Maimonides, in Laws of Repentance 5:3, discusses a “great principle and pillar of Torah and commandment”: free choice. Without it, holding people responsible makes no sense. Yet it seems to contradict another principle, the LORD’s knowledge of the future. If God knows someone will be righteous or wicked, that person apparently cannot choose otherwise, making choice an illusion.
Jewish thought offers three classical approaches. The familiar one is Maimonides’: the contradiction is apparent because God’s knowledge exceeds our comprehension. Others considered the contradiction real and rejected one principle to some degree in favor of the other.
Hasdai Crescas, in Or Hashem, restricted choice, arguing there is no true choice, only at most will. He consequently had to explain the point of reward and punishment. Conversely, Gersonides in The Wars of the LORD and Isaiah Halevi Horowitz in Shenei Luhot HaBerit restrict knowledge, surprisingly arguing that God indeed does not know what people will choose!
In the Bible’s plain meaning, however, the question does not arise. The Torah repeatedly presents free choice as clear fact, while foreknowledge is never described and sometimes explicitly denied.
The binding of Isaac is clearest. Immediately after Abraham passes the test, the LORD says:
… for now I know that thou art a God-fearing man, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.’ (Genesis 22:12)
... עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי יְרֵא אֱלֹהִים אַתָּה, וְלֹא חָשַׂכְתָּ אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ מִמֶּנִּי. (בראשית כ"ב, יב)
This implies a genuine choice whose outcome the LORD did not know in advance.
Another example is His response to the flood generation’s evil:
And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the LORD said: ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them.’ (Genesis 6:5–7)
וַיַּרְא ה' כִּי רַבָּה רָעַת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ וְכָל יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבֹת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע כָּל הַיּוֹם. וַיִּנָּחֶם ה' כִּי עָשָׂה אֶת הָאָדָם בָּאָרֶץ, וַיִּתְעַצֵּב אֶל לִבּוֹ. וַיֹּאמֶר ה': אֶמְחֶה אֶת הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר בָּרָאתִי מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה, מֵאָדָם עַד בְּהֵמָה עַד רֶמֶשׂ וְעַד עוֹף הַשָּׁמָיִם – כִּי נִחַמְתִּי כִּי עֲשִׂיתִם. (בראשית ו', ה-ז)
The text depicts surprise and disappointment rather than advance expectation.
In Vayelekh the LORD tells Moses what will happen after his death:
And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Behold, thou art about to sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go astray after the foreign gods of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake Me, and break My covenant which I have made with them. (Deuteronomy 31:16)
וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל מֹשֶׁה: הִנְּךָ שֹׁכֵב עִם אֲבֹתֶיךָ, וְקָם הָעָם הַזֶּה וְזָנָה אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהֵי נֵכַר הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר הוּא בָא שָׁמָּה בְּקִרְבּוֹ, וַעֲזָבַנִי וְהֵפֵר אֶת בְּרִיתִי אֲשֶׁר כָּרַתִּי אִתּוֹ. (דברים ל"א, טז)
This suggests knowledge that the people will sin, questioning their ability to act otherwise. An important subsequent clarification changes the picture:
for I know their imagination which they do even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore. (Deuteronomy 31:21)
כִּי יָדַעְתִּי אֶת יִצְרוֹ אֲשֶׁר הוּא עֹשֶׂה הַיּוֹם, בְּטֶרֶם אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבָּעְתִּי. (דברים ל"א, כא)
The prediction rests on knowledge of the actors rather than the future, and is merely a reasonable assessment of what will occur. Teaching Ha’azinu’s song therefore makes sense: it is intended to testify against Israel, warn them, and guide their way.
