Pharaoh's heart is the classic example of God's control over humanity; it's the case that never outlives its usefulness. Except possibly for the cross, where better do we see God's will vs. His intention played out so clearly?

God's will is evident: "Let My people go." These are the very words God Himself gave Moses to say to Pharaoh. And yet immediately following, God says to Moses: "Yet I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will NOT let My people go." The implication is clear: God will cause Pharaoh to withstand his will in order to fulfill His intention.

So why would God state His will in the first place? Why not go straight to the intention? First of all, what IS the intention? God intends to display His power against a stubborn Pharaoh. In order to do this, God requires opposition. So again, why not go straight to the intention? But this is exactly what God does. The will and intention are a unit. The intention is a stubborn Pharaoh. There would be no opportunity for Pharaoh to manifest the stubbornness without a command to resist. So God Himself supplies the command (His will). It's a single purpose with two parts.

God, therefore, DOES go straight to the intention. But in this case, the intention requires that a command (God's revealed will) be withstood. Pharaoh accommodates because God Himself hardens him. Otherwise, Pharaoh would have let the Israelites go after the first plague.

A revelation of God requires opposition. Since God is God, He Himself must supply and assure the opposition. This is what the majority of the human race, especially Christianity, doesn't understand. The human default setting is human free will. As long as one's default setting is human operation independent of God, one will never be able to grasp the truth of Romans 9. Never. Nothing about the truth of Romans 9 can accommodate human free will. Nothing.

And yet human sovereignty is the most impossible thing for most humans to let go of. Thus we see just how magnificent and important the human thinks he really is. Oi! This stinks like a skunk sac. The denial of Romans 9 opens up the skunk sac.