It should be noted that Fohrman twisted together so much additional material in typical rabbinic fashion that won't be dealt with here. You may remember me linking this same teaching as we touched on the story of Jacob, Joseph, and the Passover (“B'hor in a Box”, parts one and two). Any rabbi training in the methods of rabbinic teaching/learning will lead the student through a process of discovery. Fohrman poses a number of seemingly unrelated questions in the first handful of videos. The questions appear to be so unrelated that the viewer begins to wonder if he's got the video playlist in the correct order. Even as the teaching comes together, more questions continue to form. This is an Eastern way of learning. The questions actually pull you along on the path of discovery. As we've discussed before, the world of the Bible is not propositional in nature as we often learn in the West.
A few of Fohrman's questions will remind you of some of those we asked in the last post. Why does God take so long to free the Hebrews? Is it really necessary to draw the process out through ten plagues? Isn't there an easier way to go about freeing His people than having to wade through the destruction, confusion, and bloodshed of the nation of Egypt? Even if judgment on the Egyptians is necessary, why can't this be done in only five plagues? Or three? Or even just one mighty act? Wouldn't that be more efficient?
One of the initial observations made by Fohrman is Pharaoh's overwhelming concern with control. An example of this (emphasized as well in the midrash surrounding the teaching) is the plague of frogs. When Pharaoh asks Moses to plead to the Lord to do away with the frogs, Moses agrees and asks Pharaoh when he would like the frogs to be gone. It's an interesting question to ask Pharaoh, don't you think? If your land is covered in frogs and you get asked when you'd like them to leave, what is the obvious answer? Now! Yesterday! ASAP!
But Pharaoh's choice? Tomorrow.
When the livestock of the Egyptians are plagued, Pharaoh sends out his servants to check and see not how his livestock are doing, but that of the Hebrew people.
Why is this? Because Pharaoh's biggest concern is about control. In Egyptian belief, Pharaoh was considered to be the great high priest to the Egyptian gods. Because Pharaoh does his work, the gods are appeased and give us what we need to survive. Pharaoh helps us maintain order. I believe that to some extent, even Pharaoh believed this about his job as ruler. But Pharaoh has his limitations. He understands that he only has so much control over those elements that he influences. Yet here is a God who claims to have absolute authority and control. This intrigues Pharaoh.
And the door begins to creep open to understanding the story behind the story of the plagues.
Eventually, Fohrman begins a word study surrounding the Hebrew language in the story of the plagues. He points out this conversation that we have about Pharaoh's hard heart. It really is quite a conundrum. Sometimes God hardens Pharoah's heart. Sometimes Pharaoh hardens his own heart. And sometimes we're told nothing more than Pharaoh's heart is hardened. This has baffled readers in many different faith traditions for thousands of years.
One fun conversation (as a side note) is what an Egyptian reader would hear throughout this conversation. According to Egyptian mythology, whenever a person dies (particularly people of high rank and nobility), their soul is brought by the gods on the Nile to the afterlife. This afterlife scene is always depicted at the Nile River, because the crocodile god, Sobek, is the god of the afterlife. The gods present the heart of the deceased to Sobek who is always pictured holding a set of scales. On one side of the scale is the “weight of goodness;” on the other side of the scale Sobek will place the heart of the deceased. If the heart is “light” he is invited to the paradise of the afterlife where the gods reside. If the heart is “heavy” then the deceased was evil and is taken into the underworld with Sobek. The Hebrew word for “harden” is also the word for “heavy.” So an Egyptian reader would hear the story say that Pharaoh's heart is getting heavier and heavier as he denies the Hebrews freedom. (This is not adapted from Fohrman's teaching, but from that of Ray VanderLaan).
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| Sobek weighing a heart |
The startling fact is that there are two different Hebrew words for “harden” at work in the story of the plagues. One of the words used in the story is kavad. This word means to harden, to heavy, to make dense, to make insensible. Essentially, I always hear this word to mean “to stupid.” It's as if a veil is being pulled over the heart so that it cannot see what is really taking place. Sometimes, Pharaoh kavads his heart. And sometimes God kavads his heart. Sometimes Pharaoh doesn't want to see what's really going on. Sometimes God doesn't want Pharaoh to see what's really going on.
The other Hebrew word that is used in the story is the word chazak. It means “to strengthen;” Joshua is told by God “chazak va'amatz” — “be strong and courageous.” Some translations actually catch the word change, some translations do not. After the plague of the livestock, Pharaoh's heart changed. Up to this point in the story, Pharaoh's heart was kavad. He could not see it. But after the livestock, Pharaoh strengthens his heart and the story changes. Now, Pharaoh can see what's going on and now he's choosing not to yield to God's story.
You see, this isn't a story about God ruthlessly taking out His vengeance on Pharaoh. In fact, to the contrary, this is a story about God relentlessly pursuing Pharaoh's heart. All throughout the plagues, we see a God who isn't willing to give up on Pharaoh! He begins to dismantle Pharaoh's worldview. He takes the polytheistic world of the Egyptians and He begins to do battle against the Egyptian gods — not Pharaoh (and that's in the Text; it's what God tells Moses [see Exodus 12]). When Pharaoh finally sees the control that God has, he then has to make a decision. Does he bow his knee? Does he trust the story and give up the power of empire?
Pharaoh strengthens his heart.
But God gives him one more chance. Two plagues later, God sends hail (literally translated from the Hebrew) that has flames of fire in it. Now this is REALLY something for the Egyptians, because the fire god and the ice god would NEVER work together, but this Hebrew God has control over even that reality. We see the struggle for Pharaoh in that he actually repents and admits his sin after the plague of hail (see Exodus 9:27–28)! But then, after sleeping on it, Pharaoh repents of his repentance and chazaks his heart again.
At this point, the story changes for Pharaoh. The next few verses will have God saying, “I have hardened [kavad] Pharaoh's heart.” Essentially, God says at the beginning of chapter ten that Pharaoh has had his chance and now the plagues will now run their course and the Hebrews will leave.
But can you believe this story? We began by asking the question of why God would waste so much time and be so brutal about rescuing His people. The answer is because it wasn't only about His people! It never has been! God has always been interested in restoring a good world. Didn't God tell Moses that he was to go and be “as God to Pharaoh”? You see, this whole story isn't about God's wrath on Egypt — it's about His love for every person. Even a ruler who claims to be god himself.
But God will not force Himself on anyone. And so when we have our own empires in our hearts and God comes and tries to show us our folly. There are times that we struggle to see it; there are plenty of days when our hearts are kavad. And quite frankly, there are days when God makes our hearts kavad because there's a desert we need to go through.
But sometimes, we do see what's truly going on. And there are dark, dark days where we look at the goodness of God and we survey all that we will be called to give up — and we chazak our hearts. And God will not force Himself on us. When we choose empire, He will weep and mourn and give us all the empire that our hearts desire.
But eventually, our empires fall. They always do. A day will always come when we find our armies and chariots lying at the bottom of the Red Sea. But it's my belief that God never stops seeking our redemption. He keeps insisting on a better way to live and keeps offering us citizenship in the Kingdom of Shalom.
This is God's invitation to trust the story.
Holla! Another good one :)
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