The passuk says “וַאֲנִ֥י אַקְשֶׁ֖ה אֶת־לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְהִרְבֵּיתִ֧י אֶת־אֹתֹתַ֛י וְאֶת־מוֹפְתַ֖י בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may multiply My signs and marvels in the land of Egypt.”.
What does it mean to harden someone heart? Why did Hashem harden Pharoh’s heart? Where else in the Torah do we see that someone’s heart is hardened? If Hashem hardened Pharaoh’s heart why was he punished if Hashem made him do this bad deed?
Rashi says that Pharaoh is such a bad person and repeatedly went against Hashem that he deserves for his heart to be hardened and therefore he would have an even greater amount punishments against him in order to show Hashem’s power.
What other answers can you bring?
Siftei Chachamim comments on Rashis answer. Rashi says that Pharaoh's heart was hardened because he repeatedly defied Hashem, and will continue to defy if his heart is hardened. Is this action a tactic to force Pharaoh to go against Hashem’s will? Siftei Chachamim continues to say that if Pharaoh's heart wasn’t hardened, he would definitely repent, but his Tehsuva would not be done truthfully. And when Hashem brings the plagues and curses onto the Egyptians, everyone will say that Hashem curses, even when Teshuva was said, because it wouldn’t be known that Pharaohs Teshuva was fake. Therefore, Hashem had no option other than to harden his heart, because that way he was able to punish the Egyptians accordingly without any backlash.
ReplyDeleteI really like this answer, and goes to show that when Hashem punishes us, it’s for a reason. He wouldn’t punish us without purpose, and of proper Teshuva was said.
Ramban plains that the extra plagues weren't a punishment for פרעה’s stubbornness but rather, it was punishment for previous actions such as: oppressing Bnei Yisroel, throwing babies in the river and killing so many people. All these actions were done with free will. The hardening of Pharaoh's heart was a pretext, for the timing of Egypt's punishment. Hashem timed the punishment at this time to impress the Jewish People and show them Hashem controls everything. But פרעה and and the Egyptians got only what they deserved, based on their previous bad deeds.
ReplyDeleteI really like this answer because its shows that Hashem does not forget what you did in the past just like he didn’t just forget about all the bad that Pharaoh did. If Pharaoh would have done Teshuva then maybe Hashem might have forgave him and his heart would have never been hardened.
Why did Hashem harden Parohs heart? The Sforno explains that if Hashem let Paroh be, then he would collapse much quicker and just send the Jews on their journey. However, Hashem hardened Parohs heart because he wanted Paroh to watch and live through ALL of the makkot, so that he can learn repentance and realize his mistakes or past actions that caused this. The Sforno goes on to say that the lesson we can learn from this is that when we are in a time of suffering or hardships we must look back at our actions and realize that those actions could have been the reason for all of this! I really like this answer because it shows us that Hashem has everyone’s best interest in his heart because it seems like Hashem dragged out punishment for paroh, but really he wanted to teach Paroh an essential lesson of learning from your mistakes and apologizing/ taking responsibility for your actions!
ReplyDeleteRabbi Ari Kahn answers the question of why did Hashem harden Pharaohs heart? In Moshes time in Egypt, he is found to be running back and fourth between Pharaoh and Hashem. Of course Hashem has the upper hand, and he is the real God. By Hashem controlling Pharaohs heart, He is showing that He is the almighty, and He has the power to do anything.
ReplyDeleteI like this answer, but I don’t understand why Hashem would have to prove to Moshe that he is the almighty, and why would Moshe even be questioning Hashems power to begin with?
http://www.aish.com/tp/i/moha/48937417.html
The Ibn Ezra asks,” if Hashem hardened his heart what was his sin?” He answers by saying that Hashem gave wisdom to man, and gave him insight to the heart to be able to have more power to increase good actions and thoughts or to go away from his evil, he adds that the reason for the hardening of his heart is to increase Hashem's miracles. Also, Ibn Ezra adds Rabbi Yeshua’s statement that the reason was to allow him to suffer the plagues, but he rejects this statement and says that hashem wouldn’t do this to make someone suffer.
ReplyDeletePersonally I agree with Ibn Ezra on his answer and even more on his rejection of what Rabbi yehoshua said because why would hashem go out of his way to make his creation suffer. It makes much more sense that he did this was to increase his greatness and show the Egyptians that he is the real god and not theirs multiple gods.
Rambam explains that Pharaoh was winning intentionally, because he wanted to. Pharaoh wanted to hurt and abuse the Jew. When pharaoh was willing to do teshuva for the torture the Jews in Egypt, it wasn’t excepted. Hashem was only willing to except Pharaohs teshuva after he is punished for what he did. Therefore as punishment Hashem hardens his heart. I agree with this opinion because isn’t has a punishment that fits the crime. Pharaoh was cold and cruel when he tortured the Jews so as punishment Hashem hardens his heart
ReplyDeleteRabbi David shatz explains that hashem had to hearten parohs heart because if not Pharoh would have released the Jews because of the pressure of the plauges. Therefore, this would not have been pharaohs free will and would not have counted toward his teshuvah to the Jews. Further more he brings in the gaon who takes a different approach and says hardening of the heart has nothing to do with pharaohs decisions. Rather, the heartening of the heart was to further drag out the maccot giving the Jews a break. He also comments that heartening parohs heart just means that hashem strengthened pharaohs heart whitch mean that he did not let the plauges influence his decision to free the Jews.
ReplyDeleteI don’t agree with this however because I think the maccot definitely had a strong impact on pharaoh whitch is why in the end he finally let us go even though it had taken more maccot and more time to do so because hashem strengthened his heart.