Nice!

Jesus says, "You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition." (Mark 7:9)  This was a tongue-in-cheek compliment. Jesus acknowledged how clever the Jews were at this kind of thing. They didn't just blatantly break the commands of God. No, they had to make it look like they couldn't keep the commands because of a higher commitment, no less a manufactured one. The example Jesus uses is how they managed to set aside the command to honor their fathers and mothers, and not speak evil against them. The command included taking care of mom and dad in their old age. Paul addresses this in 1 Timothy 5 regarding a widowed mother who is over 60 years of age. The kids should take care of her so she will not have to be cared for by the church. Some of the Jewish leaders created a "tax loophole" to avoid having to provide social security for mom. They simply dedicated their extra money to God calling it Corban. Since this money is dedicated, it can't be spent for mom's assisted living facility. Mom is out of luck, and the kids get to decide how they can best spend God's money, usually on themselves. Nice! Jesus must have chuckled to Himself at how clever man can be in trying to get out of obedience.

But I found another "nice" nugget in this study, totally unexpected. Jesus quotes from Exodus 20, the ten commandments. The Jews were commanded to "honor father and mother." The word for honor is kabad a word used at least 10 times in the book of Exodus. Several of the times it is used it is translated hardened since the word means heavy. To honor someone or some thing is a heavy responsibility, not to be taken lightly. When we honor our fallen soldiers at Arlington, the services are heavy or solemn, not to be taken lightly or made a joke of. We visit the tombs with reverence and respect. But, in Exodus Pharaoh often hardened his heart toward the commands of God. He should have been "honoring his heart toward the commands of God" but rather he was "hardening his heart toward the commands of God." Honoring and hardening is the same word in the Hebrew. Clever! Nice!  But, here is what I saw in Exodus 14:14. Pharaoh hardened (chazaq-different word) his heart yet God was honored (kabad). God was able to turn one's hardness toward his commands into a way to be honored, and certainly Pharaoh indirectly brought honor to God by his stubborn heart as God showed his power over him.

In the same way, the hardness of the Jewish leaders toward the commands of God, even toward the very Son of God, was turned to honor as God used their very hardness to bring about the salvation of the world. Nice!