Below is a sample Q&A Submitted by Julie Toh of Australia from PT Online and some feedback. Julie has offered to share her Q&A submission in the hopes that we all might sharpen our exegetical and hermeneutic skills! Thanks Julie! Feedback is below Julie's response in GREEN.

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Exodus Question March 2011: 

Read chapters 4, 7-11, and 14. The primary function of the 10 plagues was so that the Egyptians will know who God is. What does it mean that Pharaoh hardened his heart(8:15, 32; 9:34), Pharaoh’s heart became hardened (7:13, 22; 8:19; 9:7, 35) and God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8)? When the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, does this absolve Pharaoh for his actions? Will God harden our hearts and what does it mean?(Exegesis) If God can harden our hearts, does this mean that we ought not be blamed for our unbelief? What lesson can we draw from this with respect to the nature of habits of the sinful heart?(Hermeneutics)

 

 

Context

 

Hardening of Pharaoh's heart was necessary for God's power to be displayed and shown to all.

Take a moment to consider "context"--the context is what is going on at the time. The context might be that Pharaoh refused to let Moses and his people go into the desert, or that he refused even after numerous experiences of God's plagues. What you are offering above is a kind of exegetical reading of the meaning of the text. We are all prone to jump to this. Rather, helping to identify the context, the history, the events before we offer our exegetical understanding of the text will help us to give a more responsible exegesis.  Here might be some examples of context:

• The Israelites are in Egypt, having lived there for 430 years.
• The Egyptians had a history of invading powers, such as the Hyksos, but are now ruling the land.
• Egypt is under the rulership of the son of the Pharaoh in power at the time of Moses’ youth.
• The Israelites are still under and aware of the Abrahamic covenant.  It is unclear if they are still living a life submitted to the Abrahamic covenant.
• The Israelites are under slavery, Pharaoh is fearful of their growing numbers (Exodus 1)

Exegesis

Pharaoh hardened his heart may mean that he had a chance to believe as miracles were performed in front of him and, time and time again, when the plagues became unbearable that he would believe and when the plague was removed that he would change his mind and in a sense, "talked" himself into disbelieving and caused his own heart to build a wall between God and him. This went on and on until this wall became unpenetrable that it is written that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. This does not absolve Pharaoh for his actions as he was given many chances to make the right choice. 

 Can you give me salient moments from the text itself (even just referenced by verse) of how you build 

 this exegetical understanding? 

Yes God may harden our hearts if necessary and it may mean that there's something we need to learn that is happening in front of us.   

This last sentence here is more of a hermeneutic point than an exegetical one. A distinct way that we can distinguish between the act of exegesis is in the pronouns. Are we talking about "them"--those in the past who wrote and were reading and making sense of the text? This would be exegesis. Or are we talking about "us"--how we make sense today of what was written about (or orally passed down) in the past? This would be hermeneutics. Another way to think of this is from the PT Handbook, "Apply yourself totally to the text (exegesis) and apply the text totally to your self (hermeneutics).

Hermeneutics
Yes even though God may harden our hearts, we do still have a choice/freedom to obey Him. When we disobey Him, usually the consequences of our sinful nature will catch up to us. In the end, everyone does get judged. The lesson we can draw from this is to always take heed of what God is telling us and obey.

This is a good hermeneutic in that it flows from your exegesis. However, be careful not to say more in your hermeneutics that you were able to glean from your exegesis. For example, maybe based on other passages of the bible that are familiar to you, you can say, "In the end, everyone gets judged." However, are you able to build and substantiate this hermeneutic from this particular text? One of the most important rules of hermeneutics to always keep in mind as we humbly approach each passage and its interpretation is "it cannot mean to me today what it did not mean to the writer and audience in their time. As you can see, this is why it is so important to work very hard towards a responsible, thorough exegesis.