1 Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, "This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'" 2 Pharaoh said, "Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don't know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go." 3 They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword." 4 The king of Egypt said to them, "Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!" 5 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 officers, saying, 7 "You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 The number of the bricks, which they made before, you require from them. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor therein; and don't let them pay any attention to lying words." 10 The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, "This is what Pharaoh says: 'I will not give you straw. 11 Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished.'" 12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent saying, "Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!" 14 The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, "Why haven't you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?" 15 Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, "Why do you deal this way with your servants? 16 No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick!' and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people." 17 But he said, "You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.' 18 Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!" 19 The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, "You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!" 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: 21 and they said to them, "May Yahweh look at you, and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us." 22 Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, "Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people; neither have you delivered your people at all."
Moses and Aaron open their commission to Pharaoh, Exodus 5:1. He insultingly asks who Jehovah is, in whose name they require him to dismiss the people, Exodus 5:2. They explain, Exodus 5:3. He charges them with making the people disaffected, Exodus 5:4, Exodus 5:5; and commands the task-masters to increase their work, and lessen their means of performing it, Exodus 5:6-9. The task-masters do as commanded, and refuse to give the people straw to assist them in making brick, and yet require the fulfillment of their daily tasks as formerly, when furnished with all the necessary means, Exodus 5:10-13. The Israelites failing to produce the ordinary quantity of brick, their own officers, set over them by the task-masters, are cruelly insulted and beaten, Exodus 5:14. The officers complain to Pharaoh, Exodus 5:15, Exodus 5:16; but find no redress, Exodus 5:17, Exodus 5:18. The officers, finding their case desperate, bitterly reproach Moses and Aaron for bringing them into their present circumstances, Exodus 5:19-21. Moses retires, and lays the matter before the Lord, and pleads with him, Exodus 5:22, Exodus 5:23.
INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 5
Moses and Aaron go in to Pharaoh, and desire leave for the children of Israel to go into the wilderness three days' journey, to sacrifice to the Lord, and are answered in a very churlish and atheistical manner, and are charged with making the people idle, the consequence of which was, the taskmasters had orders, to make their work more heavy and toilsome, Exodus 5:1 which orders were executed with severity by them, Exodus 5:10, upon which the officers of the children of Israel complained to Pharaoh, but to no purpose, Exodus 5:14, and meeting with Moses and Aaron, lay the blame upon them, Exodus 5:20, which sends Moses to the Lord to expostulate with him about it, Exodus 5:22.
(Exodus 5:1-9) Pharaoh's displeasure, He increases the tasks of the Israelites.
(Exodus 5:10-23) The sufferings of the Israelites, Moses' complaint to God.
Moses and Aaron Sent to Pharaoh - Exodus 5-7:7
The two events which form the contents of this section - viz., (1) the visit of Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to make known the commands of their God, with the harsh refusal of their request on the part of Pharaoh, by an increase of the tributary labours of Israel (Exodus 5); and (2) the further revelations of Jehovah to Moses, with the insertion of the genealogies of Moses and Aaron-not only hang closely together so far as the subject-matter is concerned, inasmuch as the fresh declarations of Jehovah to Moses were occasioned by the complaint of Moses that his first attempt had so signally failed, but both of them belong to the complete equipment of Moses for his divine mission. Their visit to Pharaoh was only preliminary in its character. Moses and Aaron simply made known to the king the will of their God, without accrediting themselves by miraculous signs as the messengers of Jehovah, or laying any particular emphasis upon His demand. For this first step was only intended to enlighten Moses as to the attitude of Pharaoh and the people of Israel in relation to the work of God, which He was about to perform. Pharaoh answered the demand addressed to him, that he would let the people go for a few days to hold a sacrificial festival in the desert, by increasing their labours; and the Israelites complained in consequence that their good name had been made abhorrent to the king, and their situation made worse than it was. Moses might have despaired on this account; but he laid his trouble before the Lord, and the Lord filled his despondent heart with fresh courage through the renewed and strengthened promise that He would now for the first time display His name Jehovah perfectly - that He would redeem the children of Israel with outstretched arm and with great judgments - would harden Pharaoh's heart, and do many signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, that the Egyptians might learn through the deliverance of Israel that He was Jehovah, i.e., the absolute God, who works with unlimited freedom. At the same time God removed the difficulty which once more arose in the mind of Moses, namely, that Pharaoh would not listen to him because of his want of oratorical power, by the assurance, "I make thee a god for Pharaoh, and Aaron shall be thy prophet" (Exodus 7:1), which could not fail to remove all doubt as to his own incompetency for so great and severe a task. With this promise Pharaoh was completely given up into Moses' power, and Moses invested with all the plenipotentiary authority that was requisite for the performance of the work entrusted to him.
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