Shalom and thank you for your question.
What does the Torah mean when it states that G-d hardened Pharaoh’s heart?
To understand this, we must take a deep look at the approach of Judaism to some philosophical issues.
It starts off with the story of the garden of Eden in Genesis. Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit, and from that moment on, the forces of good and evil became mixed in the world. From then on, every person alive is a mixture of good and evil.
We see however, that some people have a very predominant element of good, while others the opposite, and there are probably as many shades of grey as there are people on the earth.
What makes us tick, what causes the differences?
With many exceptions to the rule, when a person is brought up in a happy and moral environment, he or she is more likely to follow that pattern, and the same goes for the opposite scenario. Someone brought up in a broken home, or a troubled home, is more likely to lead a troubled life.
There is definitely free choice, and as I pointed out, there are many exceptions to the above rule due to that free choice and the fact that each person is given a unique psycho-spiritual make-up and some people seem to thrive in the face of adversity while others in more blessed circumstances aren’t able to take command of their life.
The Sages of the Talmud teach us an interesting thing. ‘In the path a person wishes to go…there he is led.’
It seems like a contradiction to the idea of free choice , but it is not. There is always free choice, but the dices are somewhat loaded according to our choices.
In the anatomy of the brain, we find that once a person has thought about something, a groove is made in the brain which predisposes the person to literally think ‘along the same lines’ again. This works spirituality too.
The Sages also teach us that one Mitzvah, (fulfilling a Torah commandment,) brings another in it’s train, and the opposite is also true.
Thus, there was a heavy case against Pharoah, self-styled G-d of the Nile and classical denyer of G-d. He said, ‘who is G-d that i should listen to Him?’
He used to go to the Nile every morning to take care of his toilet needs because he made the Egyptians believe that he was a God and didn’t need to use the bathroom.
So being that he was so steeped in self-deception and arrogance, G-d gave him the role of worsening the situation. He made free choice not impossible but much harder for Pharoah.
There was however an aim to that game.
The aim was that in proportion to all the evil that Egypt under Pharoah had dealt to the Jewish slaves, all the oppression and suffering, so would be the greatness of the miracles of the Redemption.
Corresponding to all the harsh decrees were the ten plagues. Each stage a rectification of the evil, and a rising crescendo of revelation of G-dliness that was to punish and purify the Egyptians and their culture, and make an indelible impression on the national Jewish consciousness, to this very day. This was a preparation for being the chosen nation to receive the gift of the Torah at Sinai…
So Pharoah ‘went in the path he wished to go’- by brazenly denying the Presence of G-d and not keeping his promises to ‘let my people go,’ G-d actually caused Pharoah to be less inclined to listen to him, so that he would experience G-d’s deeds in direct proportion to the trouble he caused.
It is interesting to note that according to some opinions of commentaries, Pharoah survived the splitting of the Sea and lived to become the King of Nineveh, the city where G-d sent the prophet Jonah to rebuke the people that were wicked there and cause them to repent. It worked!
Apparently part of the reason it worked could be that Pharoah was much more receptive to
changing his ways after the purification process of the plagues and the miracles of the splitting of the sea.
We hope this answers your question!
