There are several chapters in the book of Exodus where Moses demands that Pharoah let the Israelites go, along with a warning not to “harden his heart.” Although it is common nowadays to speak of someone as being “hard-hearted,” archaeologists have discovered an artifact that further illuminates Moses’ use of this phrase.
It turns out that the Biblical use of the term is tied to an Egyptian practice called the Weighing of the Heart ceremony, the Egyptian equivalent of Judgement Day.
Archaeologists have translated the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and have discovered spells that are connected to the Weighing of the Heart ceremony spells that involve 42 Negative Confessions. These originated around 1570 BC at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty—the period in which Moses was born.
The Weighing of the Heart ceremony has been depicted on numerous papyri and on the walls of several tombs. One of the most famous of these depictions is found in the Book of the Dead chapter 125 prepared for Hunefer, an Egyptian scribe who lived around 1300 BC. Illustrated in full color with accompanying hieroglyphic text on a long roll of papyrus, the deceased is depicted standing in front of scales with their heart weighed against the feather of Ma’at (truth, order, justice). In the presence of the god Anubis, the god Osiris, and the demon Ammit (a strange demon goddess who seems to be part lion, part crocodile, and part hippopotamus), the deceased would recite a list of 42 negative confessions, in other words, 42 sins that they did not commit. (This made it easier to access paradise than a standardized list of sins one had committed.)
Under the watchful eye of Anubis, the heart was then weighed against the feather of truth. The Egyptians believed that the heart was made “heavy” with sin, so if the deceased had led a virtuous life, the heart would not outweigh the feather, and that person could go on to paradise. However, if the heart was heavy and weighed more than the feather of truth, the individual was judged to be evil and unworthy.
Since this practice was common in the time of Moses, who received a privileged education in pharaoh’s court in Egypt, he was very aware of the Egyptian theological concept of the heart being made heavy by evil deeds. He is directly referring to this when he wrote that the pharaoh “made his heart heavy” when he rejected the messages and warnings from God, even in the face of the plagues.
Pharaoh hardened his heart [lit. “made his heart heavy”] this time also, and he did not let the people go (Exodus 8:32)
Can also be connected to Proverbs 21:2 ” Every man’s way is right in his own eyes,
But the LORD weighs the hearts.”
