Afterwards Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’” But Pharaoh said, “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.” Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labour at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
Exodus 5:1-9
The next several chapters in Exodus are occupied with the unfolding of a great trial of strength between Moses and Pharaoh and, on the deeper level, between the powers of light and of darkness. The actual text of the chapters is in the main plain and straightforward, but the underlying implications are very profound and far-reaching, and the problems they raise are not inconsiderable. The first two verses here sum up in essence the nature of the conflict that is to occupy our attention up to the story of the Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea, with the destruction of the hosts of Egypt. It is important to remember the background of this contest with, on the one hand, the crisis in Moses' experience (dealt with in the previous Note) culminating in a new obedience and conformity to the divine will, and, on the other hand, the humble, worshipful reaction of the children of Israe1 (4:31) in their expectant waiting upon God (cf Psalm 130:6). This is significant in relation to what followed, because it was not until some considerable time later that the promise of the Lord became an accomplished fact. Indeed, the situation deteriorated markedly before it became better for Israel, as we see in these verses. It is so often like this, when God covenants with His people for awakening, deliverance and revival. There is the great, moving experience, in which the reality of the divine promise and assurance seems quite certain, then the long darkness and opposition in which it often seems that the Lord has forgotten to be gracious. This then, is the test: Are we to believe in the faithfulness of God in spite of all the evidence of our senses? Are we going to say, like Paul in the height of the storm, 'I believe God'?