This is so cool. I’d never heard that before, what a “hardened heart” would mean in that era and culture. And I’m coincidentally reading Exodus right now and have been pondering it!!
Thanks for sharing this, I hadn’t heard of “hardening hearts” being used in Egyptian culture!
I’m curious why you think the phraseology around the hard hard doesn’t match in these two cases. (I agree the authors and editors of the Torah were literary masters).
If “Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart” is God making a moral assessment, then when Moses made a moral assessment it should say that “Moses hardened Pharaoh’s heart” rather than Pharaoh.
It seems in the first case “Pharaoh hardened his heart” it is referring to Pharoah’s actions that built a wall between him and Yahweh. In that case “Yahweh hardening Pharaoh’s heart” would be Yahweh’s contribution to their relationship, in this case the plagues. The plagues were opportunities for Pharaoh to change, but instead became bricks in the wall so to speak.
Also as there is a third phrase in the narrative, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” that would be helpful to include in the comparison of these phrases.
YES! This verse is such a perfect example of how contextual assumptions can give us a really, really dangerous view of God!
Pharaoh claims to not know who Yahweh even is, and positions himself as superior to Yahweh, which deeply informs a lot of the interactions between God and Pharaoh.
The cultural context is interesting, but not sure that I agree with your conclusion. The text says that God hardened pharaohs heart, not that he saw or judged that it was hard. At the end you mention that these passages have nothing to do with free will or determinism but have to do with morality. Paul specifically mentions these verses in Romans 9 when discussing free will, and he says that pharaoh was a vessel prepared beforehand for destruction
I agree that the Ex. passage indicates not a judgement call but a participation in the relationship between Pharaoh and God.
I’m not sure I agree with your assessment of Rom. 9 as it is a bit out of context and incomplete.
While Paul uses Pharaoh as an example the whole section is about Jews that have rejected the messiah (and all of this is in the context of Paul helping Gentiles understand their inclusion).
And interestingly, after he talks about “being prepared for destruction” he will go on to say things like “...and in this way all Israel will be saved” or “God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”
My point is simply reading one section will seem to make a certain point of view but then others will present opposing viewpoints too so it’s often not so simple.
This is fantastic stuff! I'm actually working on similar things, both for classes I'm taking and classes I'm teaching. Do you have some source material for the "hardened Heart" from the Egyptian cultural perspective? It sure would be helpful to bolster my assertions.
I get nervous wondering how much church doctrine is based on stuff like this, details getting taken out of context to fit a systematic question.
This is so cool. I’d never heard that before, what a “hardened heart” would mean in that era and culture. And I’m coincidentally reading Exodus right now and have been pondering it!!
Keep ‘em coming!!!
Thanks for sharing this, I hadn’t heard of “hardening hearts” being used in Egyptian culture!
I’m curious why you think the phraseology around the hard hard doesn’t match in these two cases. (I agree the authors and editors of the Torah were literary masters).
If “Yahweh hardened Pharaoh’s heart” is God making a moral assessment, then when Moses made a moral assessment it should say that “Moses hardened Pharaoh’s heart” rather than Pharaoh.
It seems in the first case “Pharaoh hardened his heart” it is referring to Pharoah’s actions that built a wall between him and Yahweh. In that case “Yahweh hardening Pharaoh’s heart” would be Yahweh’s contribution to their relationship, in this case the plagues. The plagues were opportunities for Pharaoh to change, but instead became bricks in the wall so to speak.
Also as there is a third phrase in the narrative, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” that would be helpful to include in the comparison of these phrases.
Yeah I think it's both - and his own hardening. It's essentially a full assessment of the kind of ruler pharaoh was : not Good
YES! This verse is such a perfect example of how contextual assumptions can give us a really, really dangerous view of God!
Pharaoh claims to not know who Yahweh even is, and positions himself as superior to Yahweh, which deeply informs a lot of the interactions between God and Pharaoh.
The cultural context is interesting, but not sure that I agree with your conclusion. The text says that God hardened pharaohs heart, not that he saw or judged that it was hard. At the end you mention that these passages have nothing to do with free will or determinism but have to do with morality. Paul specifically mentions these verses in Romans 9 when discussing free will, and he says that pharaoh was a vessel prepared beforehand for destruction
I agree that the Ex. passage indicates not a judgement call but a participation in the relationship between Pharaoh and God.
I’m not sure I agree with your assessment of Rom. 9 as it is a bit out of context and incomplete.
While Paul uses Pharaoh as an example the whole section is about Jews that have rejected the messiah (and all of this is in the context of Paul helping Gentiles understand their inclusion).
And interestingly, after he talks about “being prepared for destruction” he will go on to say things like “...and in this way all Israel will be saved” or “God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”
My point is simply reading one section will seem to make a certain point of view but then others will present opposing viewpoints too so it’s often not so simple.
This is very good - vessels, all thru the Pauline epistles, change.
This is fantastic stuff! I'm actually working on similar things, both for classes I'm taking and classes I'm teaching. Do you have some source material for the "hardened Heart" from the Egyptian cultural perspective? It sure would be helpful to bolster my assertions.
Let me check my resources lol
So helpful and a tactful way of communicating the importance of understanding the culture of the Bible!
Very interesting!
Doing a bible study of Exodus with a few friends and man this is a good assessment of what's going on in Pharaoh's heart
so great. never recognized that connection with the hard heart. freaking cool, man. I love ancient near eastern studies stuff 😂.