We don't think that Pharoah was 'possessed' by evil spirits... His heart was hardened by Hashem himself.
This is true. Christians do also believe that when an evil person crosses a certain boundary of wickedness, that G-d locks them into that state so that repentance is not even theoretically possible, so that they can only incur more wrath on themselves.
Pharoah was a brutal ruler who used Jewish babies in the bricks of his palaces and was cruel to his Jewish slaves. We do not think for a moment that his evil was due to demons.
Agreed.
So I don't know if that conclusion that all unimaginable evil comes from some other source.
Christians believe that all evil ultimately comes from the fallenness and depravity of the human heart. We believe that the devil can tempt people, but that we have the free will to resist.
Pure Jewish belief is that both good and evil come from Hashem himself.
I wouldn't agree that G-d causes evil. G-d may permit evil for our chastening and refinement, but evil exists because He allows free will and does not want robots, not because He specifically wanted it to happen.
Hashem made Pharoah increase the burden on the Jewish people when Moses first confronted him. So it seemed that if Moses had just not spoken up the work would not have been made harder {Pharoah commanded that the slaves must make bricks without straw}. Many times Torah says, "Hashem hardened Pharoahs heart" so it is obvious it was Hashem who was chastising the Jewish people, not Pharoah.
Perhaps, but this is a tricky subject. Christians do believe that G-d allows us to be persecuted so that our faith may be refined and purified. I see no reason to believe why the same would not be true of the Jews in the Tanach.
We also learn from Megillat Esther which we read every Purim that the Wicked King Achashveros is called "Melech" which means 'King'. But the mystics have taught us that every time we see the word 'Melech' it represents Hashem himself. So the evil decree was not because of Haman, or because of Achashveros, but because of Hashems judgement against us...
This is hard, again. Speaking from a Christian perspective, we believe that trials come on us either as judgment, or for our own refinement. I have often wondered exactly why Hashem condemned the Israelites to 400 years of Nazi slavery, and have never really come to an answer.
I will not blame evil spirits for our enemies... This is all Mussar to the Jewish people...
The vast majority of the time I agree with you. Evil comes from human free will, not a bogeyman. Some humans can be possessed, particularly if they dabble in the occult/animism or sorcery, but this is a rare phenomenon and certainly does not explain Pharaoh.
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