Q&A: Did Balaam and Korach have free choice?
Did Balaam and Korach have free choice?
Question
In the question of divine foreknowledge and free choice, the Rabbi maintained that it is reasonable to assume that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not know the future, because if He does know it, that is necessarily a contradiction to free choice, and that is not a deficiency, etc.
As is well known, ten things were created at twilight, among them the mouth of the donkey and the mouth of the earth. That is, the story of Korach and Balaam was known and planned already at twilight. Does this prove, according to your view, that they had no free choice? And if so, why are they considered sinners? I am astonished!
Or alternatively, from here it is proven that foreknowledge is not a contradiction to free choice. (Exactly how, God knows; in any case there is certainly a source for knowledge of the future, and from the Torah's treatment of the above it is also clear that there is a claim against them, and therefore the assumption is that they did have free choice.)
Thanks in advance, and have a wonderful rest of the week.
Answer
I did not understand what you saw here more than in any other prophecy in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh).
As the Shelah explains regarding all prophecies: either they are conditional, and if the person chooses otherwise it will not happen, or the Holy One, blessed be He, decides that He wants it to happen that way, and then He takes the reins into His own hands and removes the person's free choice.