What happens when Moses and Aaron first ask Pharao to let Israel go and sacrifice?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Pharao refuses and increases the work: the people must gather their own straw while producing the same number of bricks. The officers appeal without relief, blame Moses and Aaron, and Moses brings the worsening suffering to the Lord.

Chapter breakdown

What happens when Moses and Aaron first ask Pharao to let Israel go and sacrifice? Pharao refuses and increases the work: the people must gather their own straw while producing the same number of bricks. The officers appeal without relief, blame Moses and Aaron, and Moses brings the worsening suffering to the Lord.

Moses and Aaron go to Pharao and give the message of the Lord God of Israel: let his people go so that they may sacrifice to him in the desert. Pharao asks who the Lord is that he should listen and release Israel. He says he does not know the Lord and will not let Israel go. Moses and Aaron say that the God of the Hebrews has called them. They ask to go three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord their God, lest pestilence or the sword fall upon them.

The king asks why Moses and Aaron draw the people away from their work and tells them to return to their burdens. He says the people of the land are numerous and that the multitude has increased; how much more would this be so if they rested from their work? That same day he gives orders to the overseers of the work and the taskmasters.

Pharao orders that the people receive no more straw for making bricks. They must gather it themselves, but still make the same number of bricks as before, with no reduction. He calls them idle and says this is why they ask to sacrifice to their God. He orders them to be oppressed with work and to finish it, so that they will not listen to what he calls lying words.

The overseers and taskmasters tell the people that Pharao allows them no straw. They must gather it wherever they can find it, with no reduction in their work. The people scatter through all the land of Egypt to gather straw. The overseers press them to finish each day’s work as they did when straw was supplied.

Those over the work of the children of Israel are scourged by Pharao’s taskmasters. They are asked why they have not completed the usual brick task yesterday and today. The Israelite officers go to Pharao and cry out, asking why he treats his servants this way. They say no straw is given, the same bricks are required, they are beaten with whips, and his people are treated unjustly.

Pharao repeats that they are idle and that this is why they ask to sacrifice to the Lord. He sends them back to work: no straw will be given, but they must deliver the usual number of bricks. The officers see that they are in a bad situation because there will be no reduction at all in the bricks required each day.

As the officers come out from Pharao, they meet Moses and Aaron, who stand opposite them. The officers ask the Lord to see and judge. They accuse Moses and Aaron of making them stink before Pharao and his servants and of giving him a sword to kill them. These are the officers’ words of blame; the passage does not record Moses or Aaron handing over a weapon.

Moses returns to the Lord and asks why he has afflicted this people and why he sent Moses. Since Moses went to speak to Pharao in God’s name, the king has afflicted God’s people, and God has not delivered them. The chapter ends with Moses putting that complaint before the Lord.

The story inside

The officers’ appeal shows why the added burden remains. The overseers have announced the order as Pharao’s own: no straw and no reduction of work. After being scourged over the missed brick task, the officers tell the king about the missing straw, the unchanged demand and the whips. He repeats the accusation of idleness and confirms the order. The officers then blame Moses and Aaron; Moses turns to the Lord with the gap between his mission and the suffering that followed his message. This chapter leaves that complaint unanswered. (Exodus 5:10–23.)

Lessons worth keeping

1
The burden grows in two linked ways. The number of bricks stays the same, but the workers must now find their own straw. The demand for each day’s work remains what it was when straw was provided. This is the stated problem behind the officers’ appeal. (5:7–16.)
2
The officers’ appeal does not change the order. They name the lack of straw and the whips as unjust treatment. Pharao answers with the same accusation of idleness and confirms the unchanged daily requirement. The officers see their bad situation because no reduction is allowed. (5:15–19.)
3
Moses brings the worsening situation to the Lord. After the officers blame him and Aaron, Moses asks why he was sent and why the people are afflicted. He says that speaking in God’s name has been followed by the king’s oppression, without deliverance. The complaint, rather than a later answer, is this chapter’s ending. (5:20–23.)

Test your recall

Why must the people scatter through Egypt? Pharao stops supplying straw, so they must gather it wherever they can find it while their work is not reduced. (5:7, 10–13.) Why do the officers see themselves in a bad situation? Pharao confirms that there will be no reduction at all in the bricks required each day. (5:17–19.) What leads into Moses’ final complaint?

Show answer

The officers receive no relief and accuse Moses and Aaron of worsening their position before Pharao. Moses then returns to the Lord and says that the king has afflicted the people since Moses spoke in God’s name. (5:20–23.)

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 6380–6383
Exodus Chapter 5 Pharao refuseth to let the people go. They are more oppressed.
Lines 6384–6394
5:1. After these things, Moses and Aaron went in, and said to Pharao: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may sacrifice to me in the desert. 5:2. But he answered: Who is the Lord, that I should hear his voice, and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. 5:3. And they said: The God of the Hebrews hath called us, to go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and to sacrifice to the Lord our God; lest a pestilence or the sword fall upon us.
Lines 6395–6404
5:4. The king of Egypt said to them: Why do you Moses and Aaron draw off the people from their works? Get you gone to your burdens. 5:5. And Pharao said: The people of the land are numerous; you see that the multitude is increased; how much more if you give them rest from their works? 5:6. Therefore he commanded the same day the overseers of the works, and the task-masters of the people, saying:
Lines 6405–6415
5:7. You shall give straw no more to the people to make brick, as before; but let them go and gather straw. 5:8. And you shall lay upon them the task of bricks, which they did before; neither shall you diminish any thing thereof, for they are idle, and therefore they cry, saying: Let us go and sacrifice to our God. 5:9. Let them be oppressed with works, and let them fulfil them; that they may not regard lying words.
Lines 6416–6427
5:10. And the overseers of the works, and the taskmasters, went out and said to the people: Thus saith Pharao: I allow you no straw; 5:11. Go, and gather it where you can find it; neither shall any thing of your work be diminished. 5:12. And the people was scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather straw. 5:13. And the overseers of the works pressed them, saying: Fulfil your work every day, as before ye were wont to do, when straw was given you.
Lines 6428–6438
5:14. And they that were over the works of the children of Israel, were scourged by Pharao’s taskmasters, saying: Why have you not made up the task of bricks, both yesterday and to day, as before? 5:15. And the officers of the children of Israel came, and cried out to Pharao, saying: Why dealest thou so with thy servants? 5:16. Straw is not given us, and bricks are required of us as before; behold we, thy servants, are beaten with whips, and thy people is unjustly dealt withal.
Lines 6439–6448
5:17. And he said: You are idle, and therefore you say: Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord. 5:18. Go therefore and work: straw shall not be given you, and you shall deliver the accustomed number of bricks. 5:19. And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in evil case, because it was said to them: There shall not a whit be diminished of the bricks for every day.
Lines 6449–6455
5:20. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood over against them as they came out from Pharao: 5:21. And they said to them: The Lord see and judge, because you have, made our savour to stink before Pharao and his servants, and you have given him a sword, to kill us.
Lines 6456–6462
5:22. And Moses returned to the Lord, and said: Lord, why hast thou afflicted this people? wherefore hast thou sent me? 5:23. For since the time that I went in to Pharao to speak in thy name, he hath afflicted thy people: and thou hast not delivered them.