Exodus 5-7:7

 

When we left off in Exodus 4 Moses and Aaron had convinced the children of Israel that God was going to deliver them from their bondage.

 

Exodus 4:31  31 So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

 

You could just image how thankful and hope full they were. Now in 5 Moses and Aaron have their first encounter with the Pharaoh.

 

Exodus 5:1-Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.' "  2 And Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go."  3 So they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."  4 Then the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor."  5 And Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!"  6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying,  7 "You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.  8 "And you shall lay on them the quota of bricks which they made before. You shall not reduce it. For they are idle; therefore they cry out, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'  9 "Let more work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard false words."

 

The first thing I want to point out is found in verse 2 And Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go." First of all we must realize that the Egyptians worshiped over 2000 Gods and pharaoh himself was also considered a God. At this point he had know idea the Moses God the God of Gods the only true God. It should surprise to much that had little concern about God almighty at this point. But one thing is for certain this encounter made him mad and he was going to make the children of Israel work so hard that they wouldn’t even think  about listening to Moses and Aaron about leaving and worshiping God in the Wilderness. The Children of Israel main job was making bricks. They would dig a hole in the ground fill it with water and dirt and they would stomp it with their feet and the straw would be put it and mixed in until the mud thickened. Then they would take it and form a brick by hand and then put into a wooden mold and then allow it to dry in the sun. This was already a daunting task but now the Pharaoh was not going to provide them with straw instead they were going to have to gather their own and the only thing that was left was the stubble and the roots of the straw. Yet they were to accomplish the same amount of bricks everyday or they would be punished. The children of Israel asked the Pharaoh why he was doing this to them and in verse Exodus 5:17  7 But he said, "You are idle! Idle! Therefore you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.'   

 

When they found out the reason why the straw was taking away it was at that point they seem to have lost their faith in God promise. As soon as the finished talking to the Pharaoh the went to Moses and Aaron.

 

Exodus 5:21 And they said to them, "Let the LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us."

 

Here we have our murmurings of the children of Israel and it certainly will not be the last. There are a lot of people like the children Israel today. They get excited about the promise of heaven and the grace of God but as soon as things don’t go their way and have some tribulation in their life they begin to complain and to walk away from God. Jesus described these kind of Christians best in

 

Matthew 13:20-"But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  21 "yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  

 

When the children of Israel complained to Moses It must of made him doubt to because notice what he says

 

Exodus 5:22 So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me?  23 "For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all."

 

Moses had his own opinion on how God should had delivered the children of Israel right  away. He saw how badly they were being treated and perhaps he felt guilty for bringing this hardship on them. So instead of being patient and trusting in God that he would take of matters Moses begins to question God or you could even say he was questioning his faith. Sometimes we are like Moses. We might be praying for something to happen and when we see things get worse and our prayers are not answered quickly the way that we want them to be answered can cause us to start doubting God or questioning our faith. Moses and Gods children today need to realize that God does thing on his own time scale and he does what is best for us.

 

Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

 

So don’t doubt God or your faith instead just put your trust in God almighty.

 

In Chapter 6:1-8 God answer Moses questions and reassures him that he will deliver the children of Israel and keep his promise he had made to Abraham, Issac and Jacob. With in these verses God makes a lot I statements. Notice them as we read through these verses.

 

Exodus 6:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land."  2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the LORD.  3 "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them.  4 "I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers.  5 "And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.  6 "Therefore say to the children of Israel: 'I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  7 'I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.  8 'And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.' "

 

Moses faith is restored from the words and he goes and speaks to the children of Israel. However they would not heed his words because they were so anguished from their hard labors. Now look at verse 10.

 

Exodus 6: 10 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  11 "Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land."  12 And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, "The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?"

 

Here we see Moses doubts again. Moses was excited about the news that God had just given him and couldn’t wait to tell the children of Israel about this great news. But when they would not listen to him it crushed him and so now he starts making excuses once again. When God ask him to go before the Pharaoh again and to tell him to let the children of Israel go he made the old excuse that he had uncircumcised lips. What he was saying here is that his speech does not work properly. Moses was thinking if the children of Israel wont listen why in the world would the Pharaoh listen to me.

 

Again, we can see a lot of similarities with Moses and with Christians today. I think that we can all relate to what Moses was going through. Let me give you an example just think about your friends or family members that you have tried to show them  what the word of God says about being saved and being in right relationship with God. Maybe you have prayed their heart would be open and you have tried over and over again trying to get them to listen but they simply will not take heed to what you have said. How does that make you feel? Sometimes we might feel just like Moses and think  that there is something wrong us something wrong with our speech and just Moses we can begin to doubt ourselves and get to the point where we want someone else to teach others because we don’t feel like we are effective.

 

There have been many people who have experienced what Moses went through.

 

What we need to realize is that people are not rejecting us they are rejecting the word of God. God has only asked us to share his word with others and it up to them to choose to accept or deny it. Paul said 1 Corinthians 3:6  6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.  So don’t doubt yourself keep on sharing Gods and allow him to give the increase.

 

 Isaiah 55:11 Isaiah tells us that Gods word will not return to him void but will accomplish what he has purposed for it.

 

So just put your faith in trust  in God and realize that when you do go out and teach others that you are glorifying God even if we are rejected ever single time.

Jeremiah is a perfect example of this.

 

First of all look at the warning God gives Jeremiah.

 

Jeremiah 7:25-27  25 "Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.  26 "Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.  27 " Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

 

Well God was right no one listened to Jeremiah and he became discouraged and was seriously thinking about not speaking in Gods name anymore just like Moses. Jeremiah 20:9   9 Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.  I love what Jeremiah says here and we should follow after this example. You see the more that study Gods word the more that we love him for what he has done for us the more we will be like Jeremiah. Even when get frustrated because people will not listen God love and his word will come pouring out of our mouths even if no one listens.

 

So don’t allow yourself to be like Moses in the instance instead be like Isaiah who said Here am I lord send me.

 

In ex. 7 1-7 we learn that God did not let Moses use his excuse instead he says.

 

Exodus 7:1 So the LORD said to Moses: "See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.  2 "You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land.

Moses would soon seem like a God to Pharaoh because of all the miracles that he about to do. We learn that Moses obeys this command and we also learn that Moses was 80 and Aaron 83. Before we close our lesson I want us take a quick look Exodus 6:14-27.

 

In these verse we see a list of the ancestors of Moses and Aaron starting with Ruben the first son of Leah. While some will just read over these names quickly they are important because they show specific names leading up to Moses and Aaron and to the generation that would be taken out of Egypt.

 

Genesis 15:16  But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete."

 

In this list we see Levi 3rd son of Jacob 16

His son Kohath

His son Amram father of Moses

Moses and Aaron 

 

Here  we have 4 generations from time the children of Israel entered into Egypt and this  seems to fit Genesis 15:16.