When you don’t read the bible directly, you run the risk of being subjected to interpretations of it that may be somewhat dubious.

One of my daily reads is a Pocket PC application called Daily Reader. It’s a devotional reader program that has 365 days worth of readings stored away in it. At the beginning of each reading is a small verse, and then a discussion by the author of its application for daily life. All in all it’s been a very eye-opening experience, and I enjoy doing those devotional readings in the morning. I always like seeing the bible applied to the “real world.”

Two days ago, the topic was Pharaoh and his treatment of the Israelites during the period of their slavery. In the midst of the explanation and application of the story, we come across this paragraph:

The Israelites must have wondered how anything could change the heart of Pharaoh, the cruel tyrant who dominated their lives during their captivity in Egypt. Even a series of divinely inspired disasters had served only to strengthen Pharaoh’s resolve to oppress them and had stoked his antipathy to the Lord and his people. The Lord said, “Pharaoh is very stubborn, and he continues to refuse to let the people go” (Ex 7:14). With each succeeding disaster, Pharaoh’s pattern of stubbornness and heart-hardening made further confrontation necessary. But through it all, the Lord was at work, determined to turn things around so completely that eventually Pharaoh would beg the children of Israel to leave.

Now, if you’ve never read the book of Exodus, this comes off as a perfectly acceptable rendition of the story. But if you have read Exodus, you know that’s it’s only about half the story. Before God unleashed the plagues upon Egypt, he told Moses that he would make Pharaoh obstinate so that the plagues would have to be unleashed (Ex 4:21):

And the Lord said to him as he was returning into Egypt: See that thou do all the wonders before Pharao, which I have put in thy hand: I shall harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.

So God told Moses that he would make Pharaoh unwilling to release the Israelites to freedom, obviously so that He could demonstrate His power to the unbelieving Egyptians. The clip from the reading I pasted makes it sound as if God was helping Moses to deliver the signs that he had taught Moses, but that Pharaoh’s stubbornness was his own. I have to wonder what would make the writer understand that section of Exodus any differently.

Has anyone else read it and think I have it wrong?