This Week: Pharaoh's Heart | HDYRI Newsletter #63
Week of 12/20/24
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Last week in Episode 66 - Moses the Stutterer - Exodus 4:10-23, God’s wrath flares against Moses as the old Israelite wrestles with the command given to him by God. We considered some possible reasons God chose Moses in particular for the task of shepherding His people, thought through the quality of God’s wrath against Moses, and asked what it means that Moses ‘shall be a god to Aaron.’
This week in Episode 67 - Pharaoh’s Heart - Exodus 4:24-31, we address the tricky question of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh hardening his own heart, and Pharaoh’s heart hardening, laying out the differences of these notions as understood by the rabbis and the ancient Christian exegetes. We touch on a difficult bit about circumcision, and finish with a few thoughts on Job.
Episode 67 teaser:
Until next time!
If you are interested in digging deeper on your own, here are a few resources:
Ancient Christian reading practices:
Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture
Medieval exegesis:
Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of Scripture, Vol. 1
Medieval Exegesis : The Four Senses of Scripture, Vol. 2
Second Temple Judaism:
Two Gods in Heaven: Jewish Concepts of God in Antiquity
Torah with Rabbinic Commentary:
Bereishis Genesis, Part I and II, ArtScroll Tanach Series, Translation with Commentary
Mythological:
Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel
Literary approach:
René Girard
The same sun that melts butter, hardens clay