(June 23, 2024 at 1:27 pm)Questor Wrote:(June 23, 2024 at 4:37 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Whups, my bad. Exodus 10, not 20.
Boru
Without further information, I have to presume you are stating that YHWH hardened the heart of Pharoah, and thus interfered with his free will.
Hardening a purpose already within the heart of any person who has lived their entire lives being fully satisfied with that purpose is not interference with his free will. It is more a coming into agreement with it, as if to say, "Okay, you want it that way, you get it that way!" And then, he used the Pharoah's mindset and desires to make some very splashy evidences of his existence.
Had Pharoah had any real softening towards the fate of the Israelites, it would have showed in changed behavior past the immediate relief of the most recent plague.
YHWH only wanted his people out of Eqypt. Had Pharoah had the least intention of allowing the Israelites to leave, he could have held to any of his original negotiations with G-d. He did not, and he, and all his people suffered because of it.
YHWH gave us freewill, and the consequences that go with them. What he chooses not to do, is to force anyone into relationship with him.
Pharaoh had offered to let the Israelites go. It was God, not Pharaoh, who changed his mind. This was a direct interference with free will.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
