Exodus 5:1-20

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.”

’But Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.’¹
Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.’²
But the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labours!’ Pharaoh continued, ‘Now they are more numerous than the people of the land and yet you want them to stop working!’³

That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors, ‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, “Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.” Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labour at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.’⁴

So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and said to the people,⁵ ‘Thus says Pharaoh,⁶ “I will not give you straw. Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will not be lessened in the least.”' So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, ‘Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw.’⁷ And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten,⁸ and were asked, ‘Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks⁹ yesterday and today, as you did before?’

Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, ‘Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, “Make bricks!” Look how your servants are beaten! You are unjust to your own people.’¹⁰
He said, ‘You are lazy, lazy;¹¹ that is why you say, “Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.” Go now, and work; for no straw shall be given you, but you shall still deliver the same number of bricks.’

The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble when they were told, ‘You shall not lessen your daily number of bricks.’¹² As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron who were waiting to meet them. They said to them, ‘The Lord look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odour with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.’¹³

1 Sounds arrogant, but not an entirely unreasonable question.

2 Interesting that they appeal to Pharoah's concern for them...perhaps they hope that he does not want to lose labor?

3 Pharaoh responds with his own half-hearted plea for compassion

4 Now descends into ruthlessness. The oppressor requires more work, calls workers lazy, lays on heavy labour

5 Whoever the taskmasters and supervisors are, they do Pharaoh's bidding directly

6 “Thus says Pharaoh” reflects “Thus says the Lord” in the first verse, setting them up as warring deities.

7 Taskmasters are given additional culpability

8 Supervisors are victims too – perhaps the taskmasters are the Egyptian foremen, but the supervisors are fellow Hebrews?

9 The bricks are more important than the people

10 Supervisors stand up for the people's rights, call out the Pharaoh's injustice. In many ways this sounds like a plea one would make to your god, not just your ruler. The difference between Pharaoh and The Lord is highlighted.

11 Pharaoh uses “lazy' as an insult against them once again

12 Pretty perceptive, eh?

13 This response is not entirely unwarranted. Their expectations based on Moses's words have not come to pass.

Take-home: Pharaoh and The Lord are pitted against each other for the fate of the people. To this point Pharaoh appears in control, and in some ways the people are treating him more like a god than they treat The Lord himself. In some ways this passage recalls to me contemporary labor debates – employees ask for small privileges, employers call them lazy and try to lay the heaviest burdens possible on them in order to weaken their resistance, employees sometimes blame the agitators who convinced them to ask for more in the first place.