215. When Teshuvah is Impeded

Teshuvah 6:2

The above information about punishment (in 6:1) only applies when one does not repent. However, if one repents, his teshuvah protects against punishment. Just as a person can choose to sin, he can also choose to do teshuvah.

Teshuvah 6:3

If a person commits a large sin or many sins that impede teshuvah, he will not be able to repent so that he will die and be eradicated, as per Isaiah 6:10, “Make the heart of this people fat, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, return, and be healed.” Similarly, II Chronicles 36:16 says, “They mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until God’s anger was aroused against His people until there was no remedy.” We see from these verses that the people sinned willfully and increased their sinfulness until it impeded their ability to do teshuvah as a remedy.

In the Torah, God says, “I will harden Pharaoh's heart” (Exodus 14:4). Pharaoh started to sin willfully and continued until his ability to do teshuvah was impeded so that he would be punished. So why did God send Moses to tell Pharaoh to repent when He already knew that Pharaoh wouldn’t? As Exodus 9:16 explains, “that My name may be declared throughout all the earth,” meaning to publicize that when God impedes teshuvah, a person cannot repent so he will die in his sins.

Sichon likewise earned the ability to do teshuva being impeded as per Deuteronomy 2:30, “Hashem, your God, hardened his spirit and strengthened his heart.” The same is true of the Canaanite nations, who had performed despicable acts, as per Joshua 11:20, “This was inspired by God in order to harden their hearts so that they would wage war against Israel and be utterly destroyed.” This is also the case with the generation of Elijah; they committed many sins and their ability to repent was impeded because of it, as I Kings 18:37 says, “You have turned their hearts backwards,” meaning denied them the ability to do teshuvah.

God did not make Pharaoh sin, nor Sichon, the Canaanites, or Elijah’s contemporaries. They all sinned on their own to such a degree that they warranted having their ability to repent impeded.