Episode 354 - "Moses brings the LORD's message to Pharaoh" - Exodus 5
Ex. 5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
Ex. 5:10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”
Ex. 5:15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
Ex. 5:22 Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”
When I decided to blog through Exodus, I knew that dicing it up in small chunks through the whole book would not only take a long time, but we would get lost in the minutiae and not learn how this book fits in with the greater narrative of the Bible. Up to chapter five, there have been a number of interesting things to take a closer look at. But Moses and Aaron are now beginning their task assigned by the LORD. I think it’s in our best interest to begin taking a macro look at this narrative. It can help us better understand the greater story of God’s liberation of his people. Furthermore, I think we’ll learn some things that are relevant for us today.
In our last episode, we saw how Moses and Aaron took the LORD’s message to the Israelites, and they accepted it. Chapter 4 ended with the Israelites bowing their heads to the LORD in worship because the LORD remembered his covenant with Abraham and had seen the affliction on the Israelites.
We pick up the story in chapter 5 when Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and conveyed the LORD’s message to him to let his people go so that they could go to the wilderness to hold a feast to the LORD. Do you recall what the LORD told Moses would be his reaction? He told Moses that he would not listen or respond accordingly by letting the people go. How did Pharaoh respond? Exactly as the LORD had told Moses. In fact, did you notice the similarity between Pharaoh’s response to the LORD’s message and Moses’ initial response to the LORD’s message for him? Moses asked the question, “Who am I . . . “ Moses’ focus was on himself instead of the LORD. Even though the LORD had chosen him for this role, Moses was not expressing faith.
Pharaoh, in response to the LORD’s command for him, asked the question, “Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice?” The respective responses are not all that different. Both men are focused on themselves. Moses thought he was too incapable or too unimportant for the task the LORD had given him. Pharaoh thought himself too great and important to listen to this God whom he did not know. Both attitudes led to a lack of faith and an inappropriate response.
But Pharaoh didn’t stop at refusing to obey the LORD’s command. He chose to oppress the Israelites even more. This resulted in resentment by the Israelites toward Aaron and Moses. Then, that resulted in Moses’ complaining against the LORD, stating that the LORD had not done what he said he was going to do.
I wonder how often my faith does not always manifest itself when circumstances don’t work out the way I want them to. What has happened with Pharaoh is exactly what the LORD said would happen. But the people’s faith, and even Moses’ faith, are limited because the LORD didn’t do what they wanted him to do when they wanted him to do it.
Some people think that a life of faith is supposed to be blissful and relatively problem-free. But that’s not what the Scriptures reveal. In fact, Jesus, in the New Testament, informed his disciples that if people persecuted him, they would persecute his followers. As one reads the Scriptures, there are many people of faith who endure hard things and even death. Yet, there is a promise of eternal life, even a resurrection from death. We need to trust God’s word regardless of the challenges and conflict we face in this life. It’s all part of God’s plan, and we need to trust that he is good and in control of every situation.