The Torah portion we left off at was Vaera, meaning, “I appeared.” You can find this story in Exodus 6:2-9:35. We must try hard to avoid an essential enemy in this portion- a hard heart. Pharaoh hardened his heart seven times from Exodus 7:13-9:35. Previously, I explained that the number seven often symbolizes completeness or wholeness. This understanding would tell us that Pharaoh’s heart was completely hard.
Translators define a few Hebrew words as hard. Hazaq is one such word, which means to strengthen, to be firm, resolute, courageous, or hard. The scriptures mention hazaq seven times to point out that Pharaoh resolved to wholly harden his heart. Kabad is used six times and means to be heavy-hearted, dull, difficult, or oppressive. The number six should always refer to the sixth day of creation when God created man as king. In other words, kabad describes a man’s or king’s heart towards God. Before you reach the seventh day, human hearts can have a hard or soft posture. We are kings over our lives, submitting to a higher power or ruling with personal strength. Men are the kings of their homes, leading their families down chosen paths, and then there are kings over nations who affect whether the subjects live in peace or chaos, prosperity or famine, and death or life.
Proverbs 21:1: The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
People often point out that the Holy One hardened Pharaoh’s heart multiple times. In most of those examples, hazaq is the word used, which we can understand as God strengthening Pharaoh’s heart to continue on the path he had already chosen, but he was getting too weak to finish what he started. In other verses, we find that when we rebel against God’s instructions, He hands us over to our foolish choices.
Romans 1:24-25: Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
What does it mean to harden our hearts? We can look at the fruit that a hard heart produces to answer that question. For one, Pharaoh would not shema. Yeshua says in Mark 12:29 that to shema or hear is the first commandment given to Israel. Pharaoh would not listen to Moses and Aaron speaking on God’s behalf (Exodus 7.13 & 8.15). Number two, Pharaoh would not obey the commands of the Holy One (Exodus 7.14 & 8.32). When the Egyptians and Israelites found reprieve and relief from the plagues, Pharaoh became more oppressive because of his hard heart (Ex 9.7 & 9.34). Hard hearts make us rule over others harshly. Pharaoh refused to repent or teshuvah in Hebrew even after multiple plagues. A hard-hearted king also influences his subjects to be hard-hearted (Ex 10.1). We can find the connection between a hard heart and a lack of repentance in 2 Chronicles 36:13. These are the consequences of a hard heart, and we must intentionally guard our hearts against this state of being.
“And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel.”
What are the fruits of God hardening our hearts? The Holy One strengthens our resolve to rebel to show His might and power (Ex 10.1 & Rm 9.17). To give us what we want until we realize it will leave us empty, causing the humble to turn towards repentance (Rm 1.24 & 2 Chr 36.13). He gives the kings of the nations a hard heart to deliver the oppressed from their grip, as we can see in Deuteronomy 2:30. God also has the power to soften our hearts, which is a reaction to humility. This knowledge is crucial to give us hope on our spiritual journey.
The author of Job 9:4 tells us, “God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?”
Not one human being has succeeded with a hard heart yet. Even Yeshua tells his followers in the Gospels that God allowed for divorce due to our hard hearts (Mk 10.5). He also said that the disciples’ hearts were hard when they did not understand the point of Yeshua miraculously feeding the thousands. This inability to understand who Yeshua was should point us to the Hebrew word kabad, which can mean having a dull heart, causing us to fail to recognize and understand divinity.
Matthew 13:15: For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.
Mark 6:52: For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
In the end, let’s keep our hearts soft so that we can hear and understand God’s words. Understanding His words is essential in our spiritual walk and healing. Let’s keep a heart of repentance so that we can be healed and help others heal. Our pliable hearts will help us see the blessings and divine hand throughout our days, weeks, months, and lives so that we can experience the power of the Holy One and His loving heart towards us.
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