WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING
Torah Portion: Parashat Va’era (“and I appeared”)
Shabbat: Jan. 21, 2023 / Tevet 28, 5783
Torah: Exod. 6:2-9:35
Prophets: Ezek. 28:25 – 29:21
New Covenant: Rom. 9:14-33
TODAY’S PRAYER OF AGREEMENT
Jesus’ Prayer For All Believers
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me”. John 17:20-23
The term hashgachah (הַשְׁגָּחָה) is sometimes used to refer to God's providential decrees. A midrash says, "God appoints an angel and tells it to cause a blade of grass to grow. Only then does that tiny blade flourish" (Bereshit Rabbah). There are no coincidences in God's universe; no "butterfly effect" apart from His hand.
In Jewish theology, there is elaborate discussion about how God's decrees (gezerah merosh) do not violate man's free will (bechirah chofshit). In general, the sages decided that hashgachah refers to events we can't control, whereas it's our responsibility to make godly choices. This compatibilism became enshrined in the maxim: "Everything is foreseen by God, yet free will is granted to man" (Pirke Avot 3:19).
Though this idea of reconciling God's omniscience and human freedom may seem paradoxical, the Scriptures actually go further and state that God's decrees can overrule human decision entirely. "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; He directs it to whatever He wishes" (Prov. 21:1). During the account of the Exodus, in several places the Torah says that the LORD "hardened Pharaoh's heart" (וַיְחַזֵּק יהוה אֶת־לֵב פַּרְעה) so that he would not change his mind and set the Israelites free. How do we make sense of this idea? Does this imply that people do not have free will (בְּחִירָת חָפְשִׁית) after all? The midrash (Shemot Rabbah) notes that God indeed hardened Pharaoh's heart, but only after the despot had already hardened it by refusing the message of the first five plagues (Exod. 7:22, 8:15, 8:19, 8:32, 9:7). After the sixth plague, however, the text reads, "And the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart" / וַיְחַזֵּק יהוה אֶת־לֵב פַּרְעה (Exod. 9:12). Notice that the word "hardened" comes from chazak (strong), suggesting that Pharaoh's will was made more resolute, defiant and obstinate. Such hardening of heart is a form of punishment (or correction). If someone refuses to submit to God and strengthens his or her resolve to do so, God may ratify the person's decision and foreclose repentance for a season... As Shemot Rabbah 13:5 says:
The Holy One, blessed be He, gives someone a chance to repent, and not only one opportunity but several chances: once, twice, three times. But then, if the person still has not repented, God locks the person's heart altogether, cutting off the possibility of repentance in the future.
Proverbs 28:14 says, "Happy is the man who fears always, but the one who hardens his heart will fall into evil." If we find ourselves opposing God, our punishment might be prolonged through the process of hardening. This is the phenomenological aspect of our own inward rebellion. Often we are not conscious of it within ourselves, and then -- when we are made conscious -- we find ourselves helpless to change direction. The sages wrote, "God leads men along a path which they themselves choose. If a man wants to be good, God leads him toward goodness; if he wants to travel an evil road, God helps him do that, too." "The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" (Prov. 16:9):