“Hashem caused Pharaoh’s heart to be stubborn, so he did not listen to them, just as God had said to Moses.” (Shemos 9:12)  

After witnessing the plague that killed the animals of Egypt, Pharaoh notices that not a single animal of the Israelites died, just as Moses predicted. But rather than being swayed by this undeniable miracle, Hashem appears to prevent Pharaoh from acknowledging the truth, seemingly taking away his free will. This is a deeply troubling notion. The whole point of our existence is that no matter what, we are always supposed to have choice. The ability to choose right or wrong. So did Hashem take away Pharaoh’s free will and if so, how is that right?

This moment isn’t the first time the Torah discusses the nature of Pharaoh’s heart. The first time we see it is in the famous scene where Moses turns Aaron’s staff into a serpent. At first Pharaoh laughs off the miracle as his own magicians are able to do the same thing. But when Aaron’s snake turns back into a staff then eats the other snakes (that’s not a typo; as a wooden staff, it eats the other snakes) that’s when Pharaoh is jolted. Verse 7:13 says, “But Pharaoh was stubborn, and he paid no heed to them, just as God had said.” The Hebrew word used here is chazak, meaning ‘to strengthen.’ So here, Pharaoh decides to become callous and not let the reality impact him emotionally. 

But in the very next line, Hashem says, “Pharaoh’s heart is heavy. He refuses to let the people go.” The word kaved means ‘heavy’ and is linguistically connected to kavod, honor or importance. So when Pharaoh made his heart strong, he ignored the facts. When he made his heart heavy, his actions (to not let the people go) were affected. 

This same process will continue with the first plague when the Nile turns to blood. The sight will be so incredible that it will once again jolt Pharaoh and he will have to make the decision again to reject the miracle. Chazak (Shemos 7:22). Then the plague of frogs overwhelms Egypt and Pharaoh allows himself to be moved, giving in. “Pray to God and let Him remove the frogs from me and my people and I will send the people to sacrifice to God.” (Shemos 8:4) But as soon as the frogs left, “Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened (kaved) his heart and did not listen to them.” (Shemos 8:11)

So Pharaoh’s hardening and heavying of his heart is his own doing. Why does Hashem need to do it for him later?

One answer is that because Pharaoh witnessed overwhelming miracles happening in Egypt, he would be robbed of his free will. Let’s say you’re tempted to fudge your tax returns just a little bit. All of a sudden you get a call from your friend who works at the IRS and he says, “Hey, just so you know, you’re on an audit list for this coming year. Be careful.” You still have free will to cheat on your taxes, but realistically, you won’t. When it comes to this world, if we could clearly see Hashem and all His wonders, we wouldn’t be making our moral decisions with true free will. Well with all the plagues ravaging Egypt, that’s exactly what’s happening. Pharaoh can’t possibly have free will because of the revelation of Hashem in front of him. So Hashem has to harden his heart to level the free will playing field.

Another explanation is about the path that our desires, left unchecked, will take us. If we allow ourselves to go down that path so far, there comes a point where nothing will stop us until we’ve hit rock bottom. Technically we still have our free will, but it’s as if we didn’t. According to Rambam, a person can sin so much that their ability to do teshuvah is withheld (Mishneh Torah Ch 6:3). Pharaoh has had several chances to turn and do what was right. But he had gone so far, it’s like the gambler at the casino who has lost so much he should cut his losses and walk away, but instead decides to go for broke.

There’s one more insight that says Hashem didn’t take Pharaoh’s free will at all. The Torah says that Pharaoh’s heart was impacted. Now, Judaism actually translates “lev” as both heart and mind. But for me, I think it is safe to say that Pharaoh is experiencing an overwhelming emotion. We are not in direct control of our emotions. We can do things that affect them; we can embolden them and we can steer clear of triggers that ignite them, but we can’t control them. However, we can control how we react to them. Now that’s not to say overcoming overwhelming emotion is as simple as flipping a light switch. King David asked for a test from Hashem that would make him worthy of the Patriarchs. Then he saw Batsheva and failed the test spectacularly. But if he didn’t have a chance of passing it, it wouldn’t have been a test. He still had free will. So did Pharaoh. 

For Pharaoh, Hashem strengthened his heart, chazak. But Pharaoh made his heart kaved, heavy, as a reinforcement of his own self-importance, his kavod. Regardless of which interpretation you prefer, if we let our emotions run unchecked, we may eventually strengthen the desire so much its weight may become the only thing we can carry. At that point, even a Pharaoh becomes the slave. 

This post is a revision of a previous entry from 2017.