Thread by @JamesBejon

THREAD: Exod. 3-15: The State of Pharaoh’s Heart.

Ever wondered how best to conceive of YHWH’s interaction with Pharaoh?

Me too.

What follows doesn’t, therefore, try to provide a model of human-divine interaction,

but does seek to identify features of the Biblical narrative

...which a satisfactory model should (one way or another) be able to explain.

First, however, some thoughts on Exod. 3-15’s central themes.

In the course of Exod. 3-15, Pharaoh has a head-on encounter with YHWH, the God of Creation.

Or, to put the point another way,

‘the hand/power (יד) of Pharaoh’ comes into conflict with ‘the hand/power (יד) of YHWH’.

Spoiler: Things don’t turn out too well for Pharaoh.

Consequently, our text turns into a homily to YHWH’s ability ‘to direct the heart of (even) a king as he pleases’ (Prov. 21.1).

At the same time, it describes one of the most awesome sequence of events in Scripture—a sequence of events by means of which YHWH is publicly glorified, both in the salvation of his people and in the judgment of his enemies (9.13-17).

These themes are reflected in our text in a number of different ways. The first concerns its employment of the word ‘heart’ (לב/לבב), which can be summarised as follows:

🔹 At the outset of our narrative, YHWH shows he is able to ‘predict’ Aaron’s state of heart when Aaron comes to meet Moses in the wilderness (and is said to be ‘glad’), which is clearly of thematic import (4.14). Scripture is not interested in Aaron’s mood per se.

🔹 Thereafter, Moses and Aaron come face to face with Pharaoh, whose main concern is the progress of his construction project.

The concern of Scripture, however, is the state of Pharaoh’s heart and how it is influenced by Pharaoh’s and YHWH’s respective actions (cp. 8.11, 28, etc. w. 9.12, 10.1, 20). No text in Scripture pays as close attention to the specifics of God’s interaction with the human heart.

🔹 At the close of our narrative, in a final touch of irony which answers Pharaoh’s first recorded words in Scripture (viz., ‘Who is YHWH that I should obey him?’), we find the stone-hearted Pharaoh and his army submerged in ‘the heart (לב) of the Sea’, still and lifeless.

🔹 And, as a result of the exodus, the Israelite labourers are redeployed in a different construction project—YHWH’s construction project, a project governed not by a hard-hearted tyrant like Pharaoh,

but by the ‘wisdom-filled hearts’ of Israelites such as Bezalel and Oholiab (31.6, 36.1), and funded by the freely-given wealth of the Egyptians (12.36) courtesy of Israelites’ ‘voluntary contributions’ (given by every man of a נְדִיב לֵב: cp. 35.5, 21ff.).

As such, our text describes the redemption of Israel by a God who is sovereign over the heart of man. Just as it is YHWH who causes some to be mute, some to be deaf, some to see, and some to be blind (4.11), so YHWH makes some hearts hard/unresponsive and others soft/responsive.

Our text also reflects its themes by the repeated employment of the root בכד = ‘to be heavy, glorious’:

🔹 Moses is raised up to deliver his people, though is said to be ‘heavy (בכד) in speech and tongue’ (4.10).

🔹 In response to Moses and Aaron’s first encounter with Pharaoh, the Israelites are subjected to ‘heavy’ (בכד) labour (5.9).

🔹 As a result of further interaction, Pharaoh’s heart becomes calloused and ‘heavy’ (בכד), and, even as it does so,

thick (בכד) hail, heavy (כבד) swarms of flies, and many other plauges are unleashed against Egypt (8.24, 9.3, 18, etc.).

🔹 And, ultimately, YHWH is publicly ‘glorified’ (בכד) in the fall of Pharaoh and his army (14.4).

Meanwhile, in the midst of all these events,

we find a genealogy which appears to be somewhat out-of-place, but happens to climax in the marriage of a Levite to a woman named יוכבד = ‘Jochebed’,

whose name happens to consist of the elements ‘YHWH’ and ‘glory’ (יהוה + כבד),

and who also happens to be ch. 2’s (unnamed) central character, viz. the mother of Moses.

These considerations are underlined by various numerical harmonies, since the consonants כבד and יהוה both have a gematrial value of 26,

and the name ‘Jochebed’—which constitutes a further link between יהוה and כבד—happens to be the 26th name listed in Exod. 6’s genealogy.

Further associations between our text’s major themes and the number 26 can also be noted, since:

🔹 the word ‘heart’ occurs a total of 26 times in our text (לבב x 1, לב x 25);

🔹 the word ‘hand/arm/power’ (יד) occurs 52 = 26 x 2 times; and

🔹 in the latter half of exodus, the new abode of YHWH’s glory—viz. the ‘ark’ (אָרוֹן)—occurs 26 times.

In other words, our text is about as far from a haphazardly or thoughtlessly constructed narrative as it is possible to get.

But the question remains, How exactly does YHWH interact with Pharaoh’s heart?

What does our text tell us about mechanics of the whole affair?

My suggestions are set out below.

Our text contains a number of references to what YHWH knows about Pharaoh’s heart, and how he interacts with it. The first is found in 3.19-20, where YHWH says:

Here, the Hebrew roughly translates as, ‘(Pharaoh) will not let you go, even if (he is) strongarmed’ (cp. לא ביד חזקה: so the KJV, NET).

The ESV, however, appears to have followed Greek translations of the OT (and/or the Vulgate),

which seems a reasonable course of action (so also the RSV, NIV), since it is otherwise difficult to cohere 3.19 in the MT with 6.1.

Indeed, if 6.1’s reference to ביד חזקה refers to the action of YHWH (as it does in 3.19, 13.9, 32.11), then 6.1 states more or less the opposite of MT 3.19:

Suppose, then, we read 3.19 as, ‘I know the king of Egypt will not let you go unless he is strongarmed’.

The text of 3.19 now makes good sense in light of its broader context. But we still need to address the issue of the *basis* on which God knows what is stated in 3.19.

Is 3.19 a statement about what God will (infallibly) cause/bring to pass? In part, yes, but not exclusively, since 3.19 is actually a statement about God’s knowledge of two possible scenarios:

(a) what will happen if Pharaoh is asked to let YHWH’s people go and (as it were) ‘left to his own devices’ to decide what to do, and

(b) what will happen if Pharaoh is actively strongarmed by YHWH,

only the latter of which describes what will come to pass.

The analogy employed in Prov. 21 may be able to help us to parse these ideas more clearly.

Like Pharaoh’s heart, a stream of water has a course/channel which—if not acted on by any other forces—it will naturally follow.

I therefore take the point made in 3.19 to be as follows: if Pharaoh’s ‘streams of water’—i.e., Pharaoh’s various desires, intentions, etc.—are left to run their natural course, then Pharaoh will not consent to Moses’s requests to let YHWH’s people go.

(Consider by analogy how YHWH is said to ‘know’ about Aaron’s natural abilities and can hence know Aaron will make a good speaker for Moses: 4.14.)

But YHWH will not in fact leave Pharaoh’s streams of water to run their natural course.

YHWH will instead ‘direct’ (נטה) them down different channels.

Is such a view of 3.19 coherent?

It seems so, especially in light the kinds of things YHWH is said to ‘know’ (ידע) elsewhere in our text.

Consider, for instance, the text of 13.17-18,

where YHWH decides not to lead the Israelites out of Egypt via the territory of the Philistines since he knows they will ‘change their minds’ (and return to Egypt) if he does so.

YHWH knows things which will happen (such as Pharaoh’s ultimate capitulation: 3.20),

and things which *would* happen given certain conditions, but will not actually happen (since he will not allow the relevant conditions to pass).

With these things in mind, then, let us move on to consider our text’s references to Pharaoh’s heart.

The relevant data-points can be summarised as follows.

🔹 Before the plagues begin (in chs. 4 and 7), God makes two statements about what he will do to Pharaoh’s heart, each of which involves a different verb.

Initially, in 4.21, YHWH says he will ‘strengthen’ Pharaoh’s heart (לחזק את לב פרעה, i.e., חזק [D-stem] + dir. obj.). And then, in our text’s summary—i.e., the ‘Kings-esque’ synopsis of what is to follow,

which is found in cp. 6.28-7.6—, YHWH says he will ‘stiffen’ Pharaoh’s heart (להקשות את לב פרעה, i.e., קשה [C-stem] + dir. obj.), although the verb ‘stiffen’ does not actually feature in our text.

🔹 Later in our narrative (after the 6th plague), YHWH repeatedly ‘strengthens’ the heart of Pharaoh (again via לחזק את, for examples of which cf. 9.12, 10.20, 27, 11.10, 14.4, 8).

🔹 And, in the aftermath of the 7th plague, YHWH says he has ‘deadened’—lit. ‘increased the weight of’—Pharaoh’s heart (להכבד את לב פרעה, i.e., בכד [C-stem] + dir. obj.).

🔹 Meanwhile, Pharaoh is repeatedly said to ‘deaden’ his own heart (להכבד את לבו, per the previous point).

What exactly do these verbs describe? And what can be concluded from them?

One thing at least can be stated with relative certainty.

YHWH is said to interact with Pharaoh’s heart in all the ways in which Pharaoh does and more besides;

specifically, Pharaoh is only ever said to ‘deaden’ (להכבד) his heart, while YHWH is said to both ‘strengthen’ (לחזק) and to ‘deaden’ (להכבד) Pharaoh’s heart, the ultimate effect of which is (presumably) to leave it ‘stiff and/or immobile’ (cp. להקשות in 7.3), like a corpse.

As such, YHWH demonstrates his complete mastery over Pharaoh’s heart. YHWH is able to interact with Pharaoh’s heart in ways which Pharaoh himself cannot (or at least does not).

As for the exact significance of the three verbs mentioned above, two of them seem straightforward enough to understand.

Israel are frequently referred to as עמ קשה עֹרף = ‘a stiff-necked people’ (cp. 32.9, 33.3, etc.), since they ‘stubbornly refuse’ to obey YHWH’s commands;

that is to say, they are unresponsive to YHWH’s voice.

And elsewhere in our text להקשות has the sense ‘to refuse’ (cp. 13.5, where להקשות לשלח = ‘to refuse to release’).

As such, ‘to be stiffened in heart’ is to be stubborn and unresponsive to one’s Maker (not a good idea).

Our next verb—viz. להכבד = lit. ‘to increase the weight of’—has a similar sense. For an organ to be ‘heavy’ (כבד) is for it not to function properly.

Jacob’s eyes are said to be ‘heavy’ (כבד) because he is unable to see properly (Gen. 48.10).

And Moses’s mouth and tongue are ‘heavy’ (כבד) because he is unable to speak in a fluent manner (4.10).

Since, therefore, the proper function of the human heart is to hear and respond to its Maker, for a heart to be ‘heavy’ is for it to be dull and disobedient.

Consequently, when Pharaoh’s heart becomes ‘heavy’, he reneges on his decision to let Israel go, and disobeys YHWH’s voice (8.11), hence my translation ‘deaden’.

(The translation ‘to make heavy’ sounds as if it means ‘to burden’, since ‘to be heavy of heart’ is to be burdened or weighed down by a particular concern, which is not in mind here.)

We are, therefore, left with לחזק.

The basic sense of לחזק is ‘to strengthen, empower, encourage’, hence the men of Shechem are said ‘to strengthen (Abimelech’s) hands to kill his brothers’ (לְחַזֵּק אֶת־יָדָיו לַהֲרֹג אֶת־אֶחָיו cp. Judg. 9.24),

and Nehemiah’s friends are said ‘to strength their hands for a good (work)’ (לְחַזֵּק יְדֵיהֶם לַטּוֹבָה cp. Neh. 2.18).

Presumably, then, ‘to strengthen one’s heart’ is ‘to strengthen one’s resolve’. But for good or ill?

In terms of our present text’s employment of the vb. לחזק, the answer is Neither.

YHWH does not strengthen Pharaoh’s resolve for any particular purpose (which could be conveyed via the construction לחזק ל—or if YHWH’s intention is preventative לחזק לבלתי—, per Judg. 9.24, etc.

YHWH is simply said to strengthen Pharaoh’s resolve/determination, and whatever happens next happens next (connected to what precedes it simply by a vav), as is shown below:

Of course, YHWH knows exactly what action will follow in each case (so 3.19).

But, when YHWH strengthens Pharaoh’s resolve, his action does not, in and of itself, determine whether Pharaoh’s next action is good or bad.

YHWH simply strengthens Pharaoh’s resolve to act in accord with his own desires, which, given a heart full of good intentions, could be a good thing (though, of course, Pharaoh’s is clearly not such a heart, so the end result is disastrous).

In sum, then, Pharaoh’s heart is described and/or acted upon in five different ways in our text:

🔹 Sometimes, Pharaoh’s heart is simply described as ‘deadened’ (by means of the stative כָּבֵד), with no specific statement as to its cause (e.g., 7.13).

🔹 Sometimes, Pharaoh is said to ‘deaden’ his own heart (8.11).

🔹 In later plagues, YHWH is said to ‘strengthen’ Pharaoh’s heart/resolve.

🔹 On one occasion, YHWH is said to ‘deaden’ Pharaoh’s heart.

🔹 And, in our text’s summary (6.28-7.6), YHWH says he will ‘stiffen’ Pharaoh’s heart, which presumably refers to its (final?) ‘deadened’ condition.

As such, our text describes a clear direction of travel in Pharaoh’s experiences, which is charted out below:

As can be seen: the direction of travel in Pharaoh’s experiences is not uniform (history is a messy business), but it is clearly non-random.

As time goes on—and YHWH’s plagues become more severe—, YHWH becomes progressively more active/influential in the state of Phar.’s heart,

until, at the time of the 7th/8th plague, Pharaoh appears to reach a point of no return.

Particularly significant is the text of 10.1, where YHWH is said, for the first and only time in our text, to ‘deaden’ (להכבד) the heart of Pharaoh—

an action from which Pharaoh’s heart will never recover.

At about the same time, YHWH makes an unusual statement to Pharaoh—viz. ‘On this occasion, I will send all of my plagues upon your heart’—, as if Plagues 7 and beyond will now be unleashed as a kind of ‘package deal’,

and a similar deadness infects other areas of our table above.

After the 8th plague has been and gone, Moses never again intercedes for Pharaoh, nor does Pharaoh ever again feel the plague of his sin.

Indeed, Pharaoh seems lost in a world of his own,

blind to his imminent destruction.

Even Pharaoh’s own people can see his folly and plead with him (to no avail) to let Israel go (10.7), while YHWH washes his hands of Pharaoh.

YHWH’s aim is no longer to demonstrate his greatness to Pharaoh. (Pharaoh has now known as much as he will ever know about YHWH.)

YHWH instead wants Israel to appreciate his greatness—to witness what he is about to do to the mighty Pharaoh,

and to remember/memorialise it throughout their generations.

As such, the self-proclaimed king of the known world is reduced to the status of a mere pawn in the plans of YHWH, while Pharaoh’s apparently insignificant Israelite slaves are borne up on the wings of eagles...

...soon to be planted in a land of milk and honey.

FINAL REFLECTIONS:

To close, three brief points/remarks. The first is an attempt to arrange the above observations in a coherent manner, which runs as follows.

When Pharaoh first refused to release the Israelites, he did so ‘on his own steam’. He did not require YHWH to ‘strengthen his resolve’ in any way. His desires were proud and self-centred enough as they were.

As a result, Pharaoh refused Moses’s initial request, as well as many of Moses’s subsequent requests.

But, gradually, the pain and devastation inflicted on him by the hand of YHWH overcame his resistance to Moses’s requests.

Left to his own devices, Pharaoh would not have withstood all ten plagues (cp. 7.3), which YHWH wanted to unleash against Egypt, both as a testimony to his great power and in judgment of the full spectrum of Egypt’s gods (12.12 cp. Num. 33.4).

In other words: given the severity of YHWH’s plagues (יד חזקה), Pharaoh would have let Israel go some time before the 10th plague (a claim which is consistent with the text of 3.19),

not because he of any good will he felt towards Israel or their God,

but simply for the sake of an easy life (or at least an easier one).

Consequently, at the time of the 7th plague, YHWH had to ‘step in’ and ‘silence/deaden’ Pharaoh’s desire to capitulate to Moses’s requests (cp. 7.3), which he duly did (10.1).

Pharaoh was hence desensitised to his mortality and peril, and, by means of YHWH’s ‘empowerment’ (cp. the use of חזק in Plagues 6 and beyond), he was enabled to carry out the actions described in chs. 11-15—actions so foolish and fearless they would never have been carried out...

... aside from such ‘empowerment’.

YHWH filled up the measure of the ten plagues, and Pharaoh’s destiny caught up with him soon afterwards, in precisely the manner YHWH intended.

That is not, of course, a view I would want to proffer with certainty,

nor is it an attempt to locate the ultimately explanation of Pharaoh’s actions in anyone other than God,

since the ultimate explanation of why Pharaoh has his particular nature and desires (etc.) is found in God;

it is simply an attempt to view the life and career of Pharaoh in a manner which reflects the complexities and particularities of the Hebrew text.

Obviously, a full treatment of our text would need to involve more than a consideration of these data-points alone (since all sorts of NT texts also need to be considered),

but it should not involve *less* than them.

That is to say, a satisfactory interpretation of God’s elective purposes (as they are described in, say, Rom. 9) should not need to explain away the specifics of Exod. 3-15’s narrative;

on the contrary, it should be shaped and informed by them.

Scripture teaches us not only by means of NT epistles, but by means of its narratives, songs, proverbs, and so on.

And, in his central discussion of God’s elective purposes, Paul chooses to refer to what is undoubtedly Scripture’s most detailed account of God’s interaction...

...with the heart of man, which is surely no coincidence, and which we should therefore pay close attention to.

Second, YHWH is sovereign over the human heart. That fact should fill us with wonder (and not a little trepidation), but is also a great encouragement,

for when we kneel before God in prayer, saddened by our sin, and ask God to change our hearts, we are in the presence of a God who can genuinely do such things.

Third, as Christians, the greatest gift we possess is a renewed heart, which is alive to the things of God.

May we guard it with our lives, and seek to avoid the kind of ‘diets’ which will cause it to become flabby and clogged up.

THE END.

Pdf available below:

academia.edu/40289520/