A Logos Resource on God Hardening Pharoah’s Heart?

David Wanat

I was wonderi if anyone had a good resource for understanding the meanings of the term in Hebrew where God hardened Pharaoh’s heart? (I gather the Hebrew, per HALOT, is חזק). I don’t know Biblical Hebrew, but I realize that often times the original word sometimes carries more than gets shown in the translation.

Any thoughts? The Word Study doesn’t provide me with much I can use. 

David Paul

Have you got TWOT or TDOT? Those should include discussions.

DMB

Just this prior week, I was on that ... bodies for deities (Pharaoh as a god).  But it's discussed in a whole series of contexts.

I'd assume you should search your library for harden NEAR heart (english).

EDIT:

Recognizing a 'normal' theological meaning of 'harden' is sought, 2nd Temple jews (at least those involved with Jubilees, Enoch, etc), quickly detected a theological problem ... yes, 'harden' but later 'changed' (most people don't consider the problem).  The only solution, was to insert the evil Mastema doing the 'hardening' and later 'changing'.

David Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1231839#Comment_1231839

Fwiw, there is an impression many (most?) people have that a person can repent of behavior that is contrary to YHWH's will right up to the moment of their last breath. There is a fair amount of evidence that YHWH occasionally chooses to sovereignly "draw the line" and excutes His final judgment on a person while still allowing that person to remain alive. He may, as in the case of pharaoh, do this to accomplish some prophetic intention. The most obvious case of this is hassaattaan. He was judged while in heaven as a covering k'ruubh, but was allowed to continue alive, though cursed, in order to fulfill YHWH's prophetic purposes. Pharoah was a type of hassaattaan, so the logic follows.

I mention this because you are not likely to find this info in a study on hhaazaq, and I assume you are trying to comprehend what's going on...many people think it's unfair (the hardening), but that's because they don't comprehend that in the narrative, pharaoh's already been judged and found wanting.

You may also wish to study qaashaah, which appears in Exo. 7:3 and is also translated "harden".

David Wanat

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1231847#Comment_1231847

Thank you all. This gives me a place to start. 👍

Ronald Quick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1231847#Comment_1231847

I don't know if this is available for individual purchase, but here is a journal article. 

Matthew McAffee, “The Heart of Pharaoh in Exodus 4–15,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 20, no. 1–4 (2010): 331.

RHC

In Logos, Beale's article has a section called "The Terms Used for Hardening" on  p130-32.

G. K. Beale, “An Exegetical and Theological Consideration of the Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart in Exodus 4–14 and Romans 9,” Trinity Journal 5, no. 2 (1984), p129-154.

Currid refers to Beale's article as well in a paragraph that looks at the three terms used for hardening (p 96), but he's more focused on the Egyptian context of the hardening in the narrative. John Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 96–103. https://www.logos.com/product/39609/ancient-egypt-and-the-old-testament

David Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1231862#Comment_1231862

By all means, do your word study, and go ahead and include kaabheidh (Exo. 7:14) as well, which some of those articles mention...but I don't think the "solution/explanation" for "what?" and "why?" lies in the particular description (word choice) of YHWH's imposition upon pharaoh's temperament. It's a bigger picture issue. Stubbornness is probably the most dangerous personality foible, even worse than blindness. A stubborn person can't be swayed and so there isn't any reason to withhold judgment in the hope that time and circumstance will flip the switch of self-realization. A blind person may actually benefit from input provided by a sighted person to alert them to needed course correction. Stubbornness, on the other hand, is a chosen form of terminal blindness.

There is such a thing as incorrigibility, and YHWH determines at times to "lock in" that state of behavior (rendering His final judgment) in order to render with prophetic clarity what the outworking of that temperament can/will result in. The point of the object lesson is that cognizant others may learn to be less confident in their positions, whatever they may be related to, and especially where they concern YHWH Himself and His will. YHWH values suppleness, which is a trait of those who are not setttled on their lees, who are prepared to make adjustments as He sees fit. Recognizing the need to adjust indicates a person who is "tuned in" to YHWH, someone who is first to recognize that the cloud has started to move again and responsively begins packing up pronto. Some interpret "YHWH, the same yesterday, today, and forever" to mean He is static and can be "figured out" once and for all. That is a severe misinterpretation--He constantly demonstrates otherwise. In fact, believing that YHWH is static and immutable is a form of "learned stubbornness"; a person so encumbered "can't" adjust to YHWH's changing circumstances because they are convinced YHWH never changes.

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1231874#Comment_1231874

I cannot remember which one but either the EEC or ApOTC had a good excursus on this if I remember correctly

David Wanat

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1232143#Comment_1232143

One unexpected result came by experimenting with the L10 Bible Sense Lexicon tool (I really need to start experimenting more and read the manual). Using the word harden where it is attributed to God, it shows a sense of "to make unchanging." In that case, one can see that Pharaoh is to blame for his own predicament.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1232205#Comment_1232205

David Wanat said:

One unexpected result came by experimenting with the L10 Bible Sense Lexicon tool (I really need to start experimenting more and read the manual). Using the word harden where it is attributed to God, it shows a sense of "to make unchanging." In that case, one can see that Pharaoh is to blame for his own predicament.

An excellent example of why I don't use Lexham opinion products. They're presented as a given, and worse in the sense lexicon, the diagram assumes semantics and language theory,  2-3 thousand years later.

How did you decide the other Sense choice was inappropriate (make stubborn)?

MJ. Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1232215#Comment_1232215

DMB said:

They're presented as a given, and worse in the sense lexicon, the diagram assumes semantics and language theory,  2-3 thousand years later.

The same is true of glosses, morphology, syntactic structures, semantics ... you've got to go with Pāṇini's Sanskrit to get "modern" linguistics in 500 BC.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1232217#Comment_1232217

MJ. Smith said:

The same is true of glosses, morphology, syntactic structures, semantics

Well, I'd hate to go with glosses.  In the Lexham products they bounce around (choose your gloss, any one ... pick one!).  But if one proposes to do a 'sense' lexicon that is a step above ones favorite translation (which are forced into 1-2 words), then one would need to discuss the coloration, if even known ... and no need to head for Sanskrit.  I would suspect the actual usage is in the 'magical' arena (Pharoah being a lesser diety).

Kiyah

Take a look at the LBD bibliography on 'Hardness and Dullness of Heart'

David Wanat

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1232215#Comment_1232215

DMB said:

David Wanat said:

One unexpected result came by experimenting with the L10 Bible Sense Lexicon tool (I really need to start experimenting more and read the manual). Using the word harden where it is attributed to God, it shows a sense of "to make unchanging." In that case, one can see that Pharaoh is to blame for his own predicament.

An excellent example of why I don't use Lexham opinion products. They're presented as a given, and worse in the sense lexicon, the diagram assumes semantics and language theory,  2-3 thousand years later.

How did you decide the other Sense choice was inappropriate (make stubborn)?

I simply pointed out it was an interesting added nuance. But I expect anything further said will probably reflect a debate over different Christian understandings of grace than etymology.

mab

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1231862#Comment_1231862

RHC said:

G. K. Beale, “An Exegetical and Theological Consideration of the Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart in Exodus 4–14 and Romans 9,” Trinity Journal 5, no. 2 (1984), p129-154.

This was rather above my technical skill, but it's very meticulous and Beale is good at explaining what it all means. Fascinating read. Thanks for posting it. 

David Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1232729#Comment_1232729

If you have the issue of Bib Sac, Chisholm's article seems to take a correct approach. I only read partly through it, but it seemed sound as far as I read.

Chisholm, Robert B., Jr. “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament.” Bibliotheca Sacra 153, no. 612 (1996): 410–34.