We have all heard Biblical exhortations describing how God "hardened" the heart of Pharaoh as the tension increased which ultimately led to the Exodus. We imagine that Pharaoh became more stubborn than usual in resisting God’s will. We will investigate this phenomena by considering the original Hebrew expression and discover a much more profound sense of what happened than just increased stubbornness.

The Biblical account states: (Exodus 14.4a). This is the expression translated in English Bibles as God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. The word is (Hazak: ). This word doesn't mean harden, which implies increased stubbornness. means bold, strong, strengthen. So we discover that God moved in Pharaoh's heart in such a way that he became exceeding bold; we might say foolishly bold and aggressive. Because of this, Pharaoh challenged even the hand of God, leading to his own destruction. God did so in order for His name to be glorified through the humiliation of Pharaoh.

There are other accounts of this same phenomena recorded in the Bible. During the conquest of the land of Israel under the leadership of Joshua ben Nun, God "hardened" the hearts of the Canaanites so that they would be destroyed (Joshua 11:20). Again, the term used is and, again, it means that the Canaanites became foolishly aggressive in opposing Israel. Not one city made peace with the Israelites of that day.

The Bible clearly declares the sovereignty of God and His willingness to exercise that sovereignty to accomplish His purpose. Many people have great difficulty dealing with this aspect of God’s name. Gnostics of the second century relegated these attributes to the Old Testament God of Law and preached that Jesus had introduced a New Testament God of Love. Even though the more orthodox Christian "Church Fathers" rejected the gnostic position, nevertheless, they embraced some of the same thoughts. This perversion of the name of God has been incorporated in the Christian system of belief.

God’s activities are hidden except to the most discerning

God declared His sovereignty most boldly through the prophet Jeremiah. We think of Jeremiah as a prophet of Judah, and he was, but he was also called as a prophet to the nations. God commanded Jeremiah to observe the potter working at his wheel. The potter ruined the vessel he was making and abruptly changed it into a completely new and different vessel (Jeremiah 18:1-10). God declared that He would do the same thing to nations. Thus, God is sovereign. God’s activities are hidden except to the most discerning but we maintain that He subtly guides the history of the nations to accomplish His purpose.

If we combine the concept of God’s sovereignty with the concept that He may embolden the hearts of leaders at any time, we can begin to comprehend how He works. If He chooses to undermine a country, He simply causes the leader or leaders to become foolishly aggressive. They, in turn, lead the country in question into destruction.

If we study the history of WWII we see that Adolph Hitler made some really, really dumb decisions which led ultimately to Germany’s destruction. When Hitler went after the Jewish people, he challenged God Himself. In the language of Exodus (17:15), "he put his hand on the throne of Yah". The exile of Jewish scientists and the betrayal and subsequent attack on the Soviet Union are two other examples.

We believe the same phenomena is observable in the Palestinians of our day. As the Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel, the Palestinians have resisted God’s will in every way possible. Every effort at compromise and peace has been boldly rejected. Yasser Arafat had virtually a signed, blank check two years ago at Camp David. He became boldly aggressive, utterly rejecting every offer and initiated terrorist attacks on Israel. Thousands have died as a result but the real outcome is that the Palestinians are being destroyed just as their ancient counterparts were 3,400 years ago (Joshua 11:20)

Is it possible that God may choose to "harden" the heart of George W. Bush? He has adamantly demanded that Israel be divided (two states living side-by-side; one Israeli and one Palestinian). God takes the division of His land very seriously (Joel 3:2). Keep a watch on the president to see if he become foolishly aggressive relative to Israel. Pray for him to repent. If God judges George W. Bush it will most likely result in the destruction of America.

The Bible predicts that ultimately the nations will become crazy over the question of Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:1-3). Are we seeing the beginning of a "foolishly" aggressive position in the nations? If so your redemption is drawing near!!