IF There Was God...

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

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

You realy need to read the entirety of the exchange from Exodus 5 onwards, and study what it was that Pharoah said, and then what he did. Pharoah never offered to let all the Israelites leave Eqypt, but only the men of Israel, holding their wives and children hostage for their return.

From Ex 7:8 onwards, it became a test of will, G-d showing his power, and Pharoah ignoring it, or pleading for clemency, promising to let the Israelites go, and then refusing to do so once the penalties were lifted. Pharoah was not exactly showing himself to be a man of his word.

Did YHWH harden Pharoah's heart once the contest was on? Of course. He promised to do so. Did he make the Pharoah's heart hard to begin with? No. 

During the first five plagues, Pharoah follows his own heart, and hardens it as he chooses. But in the last five plagues, God increases the hardness of Pharaoh’s already hard heart. 

We can choose our own way, and suffer the consequences. If we continue to make poor choices, God eventually turns us over to our own nature.

Rubbish.

Boru