Exodus 5

Introduction

Exodus 5 records the first direct confrontation between Moses and Pharaoh — and its disastrous outcome. Armed with God's commission from the burning bush (Exodus 3-4), Moses and Aaron enter Pharaoh's court and deliver the divine demand: "Let my people go." Pharaoh's response is immediate, contemptuous, and theologically significant: "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?" This question sets the terms for everything that follows in the exodus narrative. The plagues, the Passover, the crossing of the sea — all of it will answer Pharaoh's question. He does not know YHWH, but he will.

The chapter traces a devastating spiral. Pharaoh not only refuses but retaliates, ordering that the Israelites must now gather their own straw while maintaining the same quota of bricks. The Israelite foremen are beaten when quotas are not met. They appeal to Pharaoh and are rebuffed. They then turn on Moses and Aaron, accusing them of making things worse. The chapter ends with Moses himself in despair, crying out to God: "Why have you brought trouble on this people? Why did you ever send me?" This is the dark valley before deliverance — the moment when obedience to God's call appears to have produced nothing but suffering. God's answer will come in Exodus 6, but first the reader must sit with the silence.

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh (vv. 1-5)

Notes

• כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה ("Thus says the LORD") — This is the standard prophetic messenger formula, used hundreds of times by the prophets. Moses and Aaron do not come with their own request; they deliver a royal decree from Israel's true king. The formula places Pharaoh in the position of a subordinate receiving orders from a higher sovereign — a dynamic Pharaoh will aggressively reject.

• שַׁלַּח אֶת עַמִּי ("Send out my people") — The verb שָׁלַח ("to send, let go, release") is in the Piel imperative — a direct command. This same verb will echo throughout the plague narratives as the demand is repeated and intensified. God calls Israel עַמִּי ("my people"), asserting his prior claim over them against Pharaoh's claim of ownership.

• וְיָחֹגּוּ לִי בַּמִּדְבָּר ("so that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness") — The verb חָגַג means to hold a pilgrimage festival, to celebrate with dancing and worship. This is not merely a request for time off; it is a theological assertion that Israel's primary obligation is to their God, not to Pharaoh's building projects.

• מִי יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר אֶשְׁמַע בְּקֹלוֹ ("Who is the LORD that I should listen to his voice?") — Pharaoh's question is the central theological question of the entire exodus. The word מִי ("who?") is dismissive — Pharaoh is not asking for information but expressing contempt. He knows the gods of Egypt; he does not recognize this YHWH. The phrase לֹא יָדַעְתִּי אֶת יְהוָה ("I do not know the LORD") uses יָדַע in its covenantal sense — Pharaoh does not acknowledge YHWH's authority. By the end of the plagues, God declares that his purpose is "so that you may know that I am the LORD" (Exodus 7:17, Exodus 8:22, Exodus 9:14).

• אֱלֹהֵי הָעִבְרִים נִקְרָא עָלֵינוּ ("The God of the Hebrews has encountered us") — Moses and Aaron shift from the authoritative messenger formula to a more deferential tone. The verb נִקְרָא (Niphal of קָרָא) means "has met with, has encountered" — suggesting that God has imposed himself upon them, not that they have chosen to seek him. The title "God of the Hebrews" uses the ethnic designation עִבְרִים ("Hebrews"), which was how outsiders referred to Israelites — a term of social class as much as ethnicity.

• תַּפְרִיעוּ אֶת הָעָם מִמַּעֲשָׂיו ("you cause the people to break loose from their work") — The verb פָּרַע in the Hiphil means "to cause to let loose, to let run wild, to cause to neglect." It carries connotations of undisciplined, unruly behavior. The same root appears in Exodus 32:25 where Aaron "let the people run wild" with the golden calf. Pharaoh views religious devotion as social disorder.

• לְכוּ לְסִבְלֹתֵיכֶם ("Go to your forced labor!") — The word סְבָלוֹת ("burdens, forced labor") comes from the root סָבַל ("to bear a burden"). It is the same word used in Exodus 1:11 and Exodus 2:11 to describe the oppression of Israel. Pharaoh's command reduces Moses and Aaron to the status of laborers — in his eyes, they are not prophets but troublemakers who belong back at the brick pits.

Pharaoh Increases the Burden: Bricks Without Straw (vv. 6-14)

Notes

• הַנֹּגְשִׂים ("the taskmasters") and שֹׁטְרָיו ("their foremen") — The chapter carefully distinguishes two levels of oversight. The נֹגְשִׂים (from נָגַשׂ, "to press, drive, oppress") are Egyptian slave-drivers. The שֹׁטְרִים (from שָׁטַר) are Israelite foremen — middle managers from among the enslaved people themselves who are responsible for meeting quotas. This two-tier system means the Israelite foremen absorb the punishment when quotas fail (v. 14), creating internal tension within the Israelite community.

• תֶּבֶן ("straw") — Straw was a critical ingredient in ancient Egyptian brick-making. Chopped straw mixed into the clay acted as a binding agent, preventing bricks from cracking as they dried. Archaeological evidence from Egyptian sites confirms this practice. Removing the straw supply while maintaining the quota is an act of calculated cruelty — it does not merely make the work harder; it makes it nearly impossible.

• מַתְכֹּנֶת הַלְּבֵנִים ("the quota of bricks") — The word מַתְכֹּנֶת (from תָּכַן, "to measure, regulate") refers to a fixed, regulated quantity. Egyptian administrative records from this period document precise brick quotas assigned to labor gangs, confirming the historical plausibility of this scene.

• נִרְפִּים הֵם ("they are slack") — The verb רָפָה in the Niphal means "to be slack, to be lazy, to let go." Pharaoh interprets Israel's desire to worship God as laziness — a refusal to work. This is the tyrant's classic misreading: religious devotion is reframed as economic disobedience. The word recurs in v. 17 where Pharaoh repeats it with emphasis: "Slack you are — slack!"

• תִּכְבַּד הָעֲבֹדָה עַל הָאֲנָשִׁים ("Let the work be heavy upon the men") — The verb כָּבַד ("to be heavy, weighty") is the same root used to describe the "hardening" of Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 7:14, Exodus 8:15, Exodus 9:7). Pharaoh makes the work "heavy" on Israel; God will make Pharaoh's heart "heavy" against letting them go. The same root also gives the word כָּבוֹד ("glory, weight") — and it is God's glory, his weight, that will ultimately crush Pharaoh's resistance.

• דִבְרֵי שָׁקֶר ("deceitful words" / "lying words") — Pharaoh calls God's message through Moses "lies." The word שֶׁקֶר means "falsehood, deception." Pharaoh does not merely ignore the divine command — he categorizes it as fabrication. This is an escalation from "I do not know the LORD" (ignorance) to "these are lies" (active rejection).

• קַשׁ לַתֶּבֶן ("stubble for straw") — The word קַשׁ ("stubble") is different from תֶּבֶן ("straw"). Straw is the stalks left after threshing; stubble is the short remnants left standing in the field after the harvest. Gathering stubble is far more labor-intensive and produces an inferior product. The people must now do extra work to find a worse substitute.

The Israelite Foremen Appeal to Pharaoh (vv. 15-19)

Notes

• וַיִּצְעֲקוּ אֶל פַּרְעֹה ("they cried out to Pharaoh") — The verb צָעַק ("to cry out") is the same verb used for Israel's cry to God in Exodus 2:23. The foremen go to Pharaoh seeking justice — the same desperate appeal they should be making (and will make) to God. They address Pharaoh with the language of vassals: "your servants" (עֲבָדֶיךָ). The irony is thick — they are indeed servants, but not by right.

• וְחָטָאת עַמֶּךָ ("but the sin is with your own people") — The final phrase in v. 16 is textually difficult. The verb חָטָא means "to sin, miss the mark." The BSB renders it "the fault is with your own people," taking עַמֶּךָ ("your people") to refer to the Egyptian taskmasters. This reading makes the foremen accuse the Egyptian overseers of fault. Some interpreters, however, take it as "you sin against your own people" — with Pharaoh as the subject and the Israelites (whom he calls "servants") as "his people." The LXX reads "you will wrong your people." Either way, the foremen are remarkably bold in their accusation.

• נִרְפִּים אַתֶּם נִרְפִּים ("Slack you are — slack!") — Pharaoh repeats the word נִרְפִּים for emphasis, framing it around the pronoun אַתֶּם ("you") in a structure that amounts to a taunt. The repetition is dismissive and contemptuous — Pharaoh will not even engage with their complaint. He has already made his diagnosis: the problem is not the policy but the people.

• תֹכֶן לְבֵנִים תִּתֵּנּוּ ("you must produce the full count of bricks") — The word תֹּכֶן (from תָּכַן) means "measured amount, full quantity" — related to מַתְכֹּנֶת in v. 8. Pharaoh's decree is final: full production, no straw. The foremen now understand there is no appeal.

• וַיִּרְאוּ שֹׁטְרֵי בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֹתָם בְּרָע ("the foremen of the sons of Israel saw that they were in a bad situation") — The word רָע ("evil, bad, trouble") signals that the foremen now recognize the situation as genuinely dire. The same word will appear in v. 22 when Moses asks God why he has "done evil" to this people. The same term describes both the political crisis and the theological crisis.

The Foremen Blame Moses; Moses Cries Out to God (vv. 20-23)

Notes

• נִצָּבִים לִקְרָאתָם ("standing to meet them") — The word נִצָּבִים (Niphal participle of נָצַב, "to stand, take one's stand") suggests Moses and Aaron were waiting with expectation — perhaps hoping for good news. Instead they receive a curse.

• יֵרֶא יְהוָה עֲלֵיכֶם וְיִשְׁפֹּט ("May the LORD look upon you and judge") — The foremen invoke YHWH against Moses and Aaron. The verb רָאָה ("to see") and שָׁפַט ("to judge") together form a legal appeal — they are calling God as witness and judge against his own messengers. The bitter irony is that YHWH has indeed "seen" (Exodus 2:25, Exodus 3:7) — but what he has seen is Israel's suffering under Pharaoh, not Moses' guilt.

• הִבְאַשְׁתֶּם אֶת רֵיחֵנוּ ("you have made our scent stink") — The Hiphil of בָּאַשׁ means "to cause to stink, to make odious." The idiom "to make one's smell stink in the eyes of" means to make someone detestable or repulsive to another person. The same idiom appears in Genesis 34:30 (Jacob after the Shechem incident) and 1 Samuel 13:4 (Israel becoming "odious" to the Philistines). The metaphor mixes senses — smell and sight — in a way characteristic of Hebrew idiom.

• לָתֶת חֶרֶב בְּיָדָם לְהָרְגֵנוּ ("putting a sword in their hand to kill us") — The foremen accuse Moses of arming their oppressors against them. The "sword" (חֶרֶב) is metaphorical — the weapon is the impossible brick quota, which will lead to beatings and potentially death. The accusation is a stunning reversal: Moses came to deliver them, but they see him as their enemy.

• אֲדֹנָי לָמָה הֲרֵעֹתָה לָעָם הַזֶּה ("Lord, why have you done evil to this people?") — Moses' complaint to God is raw and unfiltered. The verb הֵרַע (Hiphil of רָעַע) means "to do evil, to bring harm." Moses does not soften the accusation — he directly asks God why he has harmed his own people. This kind of bold confrontation with God has precedent in Abraham's intercession for Sodom (Genesis 18:23-25) and will find its fullest expression in the psalms of lament (e.g., Psalm 22:1, Psalm 44:23-24).

• לָמָּה זֶּה שְׁלַחְתָּנִי ("Why is it that you sent me?") — Moses questions his own calling. This echoes his earlier reluctance at the burning bush: "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" (Exodus 3:11). The difference is that at the bush, Moses doubted himself; now he doubts God. The mission has not merely failed — it has made things worse.

• וְהַצֵּל לֹא הִצַּלְתָּ אֶת עַמֶּךָ ("you have certainly not delivered your people") — The construction uses the infinitive absolute (הַצֵּל) before the finite verb (הִצַּלְתָּ) for emphasis — a common Hebrew intensification pattern. The effect is something like "delivering, you have not delivered" or "you have utterly failed to deliver." The verb נָצַל in the Hiphil means "to rescue, snatch away, deliver." Moses throws God's own promise back at him — God said he would deliver (Exodus 3:8), and instead the opposite has happened. The chapter ends on this note of anguished protest, with no answer from God. The answer comes in Exodus 6:1: "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh."

Interpretations

The relationship between God's sovereignty and the worsening of Israel's suffering raises significant theological questions. Some interpreters in the Reformed tradition see this chapter as illustrating God's sovereign plan — the suffering was always part of God's design to magnify his glory in the eventual deliverance, demonstrating that salvation comes entirely from God and not from human negotiation. Others, particularly in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition, emphasize that the suffering results from Pharaoh's free choice to resist God, not from a divine decree of hardening (which does not appear until Exodus 7:3). In this reading, God permits but does not orchestrate the increased oppression.

Moses' bold complaint to God also divides interpreters. Some see it as a failure of faith — Moses should have trusted God's promise despite the setback. Others, drawing on the tradition of biblical lament, see Moses' protest as a legitimate and even faithful response. The psalms of lament model this kind of raw honesty with God (Psalm 13:1-2, Psalm 88:14), and God does not rebuke Moses for his complaint in Exodus 6 — he simply reaffirms his promise. The biblical pattern suggests that honest anguish directed toward God is not the opposite of faith but an expression of it.