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Exodus 5

Pharaoh answers YHWH’s command with harsher slavery, leaving Israel’s officers accusing Moses and Moses questioning God about the lack of rescue.

Moses and Aaron stand before Pharaoh with YHWH’s command to release Israel for a feast in the wilderness. Pharaoh rejects YHWH’s authority and treats the request for worship as an excuse to avoid work. He stops supplying straw while keeping the brick quotas unchanged. Israel’s officers suffer beatings, appeal to Pharaoh, and then blame Moses and Aaron. Moses returns to YHWH with a complaint: his mission has brought greater suffering, and rescue has not come.

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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 the wilderness.’”
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 the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.”
4The king of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your 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 sacrifice 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.
12So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for 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?”
17But Pharaoh said, “You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice 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!”
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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Key verses
Exodus 5:1YHWH claims Israel as his people and commands their release for worship, confronting Pharaoh’s control over their lives.
Exodus 5:2Pharaoh’s refusal to recognize YHWH’s authority sets the terms of the conflict that drives the chapter.
Exodus 5:21The officers’ accusation shows how Pharaoh’s cruelty turns the people against the messengers sent to secure their release.
Where this chapter reaches

Deuteronomy recalls Israel’s forced labor and oppression in Egypt, sharing the history of bondage that Pharaoh intensifies here. Psalm and Job share the language of complaint before God, as sufferers question trouble and the absence of help, much as Moses does at the chapter’s close.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about Pharaoh’s use of work demands to discredit Israel’s desire to worship?

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How does Moses’ closing complaint compare with what you want to say to God when help seems delayed?

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Questions people ask about Exodus 5

Why did Pharaoh make the Israelites gather their own straw?

Pharaoh says their request to sacrifice shows that they are idle. He removes the straw supply while demanding the same number of bricks, forcing them to gather material as well as make bricks. His stated aim is heavier work that keeps them from listening to Moses and Aaron.

Why does Moses complain to God in Exodus 5?

Moses has spoken to Pharaoh in God’s name, yet Pharaoh has increased Israel’s suffering. After the Israelite officers blame Moses and Aaron, Moses asks why God sent him and why trouble has come upon the people. The chapter ends with his complaint; God’s answer is not included here.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).