“But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn,
And he refused to let them [Israel] go.”
–Exodus 10:27
When dealing with difficult
scripture passages, one of the approaches that has been used since almost the
beginning of Christianity is to read it in what is sometimes called the four-fold method. This method seeks meaning in scripture on
more than one level. It looks at a passage and seeks one (or more) of four
different meanings in the passage: literal, allegorical, moral &
anagogical. Here is a clear
demonstration of this method offered by Dante (in a letter describing how his Divine
Comedy should be read).
“A
first sense derives from the letters themselves, and a second from the things
signified by the letters. We call the first sense "literal" sense,
the second the "allegorical", or "moral" or
"anagogical". To clarify this method of treatment, consider this
verse: When Israel went out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a barbarous people: Judea was made his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion (Psalm 113). Now if we examine the letters alone,
the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt in the time of Moses is
signified; in the allegory, our redemption accomplished through Christ; in the
moral sense, the conversion of the soul from the grief and misery of sin to the
state of grace; in the anagogical sense, the exodus of the holy soul from
slavery of this corruption to the freedom of eternal glory. they can all be
called allegorical.”
With this in mind, I was
wondering: how would this method help me in my reading of Exodus? Especially
those troubling passages about God and Pharaoh; i.e. how does Pharaoh’s
hardened heart look when read through this lens?
“But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn,
And he refused to let them [Israel] go.”
–Exodus 10:27
How would one apply the
four-fold method to reading this passage?
Literal, allegorical, moral, anagogical?
So –let’s put it to the test:
Literally, the Pharaoh was obstinate and would not
let the Israelites leave –but what is the lesson we are to learn from this
literal reading? Is it that God bestows
his mercy and love as He will and thus Pharaoh –in his sinfulness and
ignorance—became even more obstinate simply because God’s grace did not or was
not opened to him? Possibly because Pharaoh wasn’t open to it, or possibly
because God chose not to open Pharaoh’s heart. However, a lesson we might learn
from this literal reading is this: we cannot know God’s will or God’s plan and
so perhaps we shouldn’t be judging anyone; not even the Pharaoh or his hardened
heart.
Allegorically,
Pharaoh is sin and sin often becomes even more obstinate when confronted. Thus
we might read into this scene a vision of the Israelites lost in sin (Egypt) and
under the control of sin (Pharaoh)— and when God sends help and sin is
confronted by God’s message the sinful heart hardens; it grows more obstinate
and the sinner appears to fall even more powerfully under sin’s control.
Morally,
we see perhaps this: when we confront our sin (or confront sinners), sin may
become more emboldened and obstinate; temptations and sinful behaviors may
become more present and feel more powerfully in control –refusing to let us go. And we, slaves to sin, may feel more helpless
and unable to escape. But, we must not lose hope. This too may be part of God’s
plan.
Anagogical:
We are completely in God’s hands –at His mercy—and must put our hope in Him –in
His mercy –even when our sin refuses to leave us, even when we feel unable to
escape its hold—we must put our hope, our faith, our trust in the mercy of
God. That is our only way –that is the only
road out of Egypt, and it passes right
through Calvary.
Yes—for
me this is a troubling passage. But troubling isn’t bad. Most of the time, I’m
learning, troubling means God is asking me to slow down and pay a little more
attention.
