts and to be responsible for the ill that happens to them, see 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7877, 7926.

8205. 'And the children of Israel came into the middle of the sea on dry ground' means the entrance into hell by those who belonged to the spiritual Church and their passage through it in safety and without falsity flowing in. This is clear from the explanation above in 8185, where similar words occur.