Exodus 05
Opposition to the Plan of God
Ex 1Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Release my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feast to me in the desert.’”
Moses and Aaron introduced Jehovah by name to Pharaoh. They requested a three day trip into the desert so that they could make sacrifices to Jehovah.
2But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by releasing Israel? I do not know the Lord, and I will not release Israel!”
This was a true statement. There were eighty gods in the Egyptian Parthenon. Jehovah was not one of them.
3And they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journey into the desert so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword.”
Moses almost died from the plague of Jehovah, so he was speaking from experience.
4The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you cause the people to refrain from their work? Return to your labor!”
Pharaoh denied the request. This denial of a divine request was a violation of the Abrahamic Covenant,
5Pharaoh was thinking, “The people of the land are now many, and you are giving them rest from their labor.”
Pharaoh respected his false demonic Egyptian gods, but he had no respect for the one true God.
6That same day Pharaoh commanded the slave masters and foremen who were over the people:
The slave masters were the supervisors over the building projects. The foremen were over the Jewish officers. The Jewish officers were over different Jewish labor groups of slaves.
7“You must no longer give straw to the people for making bricks as before. Let them go and collect straw for themselves.
Sun-dried mud bricks, both with and without straw, have been found by archaeologists in Egypt.
8But you must require of them the same quota of bricks that they were making before. Do not reduce it, for they are slackers. That is why they are crying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to our God.’
The Egyptians measured the work of their slaves by the number of rows of bricks that were completed in one day.
9Make the work harder for the men so they will keep at it and pay no attention to lying words!”
The Egyptians were placing the Jews in an impossible working situation.
10So the slave masters of the people and their foremen went to the Israelites and said, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I am not giving you straw.
The elders listened to Moses. Instead of receiving deliverance, they received impossible working conditions.
11You go get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, because there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’”
Where was this deliverance that Moses promised them?
12So the people spread out through all the land of Egypt to collect stubble for straw.
These were long work days for the people of Israel.
13The slave masters were pressuring them, saying, “Complete your work for each day, just like when there was straw!”
The slave masters placed more pressure on the Jewish labor force.
14The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh’s slave masters had set over them were beaten and were asked, “Why did you not complete your requirement for brickmaking as in the past – both yesterday and today?”
The Jewish foremen were being beaten for not fulfilling their quota.
15The Israelite foremen went and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why are you treating your servants this way?
The Israeli foremen complained to Pharaoh. They should have prayed to God. It was possible that the Jewish foremen were mistreating their own people, so God allowed them to go through this suffering.
16No straw is given to your servants, but we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are even being beaten, but the fault is with your people.”
The Jewish foremen blamed Egyptian policy for the lack of results.
17But Pharaoh replied, “You are slackers! Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’
Pharaoh’s response was that Israel was lazy.
18So now, get back to work! You will not be given straw, but you must still produce your quota of bricks!”
Pharaoh refused to budge from his impossible demands. The angelic world was observing the total depravity of man.
19The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce the daily quota of your bricks.”
The Israeli foremen had no solution to the problem.
20When they went out from Pharaoh, they encountered Moses and Aaron standing there to meet them,
The Israeli foremen called a meeting with Moses.
21and they said to them, “May the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants, so that you have given them an excuse to kill us!”
The Israeli foremen were not patient enough to wait for God’s timing. Instead of complaining to Pharaoh and Moses, they should have prayed to God.
The Assurance of Deliverance
22Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why did you ever send me?
The prayer of Moses was a complaint to God. Moses did not understand the mind and timing of God.
23From the time I went to speak to Pharaoh in your name, he has caused trouble for this people, and you have certainly not rescued them!”
The complaint was valid. Moses used the name of Jehovah, but God had not yet kept His promise of the deliverance. Moses would have to wait upon the Lord and His timing.