8135. 'And I will harden Pharaoh's heart' means that the obstinacy of those steeped in falsities arising from evil would still remain. This is clear from the meaning of 'being hardened' as their obstinate determination, dealt with in 7272, 7300, 7305; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as those who are steeped in falsities arising from evil, or what amounts to the same thing, those who are lost in damnation, as above in 8132. The words 'Pharaoh's heart' are used because in the genuine sense 'heart' means the good of heavenly love, 3313, 3635, 3883-3896, 7542, and therefore in the contrary sense means evil, at this point the evil of those who have known [the truths of] faith and led a life of evil.

7300. 'And Pharaoh's heart was unyielding' means obstinacy. This is clear from the meaning of 'the heart being unyielding' as obstinacy, as above in 7272.