The text uses three different words: chazak (firm/strengthen), kaved (heavy/stubborn), and kashah (hard/stubborn).

Define

• Hebrew: kesheh (קשה),

  • from the word root ‘hard’ and literally translated as ‘harden’:
  • only used twice Exod-01:14, Exod-06:9 with Pharoah’s infliction of increasingly brutal working conditions on the Israelites

• Hebrew: kabad (כָּבַד) - to be heavy, make heavy

  • (used in Exodus 10:1 as hichbadti - I have made heavy/hardened)
  • from the root word for ‘weight’ or ‘heavy’ and gets translated as ‘becoming stubborn
  • has another meaning. It is more typically translated as ‘honor’ or ‘glory’.

• Hebrew: chazaq (חָזַק) (hazak) - to be strong, make strong, strengthen

  • (used in Exodus 10:20 as vayechazek - and he strengthened/hardened)
  • (also in Exodus 10:27)
  • most frequently used
  • from the word root ‘strong - to make stronger or more steadfast; suggests that Pharoah started with a hard heart, which became increasingly set in its hardness

• Greek: skleruno (σκληρύνω) - to harden

  • (equivalent in Septuagint and New Testament usage for hardening of heart)

Related words

• kashah (קָשָׁה) - to be hard, make hard/stubborn
• kaved (כָּבֵד) - heavy (adjective form related to kabad)
• chazeq (חָזֵק) - strong (adjective form related to chazaq)

Additional Info

• Multiple Hebrew roots appear in Exodus 10 for "hardened": kabad (heavy/stubborn) in verse 1, chazaq (strengthen/resolute) in verses 20 and 27.
• No Greek in original Old Testament passage; skleruno is the standard Septuagint/New Testament equivalent.

My Notes:

Ancient Egyptian belief - Weighing of the Heart"
- The people of this time would have understood it was an expression of the extent of Pharoah's guilt.
- Prov-21#v2 YHWH weights the heart
- Prov-24#v12 he who weighs the heart
- It does means stubborn, but to those familiar with the Egyptian idiom, it was a clear allusion to Pharaoh’s sinfulness.
- The ritual occurs in the underworld (Hall of Maat) before Osiris, where the deceased’s heart is weighed.
- The goddess Maat was the symbol of the cosmic order. The Egyptian personification of truth, justice, social order, and harmony
- The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart recorded all of the good and bad deeds of a person’s life, and was needed for judgment in the afterlife.
- If the heart is lighter than or equal to the feather of Maat, the person lived a righteous life and is granted entry into paradise, known as the Field of Reeds
- If the heart is heavy with sin, it is immediately devoured by the monster Ammit (a chimeric mix of lion, hippopotamus, and crocodile), resulting in the permanent destruction of the soul.
- The god Thoth (god of wisdom/writing) records the verdict of the weighing.
- The god of the Israelites was ensuring Pharaoh's judgment. The act allowed YHWH to showcase his superiority over Egyptian gods and ensure his reputation lasted.
- Pharoah's heart keeps getting heavier:
- Pharoah did on his own (7:13, 7:14, 7:22, 8:11, 8:15, 9:7 , 9:35)
- Exod-08:11 "he made his heart heavy"
- Exod-08:28 "But Pharaoh made his heart heavy"
- Exod-09:7 "yet Pharaoh made his heart heavy"
- Exod-09:24 "“I //Pharoah// stand guilty this time. YHWH is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong." v34 "he made his heart heavy"
- Attribute the heart hardening to God (4:21, 7:3, 9:12, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4, 14:8, 14:17)
- Exod-10:1 Then YHWH said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have made his heart heavy
- Exod-11:10 "but YHWH had fortified the heart of Pharaoh"

Connections