Exodus Chapter 5 Verses 1-4

:1  “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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 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." 

“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.”  This, of course, is what the Lord told Moses and Aaron to do.  However, remember that the Lord also told Moses that Pharaoh would not hearken to let the people go.   

“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.”  It is true that Pharaoh said that he did not know the Lord.  It is also true that Pharaoh was not going to give up his dominion over his Israelite slaves.  It was his moneys treasure to have them do his work for him for only the cost of the maintenance of their bodies.  Pharaoh had not been born of the Spirit and had no love of God within him and he feared not God, therefore, he was going to act in an entirely selfish way.  Pharaoh in his carnality cared not that the children of Israel were greatly suffering under his wicked hands.  To Pharaoh the children of Israel were like oxen to do his work and then to be slaughtered for his selfish gain.  

“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.”  Here Moses and Aaron went from stating the commandment of God which God had instructed them to begging that Pharaoh would hearken to let the children of Israel go.  They erred in that the God who was commanding them was far greater than the king who was before them.  They should never have begged before the worldly king.  It does not do any good to beg before a worldly king or ruler.  He will only take it as a sign of weakness on your part.   

“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.”  In this statement the king of Egypt is showing to Moses and Aaron that he believes he is greater than what he considers to be their imaginary God.  He also falsely accuses them of letting the people go from their works.  He then commands them to get themselves unto their burdens which he had assigned to the children of Israel.   

Moses and Aaron were now undertaking a path of much spiritual growth that will become evident in the days to come as they will repeatedly stand before Pharaoh speaking the words of God unto him demanding that he let the people go to worship the God of Israel in the wilderness.

Verses 5-11 

5 “And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. 6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, 7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 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. 9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words. 10 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. 11 Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished.” 

“And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.”  To Pharaoh worship of a God was just idle superstition and takes away from the time the people ought to be working to enrich his coffers.  So to combat what he believes to be idle superstition he assigns more work to the children of Israel whose lives were already made bitter with hard bondage.  

 “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.” 

In this passage Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people to assign more work to the children of Israel as he said they were idle which he said was evident because they had requested: “Let us go and sacrifice to our God.”  Pharaoh called this “vain words.”  Pharaoh also demonstrated his arrogance toward the slaves as he shows them that if they ask for time off that he will counter by assigning more work to them.  He hoped to stop any future request for time off from their burdens through this means. 

“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.”  It is evident that the children of Israel were in a burdensome predicament in that Pharaoh had increased considerably their work load and effectively shorted the time in which they could accomplish their tasks as they now had to spend considerable time gathering straw which heretofore had been supplied to them.  They were set up for failure and that is exactly what would happen.