Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Bryan Rocine wrote:

> [...] YHWH is not explicitly named as the one hardening P's heart until 
> after it
> is clearly established that P is hardening his own heart. [...]

But, Bryan, how can YHWH harden Pharaoh's heart if his heart is already 
hardened? It
doesn't make sense. It also disregards the Piel stem used to indicate the act 
of
'hardening' -- it is a causative-intensive. The Hebrew text seems to make 
clear that
whatever Pharoah's reaction to things is, it is all directed by YHWH anyway. 
Whether
the fact is mentioned before or after Pharaoh's reaction to the plagues is 
irrelevant.
It is also irrelevant whether Pharaoh's reaction is aimed at himself, Moses, 
the
Israelites, or YHWH. What Exo 10:20 states is that the hardening of Pharaoh's 
heart
had an external source, in this case, YHWH.

IF (and that's a big IF) you are going to read Calvinist or Arminian theology 
into the
Hebrew text at this point, then you would have to say that the Hebrew text 
supports a
Calvinist interpretation. BUT, this is probably getting outside the 
parameters of
B-Hebrew.

Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
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