Exodus 5/6 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Genesis 5:1-21

1 Afterwards Moses and Aaron went to 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 wilderness.”’

2 Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.’

3 Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.’

4 But the king of Egypt said, ‘Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labour? Get back to your work!’ 5 Then Pharaoh said, ‘Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.’ 6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: 7 ‘You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, “Let us go and sacrifice to our God.” 9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.’

15 Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: ‘Why have you treated your servants this way? 16 Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, “Make bricks!” Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.’

17 Pharaoh said, ‘Lazy, that’s what you are – lazy! That is why you keep saying, “Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.” 18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.’ 19 The Israelite overseers realised they were in trouble when they were told, ‘You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.’

A. Find Out:

1. What did Moses & Aaron say God had said? v.1
2. Why did Pharaoh say he wouldn’t? v.2
3. How did they reply? v.3
4. So how did Pharaoh respond? v.4-9
5. When did the Israelites realise what was happening? v.15-19
6. How did they react to Moses & Aaron? v.20,21

B. Think:

1. What had been Moses’ request of Pharaoh?
2. Why had he refused?
3. What else had been the result of this first attempt?

C. Comment:

     Moses and Aaron obey the Lord and go to Pharaoh to convey God’s message, but obedience doesn’t always bring instant blessing, it sometimes brings hostility from the world! Egypt is a picture of the world with people in slavery to idol worship and striving to live. Pharaoh is a picture of this world’s present ruler, Satan, and he challenges the thought that any of his subjects should be released, and he will not let them go without a great deal of pressure being put on.

      Pharaoh’s initial response is to suppress his subjects even more, so there is even less hope of them being able to be released. Make life more difficult, then any hope of escape will seem that much more unlikely, and those seeking to bring that release about will be tempted to give up. That is so often Satan’s strategy, but God’s kingdom has many “impossible cases” in it who weren’t impossible. No one is too hard for the Lord and if the Lord is putting tough cases on our hearts, then we may persevere and look for Him to save them – eventually!

D. Application?

1. The immediate result is not what is all-important, it is that we are simply obedient to the Lord.
2. When we seek to share God’s word and bring people into God’s kingdom, or pray for people’s healing, sometimes it may seem that the immediate response makes it seem more impossible. It isn’t!

Passage: Exodus 5:22 – 6:6

22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.’#

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.’

2 God also said to Moses, ‘I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 ‘Therefore, say to the Israelites: “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.

A. Find Out:    

1. To whom did Moses turn in his trouble? v.22
2. What was his complaint? v.23
3. Why will Pharaoh eventually give in? v.1
4. How had the Lord appeared to Abraham etc.? v.3a
5. How had He now revealed Himself? v.3b (& 3:14)
6. Why was He now acting to help Israel? v.4,5

B. Think:

1. What was Moses’ problem?
2. What was the Lord’s response?
3. What about the Lord Himself was important?

C. Comment:

      Moses obviously thought that the Lord was going to move immediately to deliver Israel. We too have “instant expectations”. Instead, his obedience to the Lord seems to have just brought hardship. Don’t worry, says the Lord, I’ll sort Pharaoh out and you will be delivered (but note He doesn’t say when, or what has to happen first!).

     Then strangely, the Lord starts speaking about His name, but that is more important than we might think at first. To Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He had revealed Himself as GOD ALMIGHTY, which means He is all-powerful, but now He reminds Moses that He has revealed Himself to him as “I AM”, the everlasting, ever-present, unchanging One. God isn’t just all-powerful, He is also unchanging and that is very significant at this time.

      It is as if the Lord is saying, “Look, when I say I’ll do something I WILL do it, I am unchanging. Also, if I was all-powerful with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I am STILL all-powerful, don’t doubt it”. It’s because He made a covenant with Abraham that He acts now, and so His promise will be kept, for He is unchanging, and He will not change His word or His purposes. We need to remember that!

D. Application?

1. Do we understand that the Lord’s purposes are unchanging?
2. When Satan attacked Jesus, Jesus replied by relying upon God’s unchanging word (Matthew 4)