Exodus undercuts the notion of freewill
“But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you.” – Exodus 7:3
In Exodus God repeatedly states that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and that this is the reason that Pharaoh does not listen to Moses. Honestly, God states that He hardens Pharaoh’s heart more than a dozen (if not two dozen!) times! This really calls into question our freewill in God’s scheme. How can the notion of freewill be reconciled with a God that can control our actions, and what’s more, our emotions?
God also takes credit for the skill and abilities of men:
“See I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts…” – Exodus 31:2-3
But not only do we need to reconcile the notion of God with our own selves, for God takes credit over things that happen outside of ourselves as well. There are many miracles that occur in Exodus, especially the ten plagues, which God all takes credit for. If a natural disaster occurs, are we to interpret it as a sign from God?
There’s an old saying, attributed to Ben Franklin, that God helps those who help themselves. But Exodus seems to suggest just the opposite! When the Egyptians were chasing the Israelites as they fled towards the Red Sea, Moses had this to tell his people:
“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” - Exodus 14:14
So how are we to treat the world around us? More importantly, the world within us? Are we not to trust our eyes, are we not to trust our hearts? Exodus is very troubling because it paints a picture of the world in which God has a hand in everything, and we can have control over nothing, and indeed, we can know nothing.
If at least we could know that our hearts and our souls belong to us, then we could find comfort in the idea that although our senses may be deceiving, we can at least be righteously judged by our responses to the world around us. But if God can harden the heart of Pharaoh, then he can harden the hearts of us as well. How can we be expected to take responsibility for our actions if anything we do can be attributed to God?
Exodus really undercuts the notion of freewill, and without freewill, a lot of things become meaningless, indeed existence itself may be suggested to be meaningless. Does the Bible reconcile this later on? Have I misunderstood something?
