Bo- meaning "Go"

Again, thanks Rabbi Jack for your contribution to helping us understand these passages

"It's Easy To Do"

Parashat HaShavua Bo / Go

This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 10:1-13:16
Yirmeyahu / Jeremiah 46:13-28
Korintim Aleph / 1 Corinthians 11:20-34

Shemot {10:1} HaShem said to Moshe (Moses), "Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them, {10:2} and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son's son, what things I have done to Mitzrayim (Egypt), and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am HaShem."
Why does HaShem harden a person's heart? I believe that He hardens a person's hearts for two reasons. First, so that His will can be accomplished through them and second, so that the person many know that He is G-d and there is no other. Both of these purposes are demonstrated through the Pharaoh of Mitzrayim as HaShem hardens his heart in preparation for the exodus of bnei Yisrael.
When most people read this week's Parasha they seem to always be concerned about HaShem saying that He hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Some people take it to mean that G-d hardens hearts indiscriminately. After drawing this conclusion, of course, they think that perhaps G-d is capricious and that He might, without reason, harden their heart one day as well. However, this is not the case. God does not just, without cause, harden a person's heart.
So how does HaShem choose whose heart He will harden? Our Torah portion this week answers that question for us:
Shemot {10:3} Moshe and Aharon (Aaron) went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, "This is what HaShem, the G-D of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
HaShem hardens the hearts of those who refuse to humble themselves before Him. Pharaoh had ample opportunity to humble himself before G-d, but did not. Pharaoh refused to humble himself because He considered himself a god. Therefore, God hardened his heart so that He could use him for his purposes, all be it to Pharaoh's demise.
Pharaoh is not unique in making himself out to be a god. Many people, even today, make themselves out to be gods. They do it by failing to acknowledge the one true God, the God of Israel, the God of heaven and earth. “I would never do something like that,” you say. Well, it is easier to make yourself out to be a god then you may think. Every time you say you are going to do something, accomplish something or go somewhere without acknowledging the sovereignty of G-d whose will you are under, and by whom you exist, then you make ourselves out to be a god.
Ya'acov (James) {4:13} Go to now, you that say, Today or tomorrow We will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: {4:14} Whereas you know not what shall be tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. {4:15} For that you ought to say, If the L-rd will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Without acknowledging G-d in everything we do it is like us saying that we are the ones who are in control; however, G-d is in full control of everything that takes place in our lives. We need to humble ourselves and stop thinking that our destiny is in our own hands. The only way to do that, the above Scripture tells us, is by always acknowledging G-d by parenthesizing everything we say with “G-d willing” . Think about it now. Think about how many times you have made yourself out to be a god, just like Pharaoh, and then repent. From this day forward acknowledge G-d in every thing you say and everything you plan to do. As an added incentive remember this parable that Yeshua shared with us.
Uri (Luke) {12:18} And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. {12:19} And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. {12:20} But God said unto him, you fool, this night thy soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which thou have provided?
Pharaoh's heart was hardened because he refused to honour G-d by humbling himself before Him. Do not let the same thing happen to you.
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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber