The Weekly Parsha (Va'era) = [I Appeared]

The Weekly Parsha (Sidrah) 

Torah: Sh'mot (Ex.) 6:2-9:35

Haftarah: Yechezk'el (Ezekiel) 28:25-29:21

Messianic Scriptures: Rom. 9:14-17
2Cor. 6:14-7:1

For this week's Parasha commentary I would like to concentrate on Sh'mot (Ex.) 9:16:

And in very deed for this cause have I raised you [pharaoh] up, for to show in you My power;
and that My name [YHVH] should be declared throughout all the earth.

This passage summarizes this weeks Torah Parsha that deals with the name of YHVH and with Pharaoh's heart being hardened. I find two important points that I would like to deal with in this Parsha:

1. First I would like to deal with the very important phrase, "My name should be declared in all the earth."

It is very significant that despite the modern tradition the actual written Torah does NOT support the concept of the ban on using the name of YHVH. In fact this passage from the Torah makes it clear that such a ban is at odds with the Torah itself.

 

2. Secondly, I would like to deal with the phrase "I raised you up."

The phases "YHVH hardened the heart of Pharaoh..." Sh'mot (Ex.) 9:12 and "...I [YHVH] raised you [Pharaoh] up..." (9:16) have caused no small amount of confusion. Some have misunderstood these phrases as indicating that Pharaoh had no freewill in these matters. Some have used this material to propagate the Hellenistic philosophy of Fatalism under the new name "Predestinationalism." A theology which differs greatly with that found in the Mishna:

"All things are foreknown, but freewill is given"
Rabbi Akiba (early second century) quoted in Avot 3:15

Much of the confusion is centered around a misunderstanding of this weeks Messianic Scripture reading of Rom. 9:14-17 and actually all of Romans 8:27-9:29.

The first reason for misunderstanding this Parsha is the misunderstanding of the phrase "YHVH hardened the heart of Pharaoh..." To English speakers this seems to give the false impression that Pharaoh had no real choice in the matter. This passage is actually a Hebrew idiom in which an active verb is used to express not the doing of a thing, but permission to do it. Some other good examples of this idiomatic expression are:

Yirmeyahu (Jer. 4:10) "L-rd YHVH, surely you have greatly deceived this people,..."
(Actually YHVH allowed the people to be deceived)

Mattityahu (Mt. 6:13) "And do not lead us into temptation..."
(Actually He allows us to be tempted. compare Ya'akov (James) 1:13-14)

So YHVH did not force Pharaoh to reject Moshe's message. Pharaoh was not a believer (Sh'mot 5:2) and had hardened his own heart (Sh'mot 8:15) of his own freewill.

The other phrase "for this cause I raised you up" simply means that G-d created Pharaoh and had allowed him to live and rise to power.

Now let us examine Sha'ul's (Paul's) use of this passage (Rom. 9:17 = Sh'mot 9:16) in this weeks reading from the Messianic Ketuvim  (Rom. 9:14-17).

In this section of Romans (8:26-9:29) Sha'ul (Paul) compares G-d's promise to believers to his promise to Israel. Romans 8:29-30 reads literally from the Aramaic:

And from beforehand he knew them and marked them
with the likeness of the image of his Son
that he might be the firstborn of many brothers.

And those which beforehand he marked, he called and those whom he called he justified and those whom he justified he glorified.

Here the Aramaic does not deal with predestination, but with foreknowledge. The text goes on to compare G-d's promise to believers with His promise to Israel (Rom. 9:1-4). Paul does this by giving a homiletic midrash which uses the second rule of Hillel (for info on the seven rules of Hillel see Bereshit (Gen.) 21:12 to Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 1:9 (Sha'ul's version of Yesha'yahu (Is.) 1:9 likely agreed with the LXX, (Septuagint) based on the word "seed." Paul tells us that G-d has elected/chosen Israel (Rom. 9:11). Sha'ul quotes passages from the Tanakh to prove this (Rom. 9:12 = Bereshit (Gen. 25:23); Rom. 9:13 =Mal'akhi (Mal.) 1:2-3) It should be noted that G-d "hated" Esav (Esau) for giving up his inheritance of his own free will (Bereshit (Gen.) 25:24-34)

Sha'ul (Paul) then quotes from the Torah:

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
(Sh'mot (Ex.) 33:19 = Rom. 9:15)

This highlighting G-d's sovereign right to choose Israel.

Now Sha'ul refers to this week's Torah Parsha (Rom. 9:17 = Sh'mot 9:16), which we have discussed above.

Sha'ul then presents us with the parable of the potter and the clay (Rom. 9:19-21) a parable common in Jewish literature (Yesha'yahu (Is.) 29:16; 45:9; Yirmeyahu (Jer.) 18:1-10 and Wisdom 12:12, 20; 15:7). In this parable the potter is G-d and the clay is man. The point of the parable is that G-d is sovereign over man, just as the potter is sovereign over the clay. Sha'ul uses this parable to justify the fact that G-d made Israel his chosen/elect while "hating" Esav (Esau) and allowing Pharaoh's heart to be hardened. It should be noted that in Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah's) account of this parable we are reminded that G-d, in exercising his sovereignty, responds to our freewill choices (Yirmeyahu (Jer.) 18:8, 10) and condemns those who ascribe this to fate by stating that we have no freewill (Yirmeyahu (Jer.) 18:12) a point also reflected in the Messianic Scriptures (2Tim. 2:20-21).

Therefore, Sha'ul's point in Rom. 9 is not to promote the Greek philosophy of Fatalism, or to indicate that men have no freewill. Instead Paul's point is to defend G-d's sovereign right to choose Israel. Moreover this weeks Torah Parsha does not strip Pharaoh of his freewill but does express His sovereign right to create Pharaoh and to bring Pharaoh to power.


 

Shabbat Shalom,

Rab Davis