Exodus 5:1

_AND AFTERWARD MOSES AND AARON WENT IN, AND TOLD PHARAOH, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, LET MY PEOPLE GO, THAT THEY MAY HOLD A FEAST UNTO ME IN THE WILDERNESS._ Moses and Aaron went. As representatives of the Hebrews, they were entitled to ask an audience of the king, and their thorough Egyptian training taught them how and when to seek it. AND TOLD PHARAOH. When introduced, they delivered a message in the name of the God of Israel. This is the first time He is mentioned by that national appellation in Scripture. It seems to have been used by divine direction (Exodus 4:22), and designed to put honour on the Hebrews in their depressed condition (Hebrews 11:16)....

1._And afterwards Moses and Aaron went in. _Moses here begins to set forth how many and how great were the proofs of God’s power displayed in the deliverance of his people. For, since the pride, the madness, and the obstinacy of the king were indomitable, every door was closed, until broken down miraculously, and by various means. It was, indeed, possible for God to overwhelm him at once, by a single nod, so that he should even fall down dead at the very sight of Moses; but, as we have already briefly stated, and he will himself presently declare, He, _in the first place_, chose more clearly to lay open His power; for if Pharaoh had either voluntarily yielded, or had been overcome without effort, the glory of the victory would not have been so illustrious. _In the second place_, He wished this monument to exist of His singular love towards His elect people; for by contending so perseveri...

1-9 God will own his people, though poor and despised, and will find a time to plead their cause. Pharaoh treated all he had heard with contempt. He had no knowledge of Jehovah, no fear of him, no love to him, and therefore refused to obey him. Thus Pharaoh's pride, ambition, covetousness, and political knowledge, hardened him to his own destruction. What Moses and Aaron ask is very reasonable, only to go three days' journey into the desert, and that on a good errand. We will sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Pharaoh was very unreasonable, in saying that the people were idle, and therefore talked of going to sacrifice. He thus misrepresents them, that he might have a pretence to add to their burdens. To this day we find many who are more disposed to find fault with their neighbours, for spending in the service of God a few hours spared from their wordly business, than to blame others, wh...

CHAPTER V _Moses and Aaron open their commission to Pharaoh_, 1. _He insultingly asks who_ Jehovah _is, in whose name they require him_ _to dismiss the people_, 2. _They explain_, 3. _He charges them with making the people disaffected_, 4, 5; _and commands the task-masters to increase their work, and lessen_ _their means of performing it_, 6-9. _The task-masters do as commanded, and refuse to give the people_ straw _to assist them in making brick, and yet require the fulfilment_ of their daily tasks as formerly, when furnis

PHARAOH - This king, probably Tothmosis II, the great grandson of Aahmes Exodus 1:8, the original persecutor of the Israelites, must have been resident at this time in a city, probably Tanis Exodus 2:5, of Lower Egypt, situated on the Nile. THE LORD GOD - Yahweh God of Israel demanded the services of His people. The demand, according to the general views of the pagans, was just and natural; the Israelites could not offer the necessary sacrifices in the presence of Egyptians....

FIRST APPEAL OF MOSES TO PHARAOH, AND INCREASE OF THE OPPRESSION. EXPOSITION EXODUS 5:1 Having secured the adhesion of the Israelitish people, Moses and Aaron sought an interview with the Egyptian monarch who was now in possession of the throne. According to the bulk of modern authorities, and according to our own views of Egyptian history, this was Menephthah,the son and successor of Rameses II. Menephthah was a weak prince, whom events had favoured, and who had been thus led to have an exalted opinion of himself. A great invasion of Egypt had occurred at the beginning of his reign, which had been met and completely repulsed, not by h

AND AFTERWARDS MOSES AND AARON WENT IN, AND TOLD PHARAOH,.... Whose name, some say, was Cenchres, others Amenophis, according to Manetho and Chaeremon h; Exodus 3:10 went into Pharaoh's palace, and being introduced by the proper officer at court for that purpose, addressed him in the following manner: THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL: as ambassadors of him, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords; and so Artapanus i, the Heathen, says that the Egyptian king, hearing that Moses was come, sent for him to know wherefore he was come, who told him, that the Lord of the world commanded him to let the Jews go, as it follows here: LET MY PEOPLE GO, THAT THEY MAY HOLD A FEAST UNTO ME IN THE WILDERNESS; in the wilderness of Sinai or Arabia, at Horeb there, where they might keep it more freely and safely, without being disturbed by the Egyptians, and without giving

LET MY PEOPLE Compare (Exodus 4:22); (Exodus 4:23). Possibly Moses and Aaron shrank from delivering the message concerning the firstborn....

3. MOSES AND AARON IN EGYPT Chapter S 4:29-5:23 Before the Elders and Before Pharaoh _ 1. Before the elders of Israel (Exodus 4:29)_ 2. Before Pharaoh, and his answer (Exodus 5:1) 3. The increased oppression (Exodus 5:5) 4. Israel ‘s complaint and Moses' prayer (Exodus 5:20) The people were willing and believed. Notice they believed after the signs were done. Faith was followed by worship. It is almost a constitutional thing with the Jew to see first and then believe. Compare with John 20:26 . Then the messengers of

EXODUS 5:1 TO EXODUS 6:1 (Exodus 5:1 f. and Exodus 5:4 E, the rest J). PHARAOH'S FIRST REFUSAL to let Israel go, and his increase of their burdens. The bulk of the story is taken from J, but part of the opening shows that E told it too. One spoke of the God of Israel, the other of the God of the Hebrews: both related the demand for leave of absence in order to worship. Observe in J the primitive dread of an approach of the Divine Being unless an acceptable offering be at hand (Exodus 5:3, _cf._ Num