Exodus · chapter 5 of 40
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Exodus 5 tells of the first audience of Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh, who answers that he does not know the Lord and will not let Israel go. Instead of freeing the people, he orders the Israelites to gather their own straw without reducing the number of bricks. The Israelite foremen complain to Moses, and Moses takes his complaint to the Lord.
Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt with God's promise and with a people ready to believe. Exodus 5 shows the other side of the story: the first step of obedience brings more suffering. The chapter reveals Pharaoh's hardness, the people's discouragement and Moses' honest struggle, and it prepares God's answer in the next chapter.
Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said, on behalf of the Lord, the God of Israel, that he should let his people go to hold a feast for him in the wilderness. Pharaoh answered by asking who the Lord is that he should obey him. He declared that he did not know the Lord and would not let Israel go. They insisted on going a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice, and the king accused them of pulling the people away from their work.
That same day Pharaoh ordered the taskmasters and Israelite foremen to stop supplying straw for brick-making; the people were to gather it themselves but deliver the same number of bricks. He said they were lazy, which is why they asked to go and sacrifice. The people scattered across Egypt to gather stubble, and the Egyptian taskmasters pressed them. The Israelite foremen were beaten for not meeting the quota.
The Israelite foremen went to complain to Pharaoh, but he repeated that they were lazy and told them to get back to work. On leaving, they met Moses and Aaron and said the Lord should judge them for making them a stench to Pharaoh. Moses returned to the Lord and asked why he had mistreated his people and why he had sent him, since from the time he spoke to Pharaoh in his name things had gotten worse and God had not rescued his people.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Moses and Aaron ask Pharaoh, on behalf of the God of Israel, to let his people go to hold a feast for him in the wilderness. It is God's first open message to Egypt's power and raises the central question: whom must Israel serve?
Pharaoh asks who the Lord is that he should obey him, and declares that he does not know him. His answer shows he recognizes no other authority and prepares the plagues, through which Egypt will come to know who the Lord is.
Pharaoh orders heavier work for the people so they will pay no attention to lying words. His reply turns a request for worship into a pretext for oppression and shows how evil tries to smother hope with more burden.
Moses brings his complaint to the Lord: why have you mistreated this people and why did you send me, if since I spoke to Pharaoh in your name you have not rescued them? It is a sincere prayer, and the Bible lets this struggle be spoken before God.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: To let the people go to hold a feast to the Lord in the wilderness. — Exodus 5:1
Answer: He asked who the Lord was that he should obey, and said he did not know him and would not let Israel go. — Exodus 5:2
Answer: He ordered the people to gather their own straw but deliver the same number of bricks. — Exodus 5:6-8
Answer: They were beaten. — Exodus 5:14
Answer: That the Lord should judge them, because they had made them a stench to Pharaoh and his servants. — Exodus 5:20-21
Answer: He returned to the Lord and asked why he had mistreated the people and why he had sent him. — Exodus 5:22-23
Exodus 5 reminds us that obeying God does not always bring immediate relief. Sometimes the first step of faith seems to make things worse, and that discouragement does not mean God has made a mistake. This truth helps those who serve in the church and feel that their efforts only bring opposition.
Moses also offers an example of what to do with doubt: he does not hide it or abandon his calling, but brings it to God honestly. In a small group you can talk about times when obeying was harder than expected, and about how to bring our questions to God without staying silent.
Exodus 5 ends with a question from Moses and no immediate answer. Exodus 6 holds God's reply: he renews his promises, makes himself known by his name and announces that Moses will now see what he will do to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh worshiped the gods of Egypt and saw himself as the highest authority. Saying he did not know the Lord meant he did not acknowledge him, not that he had never heard of him. The plagues will show Pharaoh and Egypt who the Lord is.
Chopped straw was mixed into the clay to strengthen the bricks. By forcing the people to find it themselves without lowering the quota, Pharaoh multiplied the slaves' work and exhaustion.
The text does not rebuke him. Moses brings his question directly to the Lord, as many of the psalms do, and God answers in the next chapter. The Bible shows that honest complaint directed to God is a form of prayer, not a lack of faith.