EXOD114 The question is ancient. If God hardened Pharaoh's heart, then it was God who made Pharaoh refuse to let the Israelites go, not Pharaoh himself. How can this be just? How could it be right to punish Pharaoh and his people for a decision--a series of decisions--that were not made freely by Pharaoh himself? Punishment presupposes guilt. Guilt presupposes responsibility. Responsibility presupposes freedom. We do not blame weights for falling or the sun for shining. Natural forces are not choices made by reflecting on alternatives. Homo sapiens alone is free. Take away that freedom and you take away our humanity. How then can we say, as it does in Parashat Va'era, that God hardened Pharaoh's heart [this verse]? All the commentators are exercised by this question. Rambam and others note a striking feature of the narrative: for the first five plagues we read that Pharaoh himself hardened his heart. Only later, during the last five plagues, do we read about God doing so. The last five plagues were therefore a punishment for the first five refusals, freely made by Pharaoh himself. [Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Teshuva 6:3]. [Continued at [[EXOD130]] Exodus 10:7 SACKS 86 realise].