The Heart of Pharaoh

I suppose that objectifying other people is a fairly common, if not necessary, disposition for a king. The king’s job is to order society. He is allowed to be king because of his ability to successfully accomplish this – to impose order on the environment. People will give a lot of power in exchange for the certainty of order.

Pharaoh does not see Moses, Aaron or the people they represent as people. Instead the people are seen as resources to be used to better society or, in the case of Moses and Aaron, obstacles between Pharaoh and what he intends to accomplish.

We all have environments filled with shared space where other people dwell. What we owe each one is the recognition that each is a person whose life is nested in a narrative trajectory reflecting essence and purpose. We can attempt to crush that in order to force our agenda. But eventually the true power of the objectified resists even the most powerful dehumanizing effort.

The irony of attempting to bring certainty into being by crushing the most certain of all phenomena. It is a hard heart indeed.