Reflections on Exodus 5

Exodus 05 (Contemporary English Version)


1. Moses and Aaron went to the king of Egypt and told him, "The LORD God says, 'Let my people go into the desert, so they can honor me with a celebration there.' "
2. "Who is this LORD and why should I obey him?" the king replied. "I refuse to let you and your people go!"
3. They answered, "The LORD God of the Hebrews, has appeared to us. Please let us walk three days into the desert where we can offer sacrifices to him. If you don't, he may strike us down with terrible troubles or with war."
4. The king said, "Moses and Aaron, why are you keeping these people from working? Look how many you are keeping from doing their work. Now everyone get back to work!"
5. (SEE 5:4)
6. That same day the king gave orders to his slave bosses and to the men directly in charge of the Israelite slaves. He told them:
7. Don't give the slaves any more straw to put in their bricks. Force them to find their own straw wherever they can,
8. but they must make the same number of bricks as before. They are lazy, or else they would not beg me to let them go and sacrifice to their God.
9. Make them work so hard that they won't have time to listen to these lies.
10. The slave bosses and the men in charge of the slaves went out and told them, "The king says he will not give you any more straw.
11. Go and find your own straw wherever you can, but you must still make as many bricks as before."
12. The slaves went all over Egypt, looking for straw.
13. But the slave bosses were hard on them and kept saying, "Each day you have to make as many bricks as you did when you were given straw."
14. The bosses beat the men in charge of the slaves and said, "Why didn't you force the slaves to make as many bricks yesterday and today as they did before?"
15. Finally, the men in charge of the slaves went to the king and said, "Why are you treating us like this?
16. No one brings us any straw, but we are still ordered to make the same number of bricks. We are beaten with whips, and your own people are to blame."
17. The king replied, "You are lazy--nothing but lazy! That's why you keep asking me to let you go and sacrifice to your LORD.
18. Get back to work! You won't be given straw, but you must still make the same number of bricks."
19. The men knew they were in deep trouble when they were ordered to make the same number of bricks each day.
20. After they left the king, they went to see Moses and Aaron, who had been waiting for them.
21. Then the men said, "We hope the LORD will punish both of you for making the king and his officials hate us. Now they even have an excuse to kill us."
22. Moses left them and prayed, "Our LORD, why have you brought so much trouble on your people? Is that why you sent me here?
23. Ever since you told me to speak to the king, he has caused nothing but trouble for these people. And you haven't done a thing to help."
    
    

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    Moses, in the accounts of this chapter, began the second part of what God told him to do. The first part was to go to the Israelite elders and tell them that God had noticed their misery and was about to fulfill His promise to "bring you up from the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites--a land flowing with milk and honey." (3:17) This he had done as recorded in chapter 4. The second part, which is recorded in this chapter, was to take the elders with him and go to the "king of Egypt and say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God." (3:18)
    
    As God predicted, Pharoah flatly refused to grant Moses' request to let the Israelites make a three-day trip into the wilderness. The part God did not tell Moses and he did not anticipate was that his request would prompt Pharoah to increase his oppression of the Israelites. Pharoah expressed no concern for the people or respect for their God. Only concern that their work would suffer. He accused them of being slackers allowing them time to think about making this trip. Therefore he would increase their work load by forcing them to find their own straw for making bricks, a task that had been given the Egyptians, without decreasing their quota of bricks to be made. Finding the straw was evidently no easy task for we are told "the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw." (5:12) It seems there was no ready source for straw.
    
    Moses and the Israelites were now faced with a crises of faith. They had done what God told them and it resulted in an inceased work load - increased oppression. Is this the way it should be? Do what God tells you and things get worse instead of better? God told Moses that for Pharoah to let them go would require Him to "stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles that I will perform in it. After that, he will let you go." (5:20) But what Moses did not anticipate was the worsening of the work conditions due to his request.
    
    If God is to do with us what He wants, and even what we want, requires that we allow Him complete freedom to do so without us messing things up. This requires full dependence on Him. And for us to depend fully on God requires full trust on our part. Moses' request to Pharoah set in motion circumstances that could not be reversed. There was no going back to life as it was, as bad as it was. They had little choice but to depend on God and continue what was started. As a result they would experience God's mighty works on their behalf.