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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Afterward, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to Me in the desert.'"
Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go."
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword."
But the king of Egypt said, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!" Then Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working."
That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people: "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies."
Then the slave drivers and the foremen went out and said to the people, "This is what Pharaoh says: 'I will not give you any more straw. Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.'"
So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, "Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw."
The Israelite foremen appointed by Pharaoh's slave drivers were beaten and were asked, "Why didn't you meet your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?" Then the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: "Why have you treated your servants this way? Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, 'Make bricks!' Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people."
Pharaoh said, "Lazy, that's what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.' Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks."
The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, "You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day."
When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said, "May the Lord look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."
Moses returned to the Lord and said, "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all."
Exodus 5:1-23
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
After meeting with the Israelite elders and sharing God’s plan to free His people, we find Moses and Aaron going to address the Egyptian ruler, Pharaoh, just as God had commanded. Of note, it’s important to see that they make sure the Pharaoh knew that their message wasn’t from them but God.
"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to Me in the desert.'"
It was a straight forward command but as we see, it didn’t resonate with Pharaoh because with his own words, he makes it clear that he didn’t believe in the God of the Israelites.
"Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go."
Well, Moses and Aaron weren’t about to give up and so they double down on God’s demand, saying:
"The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword."
Here, we find Moses and Aaron adding specific consequences that could come by way of “plagues” or “the sword” if they disobeyed God, a claim that have any effect on Pharaoh’s mindset. For we find him replying with sarcasm:
"Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work! Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working."
In other words, Egypt’s Pharaoh was basically saying to Moses and Aaron, "What part of ‘no’ did you not understand? Stop wasting my time and holding up your people from their work."
And then, he did something much worse than speaking some crass words.
For the scriptures tell us that Pharaoh began to worsen his oppression of the Israelite people, ordering his "slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people" to no longer “supply the people with straw for making bricks”. Instead, the Israelite slaves were to “gather their own straw” but still be required to produce the “same number of bricks as before”. Overall, we find Pharaoh holding the view that the Hebrew slaves were “lazy” and this is why they were asking to leave and offer sacrifices to their God. And so the slave drivers and foremen were told to “make the work harder” so the Israelites would “keep working and pay no attention to lies."
As we can obviously see, the Israelites were being tasked with making bricks to build the structures for Pharaoh’s empire and before had always been given the material to do the work. Now, Egypt’s leader had ordered that important material for the brick making process, straw, was to be withheld which forced the Israelites to have to try and scavenge to find enough to ensure they wouldn’t fall underneath the established production quote.
Well, Pharaoh’s orders were carried out and predictably, this worsened the working conditions for the people of Israel who quickly reached a breaking point with a need for something to relieve the situation.
We see the indications of this as we read that how the Israelite foremen went to Pharaoh to air their grievances on behalf of their workers. They appealed to Pharaoh, asking:
"Why have you treated your servants this way? Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, 'Make bricks!' Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people."
Well, it should come as no surprise that Pharaoh displayed no sympathy for the Israelites. For we read him saying this in reply to the Hebrew foremen:
"Lazy, that's what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.' Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks."
And with that, the Israelite foremen, formally rebuffed by Pharaoh, go straight to Moses and Aaron to express their anger and frustration over what was happening, saying:
“May the Lord look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us."
In other words, the foremen were placing full blame on Moses and Aaron for what was happening to them. Their point was that their current hardship wouldn’t have happened if Moses and Aaron hadn’t gone to Pharaoh in the first place. The scriptures show us that their pierced the heart of Moses who immediately went before the Lord, saying:
“O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all."
I can’t help but think that Moses was going back to the burning bush and feeling affirmed that he wasn’t the right person to carry out God’s plan which seemed to be going off the rails in a big way. For the very people that he (Moses) was supposed to lead out of Egypt now hated him. Moses had done what he was told to do but instead of any positive outcome happening, there was only increased hardship falling on the Hebrew people, the people Moses deeply cared for.
So what are we to do with this passage from the entire fifth chapter of Exodus?
Well, we need to see that there are three main players who all have the same general problem.
They don’t truly know and trust God.
First, there’s Pharaoh who intentionally brings oppression on the Israelite people, fearing their burgeoning population that he sees as a threat to him and the Egyptian nation. And so he puts all the Hebrews under the yoke of slavery.
By his own admission as he speaks to Moses and Aaron, he doesn’t know the Lord and it’s obvious through his attitude and actions. For if the Pharaoh truly did believe in the God of Israel, he would have listened to Moses and Aaron, conceding to God’s desires for His people.
As we move on in our study of Exodus, we are going to see Pharaoh fully coming to know the one true God in a big way, a God of exceeding power and greatness that exceeded any god of Egypt, a God who is going to as much hardship on Pharaoh and the Egyptians as he chose to place on the Hebrews.
Secondly, I propose that the Israelite foremen also didn’t really know and trust God as they should have, displaying a problem that many people of faith have had throughout the ages. For it’s easy to have faith when things are going right but the challenge in life is maintaining faith when times get hard.
Those who truly know and trust God will never waver in their faith, no matter how hard it gets. They hold steadfast, patiently waiting for God to work things out in accordance with His perfect will and way.
Note that the Israelite foremen never go to God themselves to seek His guidance. Rather, they first go to Pharaoh and after his rejection, then rain curses down upon Moses and Aaron hoping for the Lord’s judgment to come down on them.
Perhaps, they should have been just as concerned with the Lord judging them for their unfaithful attitude.
And finally, we have Moses.
Again, going back to his initial calling by God, there were signs that Moses didn’t really trust God in his heart even though he had the benefit of a personal encounter with Him. He wavered when the Lord told him that he was to go and lead the Israelites out of Egypt and here in chapter five, we find him clearly rattled and bothered by the visit from the Israelite foremen as he goes before God and questions Him. Through his interrogation, Moses was basically asking God about His absence, about why He wasn’t showing Himself as present in the midst of everything that was happening.
After all, hadn’t Moses and Aaron done what He told them to do?
And yet, things had gotten worse, not better.
Through his attitude, we see Moses showing an impatience that is not uncommon. For if we’re honest, we want God to do everything right away ourselves, acting in accordance with the timeline we believe is appropriate. And by doing this, we miss the things He is trying to do in, around, and through us in the midst of difficulties, suffering, and hardship.
And so the Word of God would ask us today:
Do you know God? Do you really KNOW God?
Do you trust in Him fully, knowing and trusting in all His assurances and promises as found in His holy Word? And do you even know His word so you can understand His promises for you?
Brothers and sisters, my prayer today and every day after is that we all will make a commitment to know God better, not superficially but intimately. My hope is that we will dedicate ourselves to the study of His Word for this is where He reveals Himself. And I wish we will all connect fully to the power and influence of the Holy Spirit that dwells within every Christian believer.
Ultimately, let’s all seek to build a stronger and steadfast faith along with an enduring patience that refuses to waver in the midst of adversity but stays firm and resolute, no matter our circumstances, all because we truly know our God.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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