Exodus 5:1

The Bible says in Exodus 5:1-4, “And afterward 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. 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. 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. 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.” Of course, we know that the Lord wanted Pharaoh to let the children of Israel leave Egypt once and for all. But here Moses simply asks Pharaoh to let the Israelites go into the wilderness just to hold a feast. Of course, the Lord also knew that Pharaoh was not going to let them go at this time: not to depart once and for all and not even to depart just to hold a feast. Perhaps God is showing Moses and Aaron that this is going to take a while. To change a heart that was as hard as Pharaoh’s heart would take some time, so Moses and Aaron needed to be patient. They needed to believe God, and do things God’s way. Things would not work out quickly. The servants of God had to learn to wait upon God and upon God’s ability to do things God’s way and in God’s time.

Notice that Moses and Aaron said to Pharaoh in Exodus 5:3, “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.” They told Pharaoh about the judgment of God when they spoke of “pestilence” and “the sword.” God is the Judge of the whole earth and of everyone in it. Sometimes for a person to wake up to their need for forgiveness, they must first of all think about the terrible judgment that faces them if they do not repent. This judgment is spoken about in Revelation 20:12 that says, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” The Holy Spirit convicts people of the judgment to come so that they will turn to faith in Christ for forgiveness and salvation. Jesus said about the Holy Spirit in John 16:8, “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”

Pharaoh’s initial response to Moses and Aaron was an emphasis on the work that the Israelites were doing in Egypt. The Bible says in Exodus 5:5-19, “And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. 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. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words. 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. Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. 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 to day, as heretofore? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? 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. But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the LORD. Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. 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.”

The first result of Moses coming to Egypt and talking to Pharaoh was an increased burden for the children of Israel. They were not allowed to depart, not even for three days, and they were given a much harder task to fulfill in their daily work. Needless to say, they were not happy with Moses. Once again we are reminded that when we serve the Lord, things do not always work out as we would have hoped or would have liked. God’s ways are not our ways. But because He is in charge, things will work out eventually. But first there must be sorrows, and hardships, and difficulties. The life that we are called to live has good times, but it also has difficult times. Jesus made it very clear that His believers would have some hard times, and He also made it very clear that He would give the victory over those hard times. Jesus said in John 16:33, “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” The tribulation that the children of Israel were experiencing actually increased at this point because Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, increased their work load and their burdens.

The Israelites are being persecuted by Pharaoh, and so the Israelites blame Moses. After all, their burdens would not have increased if Moses had not gone and spoken to Pharaoh. The Bible records this in Exodus 5:20-21, “And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: And they said unto them, The Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour 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.” The Israelites were actually fearing for their lives at this point. They recognized that Pharaoh now hated them, and they rightfully knew that hatred can easily turn to murder. Later in the book of Exodus, we will see that God commanded us in one of Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not kill.” Jesus explained this teaching and related it to anger when Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Since anger is so dangerous and can lead to even greater sins, it is best to avoid all human anger. Do not justify it, and do not defend it. It says in Proverbs 14:17, “He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly…” It says in Proverbs 22:24, “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go.” And it says in Proverbs 29:22, “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.” What it says about a man in these verses is also true about a woman.

The Israelites had a reaction to what Pharaoh said to them, and then Moses had a reaction to what the children of Israel said to him. Moses’ reaction was to speak to the Lord about it. It was very good that Moses spoke to the Lord about it, but Moses had the wrong attitude when Moses did speak to the Lord. It is amazing how patient the Lord can be with us. The Lord was patient with Moses 3,400 years ago, and the Lord is also patient with us today. Exodus 5:22-23, “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? 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.” In addition to lack of faith and lack of respect when talking to God, Moses had a couple of other problems. Moses did not understand that we must wait upon God to act in God’s time and in God’s way. It says in Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” Moses also had unreasonable expectations. He evidently thought that he would walk into Egypt, have one conversation with Pharaoh, show Pharaoh a few miracles with his rod, and then walk right out of Egypt with all of the children of Israel following obediently behind him. Of course, we know it did not happen that way. Life does not happen that way. Even with miracles from God, it can take a long time to do something constructive and worthwhile. Our first attempts often do not work out as we would like. This principle about life is the reason for some old sayings such as, “Rome was not built in a day“, or “if at first you do not succeed, try, try again.”

In addition to delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt, the Lord was trying to teach Moses and the Israelites some important spiritual lessons. It says in Exodus 6:1-3, “Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.” The problem was Pharaoh. Pharaoh had a hard heart. Pharaoh did not know the Lord. Pharaoh hated the children of Israel, and Pharaoh refused to let the people go. How could this problem be fixed? God would fix it. God said, “Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh.”

In Exodus chapter 6:2-3 it is important to notice the use of two of the names of God. In verse 2 the word that is translated “God” is one of the most common words in Hebrew for God, and is translated from the word “Elohim.” For example, this is the word that is used in the first verse of the Bible when it says in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The phrase “God Almighty” that the Lord uses in Exodus 6:3 is actually two more words for God. The first one is translated from the word “El,” which means “mighty one.” The word “almighty” is translated from the word “Shaddai,” which means “Almighty God.” God is the Mighty One. He can do things that no one else can do. That is why Jesus and Jesus alone can quiet the waves and calm the storm. And He is also the Almighty One. He has all power and all authority over everything and everyone in the universe. Nothing happens without His permission and enablement. All other power exists under Him and reports to Him. The other powers may not know it, but they do. They will find out at the judgment when they bow at the feet of Jesus.

One more very interesting fact about the names of God used in these verses is the name “Jehovah” found in Exodus 6:3. Exodus 6:1 said, “Then the LORD said unto Moses…” The word that is translated “LORD” is translated from the same word as “Jehovah.” The translators of the King James Version of the Bible used “LORD” (note all capital letters) most of the time to translate this word instead of “Jehovah.” The word “LORD”, that is, the word “Jehovah,” means “the Eternally Existent One.” Another way of saying this is the way the New Testament says it in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Why did God want to emphasize to Moses the fact that He is eternally existent? Probably because the Lord is going to remind Moses of the promises that the Lord made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Even though God made those promises hundreds of years earlier, the fulfillment of them was just as certain as when the promises were first given. God keeps His promises because He is eternally existent. Jesus is the same today as He was yesterday. The consistent continuity from promise to fulfillment of the promise is assured because of who God is. We can be certain that Jesus will return and right all wrongs because He said that He would. We can be certain that Jesus will take everyone to heaven that believes in Him because He promised that He would.

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