I am thinking today about how dangerous it is when tyrannical people are not afraid of consequences, and of a drash I was taught once about Bo, centered around the translations of 'kaved' and 'chazek'.
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These are the two words about Pharaoh's heart in this whole section - 'kaved' is what gets usually translated as 'hardened' and 'chazek' is what usually gets translated as 'stiffened'. But those are very specific, and not necessarily intuitive translation choices.
'Kaved' can mean heavy, weighty, insensible. Translating it as 'hardened' makes sense, in a way, because heavy and insensible in this instance definitely comes across as 'unmoveable'. But the connotation of *how* it's unmoveable matters.
'Hardened' creates an impression that his heart would naturally be softer, more vulnerable, except that it has been made artificially impenetrable. Made heavy or weighty creates the impression that the natural state of his heart has been made less susceptible to uncertainty.
It also has interesting resonances with actual Egyptian thought, which was of course very concerned with the *weight* of the heart - see the whole 'weighing of the heart' motifs in the visual everyone has of the Egyptian afterlife.
Given the experience of Mitzrayim, people of Moses' time would be quite familiar with the question of the heart and weight, so I wonder if that is a factor.
The feather the heart is being weighed against in those images is the symbol/representation of justice and correct action.
Combining the Egyptian take with the drash you are discussing I - speaking as an Egyptian-influenced pagan - am struck by the idea that the Pharaoh's natural inclination *away* from justice in this story is being brought to light by the nudged weight of his heart.
'Kaved' is also the word for liver - an organ associated in Judaism with strong emotion. The heart is associated with rational thought and wisdom. So another reading is that Pharaoh's heart has been made like his liver - more controlled by emotion, less by rationality.
I love that you guys are given scripture in the form of poetry, so study requires not only wisdom but depth and sensitivity of feeling. No wonder one of the big prophets who got that made such a big impression.
'Chazek' - the one translated as 'stiffened' - is more usually translated as strengthened, encouraged, made firm and resolute. Here, too, translating as 'stiffened' is a choice with specific connotations.
The interpretation that I've seen suggested - and that makes sense to me - is that God's proverbial finger on the scale here is making Pharaoh's actual will *more* apparent.
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The feather the heart is being weighed against in those images is the symbol/representation of justice and correct action.