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Exodus 5
1Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in .’”
2Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”
3They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into , and to the LORD, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.”
4The of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!”
5Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens.”
6The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying,
7“You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.
8You shall require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, ‘Let’s go and to our God.’
9Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it. Don’t let them pay any attention to lying words.”
10The taskmasters of the people went out with their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you straw.
11Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished.’”
12So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
13The taskmasters were urgent saying, “Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!”
14The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why haven’t you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?”
15Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants?
16No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, ‘Make brick!’ and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.”
17But Pharaoh said, “You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let’s go and to the LORD.’
18Go therefore now, and work; for no straw shall be given to you; yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!”
19The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble when it was said, “You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!”
20They met Moses and Aaron, who stood along the way, as they came out from Pharaoh.
21They said to them, “May the LORD look at you and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!”
22Moses returned to the LORD, and said, “Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me?
23For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people. You have not rescued your people at all!”
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Questions this passage answers
Who is God?
God is the one living Creator who made everything and depends on nothing, and Scripture answers this question mainly by telling us his character rather than by defining his substance. When God described himself to Moses he said he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth, and yet will by no means clear the guilty. The New Testament adds that this God is finally known in Jesus Christ, who has made him known.
Does God provide for my needs?
Scripture says yes, and it is careful about the word need. God promises to supply what his people need, often daily rather than in advance, and he does not promise surplus, comfort or the removal of hard seasons. Paul, who wrote that God will supply every need, also wrote that he had learned to be hungry.
What does the Bible say about worry?
Jesus forbids worry about food, drink and clothing, and he argues rather than scolds: your Father knows what you need, he feeds the birds, worry adds nothing to your life. Scripture then gives the worrier something to do, prayer with thanksgiving and casting the burden on God, and it limits the horizon to one day at a time.
What does it mean to fear the Lord?
The fear of the LORD is not terror of an unpredictable God. It is the reverence of a creature who has rightly understood who God is, holy, sovereign and near, and who therefore takes him seriously in every decision. Proverbs calls it the beginning of knowledge, because a person who has not reckoned with God has not yet begun to understand anything rightly.