This morning we spent time in
YWBC thinking about one of the most troubling parts of the Exodus story, the
process by which Pharaoh’s heart becomes hardened. We usually refer to the
natural disasters which God visited upon Egypt, in order to bring Pharaoh to
his senses and make him aware of the need to set the people of Israel free, as
the ten plagues. But Exodus also describes these events as ten ‘signs’ (E.g. Exod
8:23).
As we discussed this morning,
my view on this story is not that God has predestined the response of Pharaoh from
the beginning. I suspect that if Pharaoh had paid attention to, say, the first
three signs, there would have been no need for the final seven. Take a look,
for example, at Exodus 4, where God is discussing the creative power he will loan
out to Moses to persuade the Israelites of his credibility as a leader. God
comes across not as someone with a blueprint, but as someone who is confident
he can respond to whatever challenges or objections Moses has to deal with.
In Exodus, the word often
used to describe Pharaoh’s hardness is kabed, which means strength – it
carries a sense of obstinacy, of arrogance. Even at the beginning of the plague
stories, Pharaoh is presented as someone who is stubborn and pride, the sort of
person with too much to lose from admitting their own faults or mistakes (not just
losing slaves, but losing face as well). There was probably never a strong
chance of Pharaoh being flexible with Moses. When God hardens Pharaoh’s heart,
it seems like he is merely strengthening a resolve and determination which is
already entrenched.
There are some people I know
who seem to become more and more set in their ways over time, more
bloody-minded and frustrated with the people and the world around them which,
unlike them, continues to change. Sometimes we describe these people as becoming
a ‘parody’ or ‘caricature’ of themselves, which sums up the way their behaviour
becomes more extreme. Whether these people are plain bad-tempered, or just have
an air of the ‘prima donna’ or ‘misery guts’ about them, there is one common
pattern. Over time, they alienate people. Those around them become frustrated
with them or wary, or even plain scared of them (I’ve known ‘scary’ people in
every church I’ve been part of), and so these folks drive away the friends who
might be able to offer them words of constructive criticism. I’m no expert on
psychology, but my sense is that this process does set in very early in some
people’s lives, and sadly reaches a point of no return for others. We find
ourselves able to predict how they will react badly in circumstances where they
don’t get their way.
It’s easy to read the plagues
story as just a demonstration of God’s greatness over the powers of the Empire.
But the case of Pharaoh’s hardened heart offers a deeper, personal challenge. And
it’s also worth reflecting that this is not the only part of the Exodus
narrative where people are becoming increasingly stubborn or ‘stiff-necked.’ In
the second half of the story, it’s Israel itself displaying increasingly
hardened behaviour. Pharaoh’s an easy target for insider readers of the story,
but sometimes the barriers to God within his people are as big as the barriers
outside. Specks in the eyes of others, planks in our own etc etc....
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