חָרוּת עַל הַלֻּחֹת, מַהוּ חָרוּת, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה וְרַבִּי יִרְמְיָה וְרַבָּנָן, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר אַל תִּקְרֵי חָרוּת אֶלָּא חֵרוּת מִן גָּלוּיוֹת. רַבִּי נְחֶמְיָה אוֹמֵר חֵרוּת מִמַּלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת. וְרַבּוֹתֵינוּ אוֹמְרִים חֵרוּת מִן הַיִּסּוּרִין.
"Engraved on the tablets." What is the meaning of Harut (engraved)? This was discussed by Rabbi Judah, Rabbi Jeremiah, and the Sages. Rabbi Judah said: do not read it as "Harut" (engraved), rather as "Heirut" (freedom) from captivity. Rabbi Nehemiah opined that it means free from the Angel of Death. The Sages were of the opinion that it means free from suffering.
בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת עַצְמוֹ כְאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם
In every generation one is supposed to view oneself as if he/she left Egypt.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Freedom & Truth (Va'era 5777)
No-one should be forced to live a lie. In Judaism, truth is the seal of God and the essential precondition of trust between human beings. But when your people is being enslaved, its male children murdered, you have to liberate them by whatever means are possible. Moses, who had already seen that his first encounter with Pharaoh made things worse for his people - they still had to make the same quota of bricks but now also had to gather their won straw (5:6-8) - did not want to risk making them worse still.
The Torah here is not justifying deceit. To the contrary, it is condemning a system in which telling the truth may put your life at risk, as it still does in many tyrannical or totalitarian societies today Judaism - a religion of dissent, questioning and "arguments for the sake of heaven" - is a faith that values intellectual honesty and moral truthfulness above all things. The Psalmist says: "Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord and who shall stand in His holy place? One who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken My name in vain nor sworn deceitfully" (Ps. 24:3-4). Malachi says of one who speaks in God's name: "The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips" (Mal. 2:6). Every Amidah ends with the prayer, "My God, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from deceitful speech."
כדמותנו בענין המעשיות שידמה בם קצת לפמליא של מעלה בצד מה שהם פועלים בידיעה ובהכרה. אמנם פעולתם היא בלתי בחיריית ובזה לא ידמה להם האדם. ובקצת ידמה האדם לאל ית' הפועל בבחירה. אמנם בחירת האל ית' היא לעולם לטוב ולא כן הבחירה האנושית.
כדמותנו, acting intelligently like the angels, though from free choice, not like the angels who act under Divine compulsion. In this respect, though the angels are celestial beings, they do not resemble man. In this respect man is a little more like G’d Himself than are the angels, though our habitat is in the “lower” regions of the universe. The principal difference between G’d’s total freedom of action and that of man’s is that G’d’s freedom of action is always put to a constructive use, not so with man's freedom.
אין הקב״ה גוזר להיות טוב או רע, אלא יבחר לעצמו הדרך, ועל כן צריך להתאונן על עצמו אם עשה לנפשו רעה.
Sefer HaHasidim
The Holy One does not decree someone to be good or bad, rather one chooses her own path, and therefore she needs to complain about herself/to herself if she has done wrong in her soul.