Key Verses: Exodus 5:1, 5:2, 5:22
Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and deliver the LORD’s command: “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.” Pharaoh responds with contempt: “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” Accusing the people of idleness, Pharaoh orders the taskmasters to stop supplying straw for making bricks while demanding the same quota, forcing the Israelites to gather their own stubble. When the quota cannot be met, the Israelite foremen are beaten and cry out to Pharaoh, who dismisses them as lazy. Meeting Moses and Aaron on their way out, the embittered foremen accuse them of making Israel stink in Pharaoh’s eyes and putting a sword in his hand to kill them. Moses turns to the LORD in bewildered complaint, asking why God has done evil to this people and why He sent him at all, since from the moment he spoke to Pharaoh things have only grown worse and God has not delivered His people.
This chapter honestly portrays the deepening of suffering that often precedes deliverance, teaching that obedience to God’s call does not guarantee immediate ease but may provoke fiercer opposition. Pharaoh’s defiant question, “Who is the LORD?” sets the central agenda of the plagues to come, for the whole contest will answer that question so that Egypt and Israel alike will know that He is the LORD. The intensified bondage exposes the futility of self-salvation and prepares the people to receive redemption as pure grace, not as the fruit of their own bargaining. Moses’ raw complaint models an honest faith that brings its confusion and disappointment directly to God rather than abandoning Him, anticipating the laments of the Psalms and even the cry of Christ on the cross. The darkness before dawn reminds believers that God’s redemptive purposes often move through apparent setback, and that the cross itself would look like utter defeat before the triumph of resurrection.
Key Terms & Words:
- שַׁלַּח (shallach) - Exodus 5:1 - “Let go / send away”; the recurring imperative of the Exodus, “let my people go”
- מִי (mi) - Exodus 5:2 - “Who?”; Pharaoh’s dismissive “Who is the LORD?” that the plagues will answer
- תֶּבֶן (teven) - Exodus 5:7 - “Straw”; the withheld material that intensifies Israel’s cruel labor
Cross-References:
- Exodus 7:17 - “By this you shall know that I am the LORD,” answering Pharaoh’s question
- Psalm 13:1-2 - The lament tradition of honest complaint to God, echoing Moses
- Romans 9:17 - God raised up Pharaoh to display His power and proclaim His name
- 1 Peter 4:12-13 - Suffering that precedes glory in the pattern of Christ
- Matthew 27:46 - Christ’s cry “Why have you forsaken me?” in the depths of suffering
Discussion Questions:
- Why do you think God allowed Israel’s suffering to intensify before their deliverance, and what does this reveal about His purposes?
- When your obedience to God has seemed to make things harder rather than easier, how have you responded, and what can you learn from Moses’ honest complaint?
- How does the deepening of suffering before deliverance in Exodus foreshadow the pattern of the cross before the resurrection?