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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Chapter 5:1 - 21 Bricks
Without Straw (ch. 5:1 - 21)
In
verse 1 we see that Moses and Aaron obey God.
They go to Pharaoh and tell him to let I
personally don't see a conflict here as some do.
God wanted Israel
to be completely free and leave Pharaoh's
response in verse 2 is as predicted by God.
He refused on the basis that he did not know the Lord of Israel,
and that was certainly true. Of
course, why would he allow his slaves to have a vacation anyway?
That would make no sense. In
verse 3 Moses and Aaron put a little extra pressure on Pharaoh.
They told him that they had met with God and if they don't get
out into the desert to sacrifice to him, He might strike them with the
sword or with some plagues. I'm
not convinced that Moses and Aaron really believed the Lord would strike
them with plagues or a sword. That
would actually come upon the Egyptians.
Whatever the case, this was meant to make Pharaoh have pity on
the Jews. In
verses 4 and 5 Pharaoh responds by telling Aaron and Moses to make the
people get back to work. The
talk of leaving Things
get worse for the Jews as seen in verses 6 through 13.
They had been making bricks, and part of the material used in the
process was straw that they had supplied to them.
Pharaoh told the masters of the slaves to make the Jews find
their own straw. That would take more time to make brick because the
straw would not be supplied. Pharaoh
also told the masters of the slaves not to reduce the number of bricks
they were to make. So, in
the long run, the Jews had to work harder and longer to keep their quota
of bricks. Pharaoh simply
said they were a lazy lot of people.
So
the attempt to go free back fired, at least for the moment.
God had told Moses that he would lead the people out of In
verse 14 we see that those Jews that had been put in charge by
Pharaoh's slave drivers were beaten because they Jews could not keep up
with the quota of bricks. It
was probably an impossibility. Things
just kept getting worse for the Jews.
God's people were gong through the ringer, so to speak.
God is not afraid to test His people, and that includes
Christians today. In
verses 15 and 16 the Jewish foremen go and tell Pharaoh that his order
for them to collect the straw as well as make the bricks is impossible.
They can't keep up with the quota.
It's not their fault. It's
actually the fault of the Egyptians, where they have to find the straw. In
verses 16 and 17 Pharaoh refuses the Jews.
He says they are lazy. That's
why they want to leave and go to worship.
The quota remained the same. Pharaoh's heart was hard towards the
Jews, and getting harder by the day.
Of course, by now, it was God who was intervening in the
situation. He was making
Pharaoh's heart hard. God is
sovereign. If He so chooses
to make someone's heart hard, He can do that.
Just remember, that Pharaoh's heart was already hard in the first
place. God did not make a
soft heart hard. He made a
hard heart harder. Again,
God made Pharaoh's heart harder because of the miracles He performed
through Moses. So in one sense of the word, Pharaoh made his own heart
hard. God did not take away
Pharaoh's free will here. Pharaoh's
heart becomes harder because of His response to God. In
verses 19 to 21 the Jewish foremen seek Aaron and Moses out because they
are really upset. They are
blaming Moses and Aaron for all the trouble they now are going through,
and from their perspective, you can't blame them.
Moses comes in from no where, tells everyone that God wants him
to lead We
are in the middle of an event that took some time to be carried out.
God was judging Egypt
for the way |