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.

Self-Diagnostic Quizzes Available!

Hey All!

We hope you have found this month's self-diagnostic quiz on the new tabs! Each month after the PT Live Session in NYC we will be posting these self-diagnostic quizzes online, along with the key posted on a separate page. Work as hard as you can to answer before looking at the key! The questions all come from your notes. If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

Harrigan
harriganmb@gmail.com

PS--if you have already taken the quiz, please note that in the PT.1 Genesis 1-11 quiz, there was an error that is now corrected. Question 4 should be C) We don't know for sure, NOT D) 400 years apart! Thanks!

Authorship, Attributions & Authenticity of Pseudonymous Writings

Most of us are acquainted with writings purported to be written by someone other than the true author. Examples of these are forged checks, plagiarized term papers or dissertations, diaries of the famous, ghost writing, books written by professors’ assistants, pen names, business memos written by secretaries ‘over my signature’, letters to the editor as a transparency device, etc. Unfortunately, some of these are designed to fool the reader while others are acceptable methods of documentary efficiency, or clever literary devices to make a point. When we speak of pseudonymous biblical writings, we do not instantly mean they are forgeries. Indeed, if any of them are forgeries, they do not deserve our attention. The question is whether a pseudonymous writing had any intent to deceive. We believe they do not.

1. Authorship: When we speak of authorship, we refer to the actual person who penned a piece of writing. So when we read the Letter to the Romans, we are certain that Paul was the author even if he asked a scribe to write it on his behalf, just as we are sure that Paul also authored the Letter to the Galatians although this time, he write the letter by his own hand. In either case, Paul is known as the author of both letters.

2. Attribution:  A common and accepted practice called attribution has existed within the biblical tradition for centuries. An author writes in the name of, and attributes his material a revered figure of the past. Examples of attribution include the Pentateuch to Moses, the Psalms to David and the Wisdom books to Solomon. During the Hellenistic times of the first Christian century, it was accepted practice to write in the name of famous philosophers of the past, including almost all the great figures of Greek and Roman intellectual history. The early church continued this practice. Many letters were composed and published in the name of Bishop Ignatius after the death by disciples who wanted to extend and spread his teachings.

3. Authenticity: But do the attributed letters of Ignatius make them authentic? Today, modern scholarship can readily distinguish ‘authentic’ from ‘inauthentic’ letters of Plato and Ignatius. But here, the word authentic does not refer to the contents as fake but rather to the attribution of authorship as untrue. What is then untrue is the ostensible identity of the author. But the content is not considered untrue or fake. In other words, an inauthentic attributed authorship does not render a text a forgery.

4. Forgery: Scholars such as Bart Ehrman may be too quick to claim that uncertain authorship points to forgery. In fact, any disputed authorship means simply that – it could be disputed either way. Paul may well have written the final form of Ephesians that we have inherited, or it may be a later edition written by someone else. This tells us nothing about whether it was a forgery or simply a non-Pauline source. It may be a pseudonymous writing, where the author chose not to reveal his or her identity.

5. Pseudonymity: A pseudonymous writing simply means that the writer did not wish to be named and left a false identity. There may be a variety of reasons why. Examples of this include Samuel Clemens who wrote as Mark Twain and Mary Ann Evans who wrote under the name George Elliot. Among biblical writings, it is often because the writer does not wish to draw attention away from the authority of the texts he has been privileged to convey.

6. Disputed authorship of pseudonymous writing in the NT: Of the 22 NT letters, only eight are undisputed as to their authorship: They are, in order of publication: Galatians,1 Thessalonians, Romans, 1, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon, and Revelation.