Freewill, Determinism, and Pharoah

(3) And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. (4) But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth My hosts, My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, by great judgments. (5) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth My hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.’

For I have hardened his heart - Rabbi Yochanan said: Does this not provide heretics with an opportunity to open their mouths to say that he had no means of repenting, as it say "For I have hardened his heart".

(1) Every man was endowed with a free will; if he desires to bend himself toward the good path and to be just it is within the power of his hand to reach out for it, and if he desires to bend himself to a bad path and to be wicked it is within the power of his hand to reach out for it. This is known from what it is written in the Torah, saying: "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil" (Gen. 3.22), that is as if saying: "Behold, this species, man, stands alone in the world, and there is no other kind like him, as regards this subject of being able of his own accord, by his reason and thought, to know the good and the evil, and to do whatever his inclination dictates him with none to stay his hand from either doing good or evil; and, being that he is so, 'Lest he put forth his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever'" (Ibid.)¹Abodah Zarah, 16b; Megillah, 25a. G.

(1) There are many verses in the Torah and the words of the Prophets that appear to contradict this principle, and most people stumble on these ideas: that the Holy Blessed One decrees for a person to do evil or good, and that one’s heart is not turned over for one to incline it toward whatever one might want. But I will now clarify an important principle, from which you will know the explanation of all those verses: At the moment when a particular person [sins] or the citizens of a particular province sin, and the sinner commits the sin with awareness and intention, as we have explained – it is appropriate that they should be punished. The Holy Blessed One knows how to punish: There is a sin for which the judgment renders punishment for the sinner in This World physically or financially, or through the sinner’s minor children – since a person’s minor children who lack awareness and have not taken on any mitzvot are like one’s property, and it is written, Each man shall be put to death for his own sin (Deut. 24:16) – once he becomes a man. And there is a sin for which the judgment renders punishment for the sinner in the World to Come, but no damage will be done to the sinner in This World. And there is a sin for which the sinner is punished in This World and in the World to Come.

(3) But it is possible that a person would commit a grave sin or many sins so that judgment is rendered before the True Judge to punish this sinner on account of these sins committed through [the sinner’s] awareness and intention – such that teshuvah is prevented and we do not allow this person to return from their evil, so that they will die and be lost in the sins they committed. ......They sinned intentionally and eagerly transgressed until they deserved to be denied teshuvah, which is the “remedy.” Therefore it is written in the Torah: I will harden Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 14:4) – since he initially sinned of his own initiative and abused Israel, who were living in his land, as it says, Come, let us deal cleverly with them (Ex. 1:10), judgment was rendered to deny [Pharaoh] teshuvah until [God] punished him – therefore the Holy Blessed One hardened [Pharaoh’s] heart. So why did [God] send Moses with the message: “Release [the Israelites], and do teshuvah,” when the Holy Blessed One had already said [to Pharaoh], “You won’t release [the Israelites],” as it says, But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God (Ex. 9:30), ‪But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth (Ex. 9:16)? In order to inform humanity that when the Holy Blessed One denies teshuvah to a sinner, [the sinner] can not repent – [rather] the sinner will die in the wickedness that [the sinner] initially committed intentionally.So you must conclude: God did not decree for Pharaoh to abuse Israel, nor for Sihon to sin in his land, nor for the Canaanites to commit abominations, nor for Israel to commit idolatry – rather, all of them sinned of their own initiative and all of them deserved to be denied teshuvah.

ואני אקשה, seeing that G’d is interested in the sinner’s repentance rather than his death.... Hashemtold Moses that He would bring on numerous plagues, all in order to increase the chances that Pharaoh would finally see the light and become a genuine penitent. He hoped that by demonstrating His greatness and His power this would eventually cause the Egyptians to recognize all this. ...... There can be no question that without G’d stiffening Pharaoh’s attitude from time to time, he would have collapsed much sooner and would have sent the Israelites on their desired journey. However, this would not have been the result of his repentance and humbling himself before the Lord, involving genuine regret about his previous errors, but the result of his inability to withstand the pressure applied to him. He would have acted out of terror of what the next plague would do to him and to his country. Keeping all this in mind, it is foolish to ask how G’d could punish Pharaoh after he Himself had interfered with his decision-making process by “stiffening his heart,” ואני אקשה את לב פרעה, I will stiffen the heart of Pharaoh, etc.” not in order to punish him but in order to finally trigger repentance in his heart. The operative clause is “in order that I can demonstrate all these miracles of Mine in his midst” (10,1), the purpose being to bring about his humbling himself in repentance and genuine contrition.