Daily Bible Readings YLT February 1st

Many times we hear God say to Moses that He has strengthened Pharoah's heart so that He might do mighty wonders and show that He is God. In English we typically understand things literally. We take each significant word and assign it equal value rather than understanding the whole. Thus English lawyers can be found nit-picking over individual words to prove or disprove a point but in European law there is a purposive approach, so that the intention of the law is looked for, not the meaning of the individual words the law is made up of, and judgment made accordingly.Thus we should be aware that the purpose of God is that, knowing the Pharoah's heart, He can demonstrate His sovereign power, because the Pharoah will not be changed by anything he sees or hears. If God used his power where someone could be open to change their position it would be to force that person to submit, it would be blackmail or an abuse of power, or exercising domination over another being who is much less powerful than himself, bullying or frightening them into submission. God will not do this. He will never overrule someone's right to decide freely, their moral right to choose.There is no way someone like this is going to change. We see this as we watch the Pharoah's reactions. Even when the final plague of the death of all the firstborn, human and beast, causes the Egyptian people to rise up and urge him to let the Hebrew people go, he does so out of reaction not decision and shortly afterwards he realises what he has done, forgets the cost to his nation and people, and pursues Moses and the people he has let go, seeing only that his workforce is gone and seeking to undo that 'mistake'.So what is the meaning when God says 'I have strengthened the Pharoah's heart.' It is Pharoah's reaction to God. The effect of God on Pharoah is that Pharoah becomes more entrenched in resisting any understanding that he, Pharoah, has One greatly superior in power and majesty to him. Nothing can dissuade him, move him, shake him or reason with him. God can rightly continue to demonstrate his power so that HIs own people will have the opportunity, taken justly by God, to experience the awesome power of God and to rightly fear him and to bring judgment on Egypt and its gods. For Pharoah, it is inconvenient when a plague hits but he only has to ask Moses and it will end. He even says that he has sinned, understanding, wrongly, that the plague is punishment but his reaction is to find the way to return to the status quo where he is in charge and any discomfiting thoughts are put aside. His servants see that it is the hand of God and he should stop trying to fight God but he has a heart that will not change. What is this condition of the heart that refuses to know God? The chief priests and the scribes see Jesus heal the blind and the lame in the Temple. The Scripture says that they saw "the wonderful things" that Jesus did , so they should have been filled with wonder and praise, but their reaction is to be displeased.What is going on in their heart and why? For both Pharoah and Pharisees we see that they had power and position. They had an understanding of their own position which was full of pride, and which they were determined not to lose. Though they saw "the wonderful things" they could not wonder at what God does and who He is because they alone were important; they would not listen or humble themselves to lose their position because one greater than them was before them. They had an immutable sense of their own rightness and rightfulness of their position to judge and act according to their own will, to keep what they assumed was theirs as their right. Beware of these characteristics in ourselves! If we judge from a position of superiority, beware! Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Be subject to Him and His will and He will bless you