In reality, you've simply turned the actor into a robot.

No, you are just predicting what they will do with their free will. Perhaps a better analogy would be a parent and a child. Of course, the parent doesn't know their child perfectly, but they can often predict what the child will do in certain situations.

God gave Judah the best chance he could knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to go through with it. Now Judah knows that his punishment is just. This "test" of life is about showing ourselves what our true desires are so that we will know that God's judgements are just.