Maureena’s Torah Reflections

Parashat Bo. Exodus 10:1-13:16

The Parashah this week begins with a very troubling text for me:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his officials, in order that I may show these signs of mine among them. (Ex. 10:1)

Who can love such a God? To harden Pharaoh’s heart with the result that Pharaoh and Egyptians are killed!

This question led me to reread all the accounts of the plagues and I discovered that Pharaoh hardened his own heart in the first five plagues. Then God is accused of hardening Pharaoh’s heart in the last 5 plagues.

So what does it mean that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart since it is already hardened? Could God be blamed because God created humans with free will, i.e., God gave humans the power to harden their own hearts, so in this sense God is to blame for the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. But that is stretching the truth. Pharaoh hardened his own heart, and God, so to speak, weeps at the death of the Egyptians.

In the Talmud, Megillah 10b, it says that on seeing the drowning Egyptians the angels were about to break into song when God silenced them declaring, “How dare you sing for joy when My creatures are dying?”

Can we recognise the graced acts of conciliation and peace-building to be found even when the wider picture seems to be one of human conflict and enmity?

Pharaoh hardens his own heart

1. Turning water to blood: Ex. 7:14–24 — Pharaoh said, “No never: (10:11)
2. Frogs: Ex. 7:25–8:11,15 — Ex. 8:15, But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
3. Lice or gnats (Ex:8:16-19) — Ex. 8:19 And the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
4. Flies *Ex. 8:16-8:32 — But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and would not let the people go. Ex. 8:32
5. A deadly pestilence (Ex. 9:1-7) — But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the people go.

God Hardens the Heart of Pharaoh

6. Boils: Ex. 9:8-12 — Ex. 9:12 But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had spoken to Moses. Ex. 9:12
7. Hail: Ex. 9:13-35 — But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned once more and hardened his heart, he and his officials (9:34).
8. Locusts: Ex. 10:1-20 (the beginning of this week’s parashah). — Go to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart (Ex. 10:1)
9. Three days of darkness: Ex. 10:21–29 — But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. Ex. 10:27.
10. Death of the firstborn son: Ex. 11:1–12:36 — but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go out of his land. Ex. 11:10

                 Prepared by Prof. Sr. Maureena Fritz nds

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