Then the Lord said to Moses: Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. God's assessment is a legal declaration: the sign has been performed, the demand has been made, the refusal has been given, and now judgment will proceed. The word unyielding — kabed, heavy — is the same root as the word for glory — kavod. Pharaoh's heavy heart stands against the heavy glory of God. The irony is precise: the heaviness that is meant to express power expresses instead the gravity of judgment. Matthew 11:28 offers the opposite of Pharaoh's heavy-heartedness: come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Pharaoh's refusal to give rest to the people becomes the occasion for God to demonstrate that He alone gives the rest Pharaoh withholds.

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