HARDENED HEART

“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the LORD.’”
Exodus 10:1-2

In following along with the Torah portions, or the Parashah, you will find that this week’s reading is titled ‘BO’, which translates to go or come, and is taken from Exodus 10:1 as the first word Adonai spoke to Moshe in this passage. “Go to Pharaoh…” There was a reason for which Adonai was telling Moshe to visit Pharaoh. He had already purposed that Pharaoh’s heart would be hardened for it was in this hardened state that Adonai was about to deal harshly with the Egyptians.
And harshly He did. Already the Egyptians had suffered the plagues of blood instead of water, frogs, gnats, flies, dying livestock, boils, and hail. By the time we catch up with the story in Chapter 10, we find that Adonai is about to unleash three more plagues. The plagues to follow would be locusts, darkness, and the death of all first born sons. Although Adonai had shown His power already, more was still to come. However, with each phase and new plague, Adonai continued to keep Pharaoh’s heart hardened.
I have wondered why before, especially when Adonai desires that we stay pliable for Him to be able to use us. Why would He purposefully make a heart hard? And what does this really even mean? So, beings the way I am, I decided to find out. The word ‘hardened’ is defined as heavy, burdensome, and weighty in the Hebrew. With this understanding then, we see that He made Pharaoh’s heart heavy. If Adonai made Pharaoh’s heart heavy, then I see how this fits in with His main purpose. In a troubled state, Adonai would show His mighty hand through miraculous signs.
I take away two things from this passage. The first, even if mistranslated, is that I want my heart to open to Adonai for His use. I want to stay pliable before Him. But the second is maybe a little more comforting to me than it was to Pharaoh. There are times when I am troubled in my heart. Life doesn’t always seem to go the way I want it to. Yet even here, in this heavy moment, I have an assurance. Adonia will show His mighty hand through miraculous signs. I may not be completely sure of how He will do it, but as He works to take away my troubles and provide for me a peace, I wait on Him.

Exodus 10:1-11