{"id":53736,"date":"2019-04-15T18:30:20","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T15:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=53736"},"modified":"2022-11-07T14:04:45","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T12:04:45","slug":"more-hardening-of-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/more-hardening-of-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"More Hardening Of Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“For it was the LORD\u2019s doing to stiffen their hearts to give battle to Israel, in order that they might be proscribed without quarter and wiped out, as the LORD had commanded Moses” (Joshua 11:20).<\/span><\/p>\n

In our chapter, God hardens the hearts of the Canaanite kings, so that they will wage war against the Israelites, and be utterly destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n

What does it mean, \u201cto harden one\u2019s heart\u201d? In the Torah, this \u201cheart hardening\u201d seems to be God\u2019s standard procedure to get tyrants overthrown. It teaches us that oppression and corruption ultimately do not pay, and lead up to defeat and destruction.<\/span><\/p>\n

We remember that, long before hardening the hearts of the Canaanite rulers, God hardens the heart of Pharaoh, so that the plagues can take place, and the Israelites can leave Egypt. Pharaoh irreducibly made himself prisoner of a reality from which he could not escape; his worldview became petrified, and he himself became a slave to his addiction to power, which led to his defeat.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the time of their conquest by Joshua and the Israelites, the Canaanites had been ruled by kings whose conduct were as despicable as Pharaoh\u2019s. However, their whole situation had aggravating circumstances in relation to Egypt\u2019s. Pharaoh was a recent despot, and his people suffered the consequences of his lack of repentance; but they did not deserve to be wiped out of the face of the earth. The Canaanites, through their exposure to the evil ways of their rulers over generations, had gradually become more and more corrupt, hence irredeemable. The hardness of their hearts was too ingrained to be reversed.<\/span><\/p>\n

God hardens the hearts of tyrants by exposing them to an evil inclination, to which they become enslaved. However, there are always ways out of defilement. When the Hebrews in Egypt reach their lowest level of degradation, this is when they cry out to God for help. The corruption of Egypt had certainly contaminated them; yet, from the depths of their abasement, they find their voice to call out for physical redemption \u2013 and their spiritual redemption ensues as a consequence.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hardness of a tyrant\u2019s heart is contagious. If it is not checked, it will spread out to the hearts of its subjects and model their behavior, thus creating systemic evil, which will be only eradicated by utter destruction.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":53737,"id":53737,"title":"jo11-hard-heart","filename":"jo11-hard-heart.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo11-hard-heart.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/more-hardening-of-hearts\/jo11-hard-heart\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo11-hard-heart","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53736,"date":"2019-04-15 15:30:03","modified":"2022-04-26 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Hardening Of Hearts","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Addiction to power is the downfall of tyranny","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":53737,"id":53737,"title":"jo11-hard-heart","filename":"jo11-hard-heart.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo11-hard-heart.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/more-hardening-of-hearts\/jo11-hard-heart\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jo11-hard-heart","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53736,"date":"2019-04-15 15:30:03","modified":"2022-04-26 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