Some Thoughts on an Exodus Theme
Part 4d: KABED
We’ve been discussing the leitmotif of the hard heart as it has been told in the Exodus story. In doing this, we are answering three fundamental questions:
1. What is being “hardened” when the Bible speaks of the “heart”?
2. What does it mean for the heart to be “hardened”?
3. And who does the hardening?
The first and the third questions have been answered (see here and here). We’re now in the midst of sorting out the second question: what does “harden” mean? To do this, we’ve been looking at the English phrase “hard heart” in its original Hebrew to explore the connotations of the phrase.
An analogy we’ve presented has been borrowed from the classic dystopian scifi film, “The Matrix”. In the film, Neo is offered the choice: take the Blue Pill and stay blissfully ignorant of the Truth or take the Red Pill and see “how deep the rabbit hole goes”.
The rabbit hole begins with three verses from Exodus where the phrase appears.
The Lord said to Moses, ‘When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will HARDEN HIS HEART so that he will not let the people go.
Exodus 4:21
But I will HARDEN PHARAOH’S HEART, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt,
Exodus 7:3
Now the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh; for I HAVE HARDENED HIS HEART and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him…
Exodus 10:1
In each of these verses, a different Hebrew word lies behind the English word “hard”: CHAZAQ, KABED, and QASHAH. In the previous article, we unpacked CHAZAQ. In this one, we’re taking a look at KABED.
Stay alert. This Red Pill is Heavy
The next verb in frequency of occurrence (9x) is the one from Exodus 10:1 above. That word is KABED (כָּבַד). It can be found 115 times in the Hebrew Bible. Here’s an example outside of Exodus, from Genesis 13:2:
Abram had become very WEALTHY in livestock and in silver and gold.
What? Wealthy? So, God made Pharaoh’s heart wealthy, not hard? Wait. There’s more.
18 And their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 So the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was MORE HONORABLE than all the household of his father.
Genesis 34:18-19
What in the world? We have KABED translated as “wealthy”. Then we have it as “honorable”? Confused? The next example will not clear things up.
Let MORE WORK be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words.
Exodus 5:9
KABED (כָּבַד) usually translates as “to be heavy or weighty”. As a verb, it occurs 115 times in the Hebrew Bible. As an adjective, it’s found 43 times. It’s the root word for the noun KABOWD (כָּבוֹד), which most often gets translated as “glory”, which occurs 200 times in the Text.
So you shall tell my father of all MY GLORY in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.
Genesis 45:13
The sight of THE GLORY of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
Exodus 24:17
And one cried to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of HIS GLORY!”
Isaiah 6:3
Then she named the child ICHABOD, saying, “THE GLORY has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
1 Samuel 4:21
In Hebrew, the name Ichabod is a compound word: IY (which means “not”) and KABOWD (which means “glory). In Hebrew, it read like this: כָבוֹד֙ אִֽי.
A final example from Exodus will add to the confusion because the verse also includes CHAZAQ:
And I will HARDEN (CHAZAQ) Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I WILL GAIN GLORY (KABED) for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.’ So the Israelites did this.
KABED gets translated as “hard” in no other place except these fe verses in Exodus. I understand how “heavy” or “weighty” leads to “glory” because glory is heavy. It is significant. But why do English translators render it as “hard” in these Exodus verses? What is going on with this word?
Being heavy or weighty seems like it should be a good thing, doesn’t it? How is it that we infer negative connotations to Pharaoh’s heart being KABED? Are you confused? I may be unable to clear up the confusion, but we can find some rich meaning in the Text.
So, Pharaoh’s heart became heavy?
This is where the Eqyptian context matters. In Egyptian mythology, after death each person’s life was weighed on a scale to determine whether they were worthy of the afterlife. This principle is named for the goddess MAAT in ancient Egyptian religion. Their heart is weighed on a scale against Maat’s feather. If the heart is heavier than the feather, the deceased is devoured by a monster and ceases to exist.
To say that Pharaoh’s heart is KABED is to accuse him of grave sin in the Egyptian worldview. The heart is not hard, but rather heavy…and therefore, Pharaoh is unworthy.
So, we have pointed out that the Exodus story portrays Pharaoh with a strong heart. It portrays him with a heavy (and therefore unworthy) heart. What about the third Hebrew word. QASHAH? Stay tuned…
