Did the pharaoh actually have free will? Did he have a choice when Moses asked him to let his people go?

Question

The Book of Exodus:
4:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.
7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt
7:13 And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.
7:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go

Why did Moses even bother asking? What about god or the situation prevented him from "softening" the pharaoh up a little bit?

And when all the firstborn babies and children throughout Egypt were slaughtered, was it the Pharaoh's "fault"?

(Please no "the bible is fairy tales" or "there is no god" answers, I know all that, this is aimed at believers and their perspective)

Ok, so some are saying we have free will to choose god or not. I'm SPECIFICALLY asking about the pharaoh, did HE have free will to let those people go? Were the 10 plagues an ineviability?

Answer 1

Great question and lots of bobbing and weaving from the believers

They should all be boxers, they could win world titles in all weight classes !!

Answer 2

Hello my friend no the bible is not a fairy tale it is very real and you do have free will to believe or not to believe . It,s good that you read Exodus if it were you after the first plague don,t you think you would have said enough is enough after all the signs God gave the Pharaoh he did not believe and neather did the people of Moses so just think of it this way If all these people were there when God was there with these people and they did not believe in him just think of it in today's terms every one has his or her Owen God keep reading the bible and ask for understanding it will come to you and if it does not don,t worry about it every thing in the bible is not for us to understand

Answer 3

Good questions.

A rabbi once told me it was good that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, because ideally you want to beat the enemy at his best.

God needed a big triumph, and bolstering Pharaoh made the battle harder.

Bottom-line, Pharaoh was pro-slavery, which is evil.

Incidentally, what is called "slavery" among the Israelites (after Pharaoh's defeat) is actually bonded-servitude, and the Bible gives these "slaves" many new rights.

What if Moses had not asked? That would mess up the whole process.

Still, I like your questions.

Answer 4

No, Moses grew to become into jewish and the daughter of the Pharaoh's daughter gave him to a Jewish female to advance him, by the type this jewish female grew to become into Moses' very own mom, Moses grew to become into needless to say raised as a Jew relatively than having the privileges of an Egyptian prince.

Answer 5

God took away the Pharaoh's free will in the instance that you are referring to. This is the only time in the entire history of humanity that God took away free will.

Answer 6

The short answer: God gives us all freewill to chose Him or not. To a degree He allows us to have our own way, but He can and does interfere with events according to His plans. Usually this is to show us what we are doing wrong, and to warn us back onto the right path. Reguardless of why, He is always right, always Just, always correct, and, just so you know, always merciful, loving, and patient.

Yes, this answer pertains to pharaoh too, not sure why you think it would not.

Answer 7

Makes you wonder if we are all but toys of the gods...

Answer 8

He had the free will, he used it wrong.

Answer 9

Seems you already have your answers.

Answer 10

“In thy going (returning) to Egypt, behold, all the wonders which I have put into thy hand, thou doest them before Pharaoh.” מופת, τὸ τέρας, portentum, is any object (natural event, thing, or person) of significance which surpasses expectation or the ordinary course of nature, and excites wonder in consequence. It is frequently connected with אות, σημεῖον, a sign (Deu_4:34; Deu_6:22; Deu_7:19, etc.), and embraces the idea of אות within itself, i.e., wonder-sign. The expression, “all those wonders,” does not refer merely to the three signs mentioned in Exo_4:2-9, but to all the miracles which were to be performed by Moses with the staff in the presence of Pharaoh, and which, though not named, were put into his hand potentially along with the staff. - But all the miracles would not induce Pharaoh to let Israel go, for Jehovah would harden his heart. את־לבּו אחזּק אני, lit., I will make his heart firm, so that it will not move, his feelings and attitude towards Israel will not change. For אחזּק אני or וחזּקתּי (Exo_14:4) and מחזּק אני (Exo_14:17), we find אקשׁה אני in Exo_7:3, “I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, or unfeeling;” and in Exo_10:1, הכבּדתּי אני “I have made his heart heavy,” i.e., obtuse, or insensible to impressions or divine influences. These three words are expressive of the hardening of the heart.
The hardening of Pharaoh is ascribed to God, not only in the passages just quoted, but also in Exo_9:12; Exo_10:20, Exo_10:27; Exo_11:10; Exo_14:8; that is to say, ten times in all; and that not merely as foreknown or foretold by Jehovah, but as caused and effected by Him. In the last five passages it is invariably stated that “Jehovah hardened (יהזּק) Pharaoh's heart.” But it is also stated just as often, viz., ten times, that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, or made it heavy or firm; e.g., in Exo_7:13, Exo_7:22; Exo_8:15; Exo_9:35, לב ויּחזק “and Pharaoh's heart was (or became) hard;” Exo_7:14, לב כּבד “Pharaoh's heart was heavy;” in Exo_9:7, ל יכבּד; in Exo_8:11, Exo_8:28; Exo_9:34, את־לבּו ויּכבּד or והכבּד; in Exo_13:15, פ הקשׁה כּי “for Pharaoh made his heart hard.” According to this, the hardening of Pharaoh was quite as much his own act as the decree of God. But if, in order to determine the precise relation of the divine to the human causality, we look more carefully at the two classes of expressions, we shall find that not only in connection with the first sign, by which Moses and Aaron were to show their credentials as the messengers of Jehovah, sent with the demand that he would let the people of Israel go (Exo_7:13-14), but after the first five penal miracles, the hardening is invariably represented as his own. After every one of these miracles, it is stated that Pharaoh's heart was firm, or dull, i.e., insensible to the voice of God, and unaffected by the miracles performed before his eyes, and the judgments of God suspended over him and his kingdom, and he did not listen to them (to Moses and Aaron with their demand), or let the people go (Exo_7:22; Exo_8:8, Exo_8:15, Exo_8:28; Exo_9:7). It is not till after the sixth plague that it is stated that Jehovah made the heart of Pharaoh firm (Exo_9:12). At the seventh the statement is repeated, that “Pharaoh made his heart heavy” (Exo_9:34-35); but the continued refusal on the part of Pharaoh after the eighth and ninth (Exo_10:20, Exo_10:27) and his resolution to follow the Israelites and bring them back again, are attributed to the hardening of his heart by Jehovah (Exo_14:8, cf. Exo_14:4 and Exo_14:17). This hardening of his own heart was manifested first of all in the fact, that he paid not attention to the demand of Jehovah addressed to him through Moses, and would not let Israel go; and that not only at the commencement, so long as the Egyptian magicians imitated the signs performed by Moses and Aaron (though at the very first sign the rods of the magicians, when turned into serpents, were swallowed by Aaron's, Exo_7:12-13), but even when the magicians themselves acknowledged, “This is the finger of God” (Exo_8:19). It was also continued after the fourth and fifth plagues, when a distinction was made between the Egyptians and the Israelites, and the latter were exempted from the plagues, - a fact of which the king took care to convince himself (Exo_9:7). And it was exhibited still further in his breaking his promise, that he would let Israel go if Moses and Aaron would obtain from Jehovah the removal of the plague, and in the fact, that even after he had been obliged to confess, “I have sinned, Jehovah is the righteous one, I and my people are unrighteous” (Exo_9:27), he sinned again, as soon as breathing-time was given him, and would not let the people go (Exo_9:34-35). Thus Pharaoh would not bend his self-will to the will of God, even after he had discerned the finger of God and the omnipotence of Jehovah in the plagues suspended over him and his nation; he would not withdraw his haughty refusal, notwithstanding the fact that he was obliged to acknowledge that it was sin against Jehovah.

Rom 9:14 What then shall we say? Is there not unrighteousness with God? Let it not be!
Rom 9:15 For He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will pity whomever I will pity." Ex. 33:19
Rom 9:16 So, then, it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of the One showing mercy, of God.
Rom 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very thing I raised you up, so that I might display My power in you, and so that My name might be publicized in all the earth." Ex. 9:16
Rom 9:18 So, then, to whom He desires, He shows mercy. And to whom He desires, He hardens.
Rom 9:19 You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?
Rom 9:20 Yes, rather, O man, who are you answering against God? Shall the thing formed say to the One forming it, Why did You make me like this? Isa. 29:16
Rom 9:21 Or does not the potter have authority over the clay, out of the one lump to make one vessel to honor, and one to dishonor? Jer. 18:6
Rom 9:22 But if God, desiring to demonstrate His wrath, and to make His power known, endured in much long-suffering vessels of wrath having been fitted out for destruction,
Rom 9:23 and that He make known the riches of His glory on vessels of mercy which He before prepared for glory,
Rom 9:24 whom He also called, not only us, of Jews, but also out of nations.