Exodus 5:1-23
- Moses Meets With Pharaoh
Moses and Aaron had their first meeting
with the Pharaoh and said, "This is what the Lord,
the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to
me in the desert.'" - Ex. 5:1. God's words carry with them His power to
effect what they are saying. The Bible
is God's Word and is the highest authority.
Moses wanted the people to go into the
desert to worship God. Why in the
desert? Probably because since the
Egyptians worship various animals, the Israelites didn't want to sacrifice
their animals in front of the them. This
request was reasonable, because it showed respect to the Egyptians by going out
into the desert. And if the Egyptians
saw these sacrifices, they might kill the Israelites. Also the Israelites didn't want to offend
them by throwing these sacrifices in their face.
This meeting with the Pharaoh was a
disaster! He didn't want to let them
go. He didn't know God. He was full of himself and thought of himself
as a god. Instead of letting them go,
the Pharaoh worked them even harder and even refused to supply them with the
straw used to make the bricks. They had
to gather their own straw and still meet their quotas. Of course they couldn't do it and the
Israelite foremen were beaten.
The slave drivers were Egyptians, but the
foremen were Israelites. The foremen had
some belief. They saw the signs and even
worshiped God, but they went to Pharaoh and complained about the harsh
treatment. They lost focus and turned to
Pharaoh instead of prayer to God. Pharaoh
didn't listen. This showed courage on
their part. Pharaoh could have beat
them, killed them, and done the same to the slaves.
When have you turned to
others in your circumstances instead of to God?
The foreman then went back to Moses and
Aaron and blamed them for it all. Moses
and Aaron lost their credibility and were rejected by the people. Again Moses questioned his
qualifications. Moses cried out to God, "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this
people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your
name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your
people at all." - Ex.
5:22-23.
Moses was disappointed and doubted God or
maybe himself that he wasn't doing his job right. Maybe he felt guilty that he was making
things worse. He probably was
embarrassed and humiliated, even fearful.
When has your obedience
to God seemed to make things worse?
What did you do about
it?What situation will you allow God to transform your disappointment?
Principle: Following God's call often results in difficult circumstances, requiring reliance on Him.
Exodus
6:1-27 - Moses Meets With God
Moses cried out to God. He brought his real feelings to God. There is power whenever we come to God. Prayers not only is to ask God for things,
but it also includes thanksgiving, and worship.
God never told Moses it would be easy.
God reassured Moses by saying "I am
the Lord" and repeated this 4 times.
This showed that God is not nameless, that He desires to be known, that
Pharaoh is not God, and that God would eventually free them. He reminded Moses of the Covenant made with
Abraham.
God used "I will" 7 times. "I am the Lord,
and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, I will free you from being slaves to
them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty
acts of judgment. I will take you
as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I
swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession.
I am the Lord'". - Ex. 6:6-8.
Now Moses was ready to get back to
work. God told Moses to repeat this
message to the people, which he did.
They did not listen. They were
discouraged. Their spirit was broken,
because of they were beaten down by their hard labor. It's hard to keep the faith when your body is
hurting. You can't see the end in
sight. We don't always know the outcome
of a situation. We just have to trust that
God will make all things right.
Principles:
Crying out to God leads us to his
presence, His perspective, and His peace.Discouragement comes when we focus on our circumstances instead of God.
When have you been
discouraged and what did you learn from it?
Just because Pharaoh would not let the
people go doesn't mean he would not eventually let them go. God would see to it. "Because of my
mighty hand he will let them go." - Ex. 6:1. We will see in the
next chapters how God's plan for the Egyptians would eventually free His
people.
What do we learn about
God in these chapters? We learn that He is
a promise keeper and a protector. His is
patient, compassionate, and sovereign.
His plan may not be obvious, but He does have one. It may be hard until His plan comes to
completion.
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