Exodus 5-6
What a bold answer was Pharaoh’s, to Moses and Aaron when they came in to him with their message of, “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go!’”
“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” he said, “I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.”
Pharaoh found out who was the Lord, before long, When He laid His hand on him, but just now he was angry, and instead of promising to let the children .of Israel go, he ordered the taskmasters to no more give them the straw they needed to make bricks. More work was to be forced from the men, for now •they must search for straw, and still make as many bricks each day as before.
Then the officers of the children of Israel who had been set over them to see that the work was done, were beaten because the poor slaves could not make as many bricks while they had to hunt for straw through all the country, and the officers went to Pharaoh to complain. But Pharaoh answered, “Ye are idle, ye are idle .... go therefore now, and work, for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks:” So the officers told Moses and Aaron, as they came away from Pharaoh, that they instead of helping the people, had made their lives harder than ever.
Pharaoh was like his master, Satan, and did not want to lose the people of Israel; he wanted to keep. them working for him without pay. Satan too in particular, wanted to prevent God from keeping His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and to Moses. Just so it is with Satan always. Let God promise to Himself to save poor sinners from, hell, and bring them to glory with the Lord Jesus, and Satan determines that none shall be saved, if he can prevent it. So when the message came by Moses, that God was going to set the people of Israel free, Satan moved Pharaoh to make the people’s troubles so much greater, that they would not believe what God had said.
Moses, sad and disappointed, went to God again, to ask why the people’s troubles were worse, and why He had sent him to the people and to Pharaoh, because the people were not set free, and Pharaoh was more cruel than ever. God’s answer in the first eight verses of the sixth chapter was a gracious one; He said nothing to reprove or rebuke Moses, because of his almost fault-finding words. Instead He said,
“Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh,” with a “strong hand.” Pharaoh would even drive the children of Israel out of Egypt.
In the third chapter God had given His name as the “I AM.” the all-powerful One, but in this chapter is another name, JEHOVAH, the name of One Who was interested in and cared for His people.
Then He spoke of His covenant to give them the land of Canaan, and how He would redeem them with a “stretched out arm, and with great judgments.” They, as redeemed ones, were to be His people, and He their God. Again He promised them the land, and at the end— “I am the Lord” (verse 8) stands as a seal that God had spoken, and what He had said He would do. They had only to believe God, and He would deliver them.
But the children of Israel did not listen to Moses when he came to tell them of the new message from God; they were so sad because of Pharaoh’s cruelty to them, through the taskmasters.
The latter part of the sixth chapter shows us God counting up for the last time His people in Egypt, all the heads of the families being named. They were still in the enemy’s country, and Satan might say, “They are mine,” but God had claimed them as His, and in spite of all Satan could do, the children of Israel would soon be on the march to Canaan.
Messages of God’s Love 12/4/1921