Hardening Pharaoah's heart?

Shalom,

What does it mean when Torah states that YHWH hardened the heart of Pharaoh? Did YHWH "force" Pharaoh to act as he did, or did Pharaoh have free will just as all of us? It seems to me that many believe YHWH forced Pharaoh to act as he did, personally I see it differently.

Have you ever heard the phrase "push his buttons", and how some people's buttons can easily be pushed and you can predict how they will react? This is what I see going on there. YHWH knows that the more He pushes Pharaoh, the more determined Pharaoh will become, due to his own elevated self image. Who is this YHWH that He can tell me what to do? The more YHWH pushed him, the more stubborn he became, the more "hardened" his heart became. Did YHWH harden Pharaoh's heart? Absolutely, but it was still an act of free will on Pharaoh's part, as I see it. YHWH did not force Pharaoh to do anything, He merely knew how he would react.

Sincerely,
Tom

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Comment by Anders Branderud on January 8, 2011 at 8:15am: Shalom!

You are correct that the Creator didn’t infringe upon the free will of Paroh!!

Here is an interesting perspective, similar to yours: “(hikhbadeti; I made heavy, burdensome). This is the hiphil′ [causative transitive] of כבד (kavad; he was heavy, burdensome, honored, respected). I.e., "I have made him, and his servants, heavy-hearted."

Not "stubborn." For י--ה to make Par•oh′'s heart "stubborn," as conventionally assumed, would have infringed upon Par•oh′'s free will. If Par•oh′ had no free will then he was neither guilty of anything—as a man cannot be blamed for what is not within his control—nor even human. It would be more accurate to translate as "I would teach Par•oh′some respect." This concept is illustrated by a magic demonstration (logically deduced from a famous TV magician's trick) which was featured as a serial game in a series of our newsletters. Each of the 13 back-issues, 1995.04 through 1996.04, inclusive and in order, is required for the demonstration to work. This magician's trick illustrates the effect of how the unseen—yet rational—world can act quite subtly on free will, just as י--ה knew that impending events would act subtly on Par•oh′'s unfettered free will. Just as an entire series of choices in the magic demonstration are always yours yet I foreknow the outcome, so, too, the choice was always Paroh′'s, never infringing upon his free will.” [1]

Notes: 1.Quote: Slightly edited from www.netzarim.co.il; Calendar; Parashat ha-Shavua for this week.Have a nice day!

Sincerely,
Anders Branderud