Thread by @JoelBaden

#Exodus 7:1-7

Planning the plagues (not plagues)

One of the central distinctions between P and J in the section that we call the plagues narrative, upon which we are about to embark, is that in P they aren’t really plagues. Don’t @ me. Let me explain.

First, we’re still reading P here, continuing directly (originally) from Moses questioning his ability to speak to Pharaoh. YHWH’s response is to bring in Moses’s brother Aaron, who is explicitly identified as such here (in the uniquely P phrase “Aaron your brother”).

The key phrase in this section, of course, is “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” This is P’s major claim: that the purpose of all the shit that’s about to go down isn’t actually to convince Pharaoh to let Israel go, but to put on a big show of YHWH’s power.

“That I may multiply my signs and marvels” - not “that Pharaoh will be convinced.” It’s P’s position that Pharaoh will want to let Israel go before YHWH allows that to happen. YHWH will grab Pharaoh by the collar and keep hitting him even when Pharaoh wants no more part of it.

In P, YHWH could take Israel out whenever. But YHWH wants Egypt to know his power before that happens. The purpose of the signs and wonders is explicit from the beginning, as is the basic order of events to come:

1. You go to Pharaoh. 2. I make him not let you go even if he wants to. 3. I lay my hand on Egypt and take my people out (that’s the death of the firstborn). 4. Egypt knows I am YHWH when I stretch my hand and bring Israel out (that’s the destruction of Egypt at the sea).

There isn’t any suspense in P: YHWH knows everything that’s going to happen from the get-go. P isn’t interested in narrative suspense - P is about demonstrating YHWH’s power, both in the doing of the thing and in the announcing it beforehand and it coming to pass.

This is all in contrast to J, for which the plagues to come are in fact a series of real attempts to convince Pharaoh to let Israel go - and even if YHWH knows ahead of time that it won’t be easy, it isn’t known when Pharaoh will actually break.

J has legitimate plagues - P has signs and wonders. They might sometimes look the same, but they don’t have the same function, and even their surface similarities, as we’ll see over the next few days, can be deceiving.