What the Exodus Tells Us About Free Will

In the story of Exodus, which recounts the Israelites’ flight to freedom, readers are told that the heart of the oppressive Pharaoh was “hardened.” With respect to the first five of the ten plagues inflicted upon Egypt, either the Pharaoh’s heart became hard or the Pharaoh “hardened his own heart.” Then the dynamic changed. It was God who actively hardened the Pharaoh’s heart in four of the five succeeding plagues.

But if God wanted to overcome the Pharaoh, why did he, the all-powerful, bother to harden his adversary’s heart? Moreover, what implications did God’s control over the Pharaoh in the story of Exodus have for mankind, specifically our notion of free will? Read Full Article »