Exodus 5

This chapter gives the account of the first episode in the long confrontation between God and Pharaoh over the demand that he, "Let my people go!" The chapter reveals that the Hebrews were not yet ready for deliverance, but that they should suffer hardship before their liberty could be achieved. "The Hebrew slaves must learn that they too must suffer loss. They will have to pay the price of their liberty-to-be. It is not just a gift from God."[1] The absolute necessity for such suffering derived from the fact that in a general sense, the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, prior to this confrontation, had been relatively comfortable. They certainly had been well fed. And, apparently, there had been some leisure time allowed to them for purposes of tending their own gardens, fishing, etc. It is revealed in Numbers 11 that, even after all the great wonders that had delivered them from Egypt, they still tired of God's "manna," and they actually preferred "the leeks and garlic" of Egypt to their diet as wanderers. Keil observed, "It is certain that in such a state of mind as this, they would never have been willing to leave Egypt ... without a very great increase in the hardships which they suffered there."[2] The events of this chapter were designed by the Lord to provide the kind of incentive they needed. There was also another necessary achievement of these events, and that was the unification of Israel, as appears later in the notes. Failure to observe these preliminary and necessary results from what happened here has led some to denominate this first confrontation as a failure, but it was no such thing. God's plan was working, and it would not cease working until Israel was delivered and Pharaoh with his army had perished in the Red Sea!