5:1. “And
afterwards Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the
wilderness.”
As was discussed in our
study of 4:27, Moses, the law-giver, represents God’s Law; and Aaron,
meaning light-bringer, represents the written Word. Their coming therefore
to Pharaoh translates into the truth that God was speaking to the king in
law and in grace, as He does to every sinner through the Gospel, for no one
can be saved until he first hears the warning of God’s broken law thundering
the condemnation of the transgressor, and the merciful invitation of grace
assuring him of pardon and blessing in response to acknowledgement of sin,
and confession of faith in Christ as Savior.
God had been willing to
save Pharaoh, as He is to save every sinner, but the king had hardened his
heart, and now God was making that hardening irrevocable. Pharaoh had
crossed the invisible line that separates God’s mercy from His wrath, the
warning relative to that crossing being declared in Genesis 6:3, “My spirit
shall not always strive with man,” and again in Proverbs 29:1 “He, that
being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and
that without remedy,” and yet again, in Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” the word fearful
here having the meaning of terrible fear.
God viewed Pharaoh’s
persecution of Israel as injury done to Himself, the principle being
annunciated explicitly by the Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “Inasmuch as
ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me,” Matthew 25:40.
“... that they may hold a
feast unto me in the wilderness.” Since a feast is a joyful event, God’s
directing His people to hold a feast unto Him, is the further assurance that
He desired them to be happy, but Pharaoh’s refusal to permit them to hold
the feast reflects the attitude of Satan, who seeks man’s misery, not his
blessing, and of whom Pharaoh is almost invariably the type, the one
exception being the Pharaoh of Genesis 41 who appointed Joseph ruler of
Egypt, next only to himself, he in this instance being a type of God the
Father.
As has been discussed
already, the wilderness, in which that generation of Israel spent forty
years, reminds us that communion with God is possible only when the believer
occupies a place of separation from the busy activity of this sinful world,
whose residents view that place of separation as an inhospitable desert.
5:2. “And
Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel
go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”
His language is the
expression of what is in the heart of every unbeliever, for underneath the
religious facade of professing, but unbelieving Christendom, lies the same
ignorance of God, and the same adamant rebellion against His authority.
Pharaoh’s refusal to release Israel from the cruel bondage in which he held
them reflects also the same bitter hatred lurking in the heart of every
unbeliever against every true child of God. There can be harmony between a
believer and an unbeliever only when the believer refuses to be a faithful
witness for God.
5:3. “And they
said, the God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee,
three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God;
lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.”
Hebrew means the other
side (as having crossed over), and as there is in Christendom a small
believing minority in the midst of a professing but unbelieving majority, so
was it in Israel: the whole nation professed to believe in God, but the true
believers were a small minority. The significance of the meaning of the
name lies in the fact that the Hebrews were distinct from all the other
people on the earth, God having placed a dividing line between them and the
nations, thus marking them as a peculiar separated people, the word
peculiar having here the meaning of wealth closely shut up as
treasured or guarded: a jewel: special treasure.
For the significance of
the “three days’ journey,” see comments
on 3:18.
“lest he fall upon us with
pestilence, or with the sword,” was the explanation for their request, and
the lesson being taught here is that God will punish the disobedience of His
own just as surely as He will that of the unbeliever, the great difference
however, being that His chastiement of the believer is the correction of a
loving Father for His child, rather than the judgment of an angry God
against a rebel subject.
5:4. “And the
king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the
people from their works? get you unto your burdens.”
Pharaoh’s question might
be paraphrased, “Why do you distract the people, and hinder them from their
work?” and since no answer was expected he was thus prepared to dismiss them
summarily from his presence, knowing not that the God they served could not
be thus silenced or ignored.
5:5. “And
Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them
rest from their burdens.”
He continued his complaint
by declaring that the Israelites had multiplied phenomenally, and that Moses
and Aaron were encouraging them either not to work at all, or to be less
productive.
5:6. “And
Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their
officers, saying,”
5:7. “Ye shall
no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and
gather straw for themselves.”
5:8. “And the
tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them;
ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry,
saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.”
His punishment of this
imagined offence was to cease supplying the straw that was used in the
manufacture of the bricks produced by the enslaved Israelites, so that the
hapless people were compelled to find the straw themselves, and at the same
time to produce the same number of bricks as formerly.
“...tale” is an archaic
term meaning number: amount: quota.
Satan is indeed a hard
taskmaster.
5:9. “Let
there be more work laid upon the men, that they may labor therein; and let
them not regard vain words.”
It was Pharaoh’s intention
to work the Hebrews so hard that they would have neither time nor desire to
listen to Moses and Aaron; nor has time changed anything. Pharaoh was
simply the tool of Satan who employs the same method today, but with greater
subtlety. By enticing his unwitting dupes to pursue the world’s wealth, and
the imagined pleasure it will buy, he keeps them too busy to read the Bible,
to think about death, about heaven and hell, or in fact, to think of
anything except what pertains to this present earthly life, their dreadful
awakening coming only when they have dropped into the terrible torment of
hell, without any hope of deliverance from its unquenchable flame.
5:10. “And the
taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to
the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.”
5:11. “Go ye,
get you straw where you can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be
diminished.”
This began the
implementation of Pharaoh’s evil scheme which made the toil of the
Israelites even more onerous than before; and an interesting lesson may be
learnt if we consider that the toiling Hebrew is an example of the man who
tries to fit himself for heaven by good works. No matter how much he does
he is always haunted by the nagging fear that it may not be enough, so he is
driven to ever more strenuous but futile effort.
5:12. “So the
people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather
stubble instead of straw.”
Stubble is the small part
of the stem that protrudes about an inch above the ground after the stalk of
grain has been cut, whereas straw is the much longer cut stalk remaining
after the kernels of grain have been separated from it by threshing. The
stubble would be far more irksome to gather because it would have to be cut
at ground level, and would also be very difficult to gather up and work with
after being cut, because of its short length. The people were indeed in
extraordinarily trying straits.
5:13. “And the
taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as
when there was straw.”
The pressure to produce
the same number of bricks as formerly was relentless, and spiritual minds
will have no difficulty seeing in the plight of the oppressed the symbolic
portrait of the state of those who serve Satan.
5:14. “And the
officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over
them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task
in making brick both yesterday and today, as heretofore?”
Clearly some of the
Israelites had been made overseers to superintend the work, possibly because
of the language barrier between Hebrews and Egyptians, and now they were
beaten - a word that is also translated flogged, lashed, thrashed -
for failure to maintain the same production of bricks as when they were
given straw.
5:15. “Then
the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying,
Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?”
5:16. “There
is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and,
behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.”
Driven apparently to
desperation by Pharaoh’s utterly unreasonable demands, they presented
themselves before him in an attempt to make him see that what he was
demanding was beyond human ability to perform.
5:17. “But he
said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice
to the Lord.”
Pharaoh’s insolent
sarcastic response was to declare that their request for permission to go
three days into the wilderness to worship Jehovah was impelled by idleness
because they hadn’t enough work to do. The sinister spirit who prompted his
reply was Satan, and as it was envy of God that caused his downfall, so does
that same jealousy prompt his activity still.
5:18. “Go
therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye
deliver the tale of bricks.”
He was adamant in his
refusal to permit them to worship Jehovah, and in his determination to
demand the same production of bricks, without providing the necessary
straw. The Devil whom he unwittingly served is an alien to any human
sentiment except pitiless hatred.
5:19. “And the
officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case,
after it was said, ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily
task.”
“... evil case” is an
archaic way of saying that they were in a sorry plight, an impossible
situation, from which they could see no way of escape.
“...minish” is an archaic
diminutive form of diminish or reduce.
5:20. “And
they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from
Pharaoh:”
5:21. “And
they said unto them, The Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have made
our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his
servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.”
“...judge” as used here
means punish. They were saying that they wanted God to punish Moses and
Aaron for having aroused the anger of the Egyptians against the Hebrews.
5:22. “And
Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil
entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me?”
5:23. “For
since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this
people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.”
We can empathize with
Moses, for we must confess that all too often we have adopted the same
attitude towards God; but surely we must also confess that it has been
before He has completed His ultimate purpose, which is always to bless us.
Instead of doubting and complaining in the midst of trial we should remember
the assurance given us in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God....” That assurance should silence
complaint, and inspire the patience to wait for God to finish working.
[Exodus
6]