AC 7272 - "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart." (Exodus 7:3)

AC 7272
And I will harden Pharaoh's heart.
(Exodus 7:3)
That this signifies obstinacy from the evil of falsity,
is evident from the signification of "hardening,"
as being obstinacy;
that it denotes from the evil of falsity,
is signified by the "heart of Pharaoh" . . ..
The evil of falsity is that which takes its origin
from principles of falsity, such as, for example,
that men would become holy through external things,
as in the case of the Israelites and Jews
through sacrifices, washings, sprinkling of blood;
and that they would not become holy through charity and faith;
and thus that they would be holy
although they lived in hatred, revenge, robbery, cruelty, and the like.
These evils are called "evils of falsity,"
because they take their origin from principles of falsity.
. . . the evils of falsity are as many
as are the falsities of faith and of worship.
These evils condemn,
yet not so much as do the evils which originate in evil.
The evils which originate in evil
are those which are from the desire rising up
from the love of self and of the world.