Exodus 5:1-23
God Says Let My People Go
1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”
2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”
3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
4 But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” 5 Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”
6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: 7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”
10 Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. 11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’” 12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. 13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.”14 And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”
15 Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? 16 Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”
19 The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” 20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, 21 and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
When God sent Moses and Aaron to the Pharaoh, at first He did not do a miracle...God chose not give Pharaoh a sign or a miracle on Moses and Aaron's first visit to the Pharaoh...God may have wanted Pharaoh to first choose his own course of action...Pharaoh had the chance to choose, with his free will, and respond voluntarily and mercifully towards the Hebrew people...Pharaoh had ruled over the people of Israel for many years, so he might have thought he had some power over their God...And Pharaoh had his own set of gods that he believed in, and thought them to be strong and powerful...
Had God given Pharaoh an immediate and modern day miracle on Moses and Aaron's first visit, he might (right there and then) have believed in the God of Israel...And although God was all around and near Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh had no reason, that he could find, for him to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...And because the Pharaoh does not believe in God, he now tells Moses that the Hebrew people must keep up their slave work and make their bricks without straw...And straw being a binder for the clay that helps the bricks stick and stay together, the Hebrew slaves of Egypt would have a much more difficult time building the things Pharaoh wanted...God's hiding and not coming forward would cause strife not only for Pharaoh, but also immediately for the people of Israel...For Pharaoh needing to see God or for God to do something on Pharaoh's time, is not how our humble God does things...This way, the way to fame and power seems to be a very different direction than the path towards God...The path of fame and power seems to hide us from His Presence...
Pharaoh was unimpressed with the God of Israel and did not believe in Him, or at least did not believe that He was Almighty...He wanted more evidence of God of His powers, and the evidence given at the first first of Moses and Aaron visits was insufficient...Pharaoh needed to see a sign of power to believe, and he did not get one sign...Pharaoh might have thought, "Why wouldn't God show His face to the Egyptian leader?"...But God had hidden His face from Pharaoh, and therefore Pharaoh had little faith to believe Him, and was not in fear of Him at this time...Not knowing God, Pharaoh thought he could beat God and the people of Israel by force...After all, he was Pharaoh, famous around the world, and the supreme leader of Egypt...
When God said, "Let My people go."...We know for sure that the Israeli people are God's people...They will be freed, when God considers what the right time is...And the right time is not when I think it is, or Pharaoh thinks it is, or when someone else thinks it is the right time...The right time for God, is when He thinks and believes it is the right time...God's timing seems to be less timed with a physical time and more concerned and a timing of grace...And this way to fame and power seems to be to this day, a very different direction than the path to God...Worldly success, worldly fame, and worldly power seem little to God...His path is still the humble path of forgiveness and grace...