Sympathy for Pharaoh (A Passover Meditation)

“Towards the beginning of the story, Pharaoh hardens his own heart (or it ‘is hardened’ in the passive voice). Following the sixth plague, however, Pharaoh seems to lose his nerve and God steps in, hardening his heart for him. ‘And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,’ Exodus 9:12 reads.” If God hardened Pharoah’s heart, was it fair to drown him in the Red Sea?