Reference

Exodus 5:10-21

Every now and then it’s good to remind ourselves what we’re doing here in this teaching moment called a sermon. We’re in a sermon series where we’re going through the book of Exodus, yes. We’re working through it verse by verse, yes. But, how are we approaching this book as a whole? Four ways.[1] We’re approaching the book of Exodus historically, meaning we’re seeking to see the historical context in which these events occur. We’re approaching the book of Exodus theologically, meaning we’re seeking to see who God is and shows Himself to be in Exodus. We’re approaching the book of Exodus Christologically, meaning we’re seeking to see how Exodus points far on ahead of itself to the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. Lastly, we’re approaching the book of Exodus practically, meaning we’re seeking to see how Exodus, like everything else in the Bible, teaches us how to live the Christian life.

 

This is how we’re approaching the book of Exodus.

Today we come to Exodus 5:10-21. But remember what’s going on in the story. Three big themes are beginning to emerge that will continue to stand out as the main themes for the next ten chapters or so.[2] First there is the demand God makes to Pharaoh to let His people go. Second, there is Pharaoh’s resistance to that demand which will grow in the chapters to come, even though it ebbs and flows at times. And lastly, there are the consequences Pharaoh and all of Egypt face for Pharaoh’s resistance to God’s commands. It’s these three themes we’ve begun to see and will continue to see throughout many chapters ahead of us, as God and Pharaoh face off in head-to-head combat.

 

But at this point where we are in chapter 5, we’ve only seen Moses’ first interaction with Pharaoh, Pharaoh’s initial stubbornness, and Pharaoh increasing His cruelty toward Israel. And yet, we must remember, Israel is moving closer and closer towards freedom, even though their suffering is increasing in the present moment. God is saving them, yet, their discomfort grows. This is the big idea set before us today in 5:10-21.

 

A Cruel Yoke (v10-14)

So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

 

So after Moses and Aaron’s first chat with Pharaoh didn’t go so well in v1-9, v10-14 shows us the result of that poor encounter. Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron that the people are clearly far too idle if they have time to think about going out to worship their God, so he set his mind to increasing their workload by not giving them any straw to make bricks while still demanding the same daily quota of bricks. How does Pharaoh carry out this cruel measure? v10-11 show it, Pharaoh’s taskmasters went out to the foreman of Israel to convey the cruel message. But notice a few things about the message.[3] It begins with the phrase, “Thus says Pharaoh…” This is not the normal way Pharaoh would speak. He does this to make a mockery of Moses and Aaron’s request. Back in 5:1 Aaron said, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel…” so as Pharaoh rejected the Lord and His commands, he now uses the same language to ridicule God and the Israelites. Also notice what he says after this. The message of Pharaoh is, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘Go…’” Why is this the first word he chooses to say? Because that was the main message Moses and Aaron came with, to let the people go. Now, in arrogant mockery Pharaoh will let the people go, not to leave, but to gather up their own straw to make bricks.

 

This language shows us the great contest has begun between Pharaoh and the Lord. And we as readers can look back in wonder and awe because we know Pharaoh won’t stand a chance in this fight. The Lord will win, we’re just watching it play out.

 

In the meantime Israel suffers in many ways. The command was clear, the same number of bricks are required, but now they won’t be provided any straw to make them, which means they’ll have to go out and gather their own. So off they go in v12-13, scattering all over Egypt to try and get what they need while the Egyptian taskmasters are urgently reminding them of the required task. The sense we get in v12-13 is that they can’t find much straw at all and have to resort to using stubble to try and make bricks. What is this about?[4] Well, normally the straw used in brick making came from the stalks of longer crops, normally from grains and vegetables in the fields. When those were harvested they would set the stalks aside and give them to those making bricks. That’s where the straw came from. And straw was an essential part of making bricks as it would reinforce the clay and help it not fall apart when it dried. You can see this firsthand for yourself in many museums around the world that display artifacts from ancient Egypt. In some of them you can see bricks with pieces of straw sticking out of them.[5]

 

Stubble on the other hand, is different. Stubble was the short part of the stalk but the stubble was just above the root. It was not only a bad substitute for making bricks and holding clay together, it was incredibly hard to gather. Not only would it have to be harvest season to get it, but gathering the stubble required tedious cutting and careful pulling to not damage it in the process.

 

So as Israel hears this command, a few days pass and it becomes clear the quota of bricks is simply not going to be met under these harsh new conditions, which is what leads to the dreadful scene in v14. There we see the foremen of Israel are brought before the taskmasters of Egypt, and they’re beaten. Why? Because they didn’t meet the quota of bricks. And as they’re being beaten the taskmasters mock them by asking a question they already know the answer to, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

 

At this point the sense of crushing desperation and injustice is high for Israel.[6] Out of sheer spite and arrogant mockery, Pharaoh requires an impossible task and then beats them when they’re unable to complete it. This is a complete humiliation of Israel. One commentator described the scene in vivid detail saying, “They worked out in the hot Egyptian sun all day, driven to optimum production by their taskmasters. They had no hats to protect their heads and wore nothing but thin aprons on their bodies…no one stood by to give the slaves a drink every few minutes. It does not take much imagination to conclude that the severe rigor imposed on the Hebrews resulted in many of them dying of dehydration…heat stroke and the like.”[7] This comment was about their normal toil when they had straw! Can you imagine how impossible their work became when they no longer had any straw? Their enslavement was horrid enough, and now Pharaoh just made it worse.

 

What do we learn from this? Well we certainly learn about the historical context of the Israelites enslavement in Egypt. But we can learn more. We’ve already mentioned how Moses is a type or preview of Christ, and we’ve rejoiced as we’ve seen that so far in our time in Exodus. If we pull those threads a bit further, and say that Exodus gives us a powerful picture of what it means and looks like to be enslaved by sin.[8] Just as the children of Israel were held prisoner in the house of bondage in Egypt under Pharaoh’s cruel thumb, so too all humanity comes into the world already incarcerated in the prison of sin. Just as the Israelites had to take orders from Pharaoh and despaired in his service, so to all sinners have a worse and crueler master in the Devil, and all in his service face the greatest despair. You see, sin is a harsh taskmaster. Many have said it because of how true it is, sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. When you indulge in sin, you think it’s done, that you’ve satisfied the hunger, and you can move on. But the tricky part about sin is that its hunger only increases. It only grows and increases until it consumes everything in its path. The Devil promises great freedom, but he never tells you about the cost of life in his service. See, the more you give room to sin, the more he tightens his grip, and the more he tightens his grip, the more he binds the chains of sin around our necks. Satan’s strategy is always like Pharaoh’s, more bricks, less straw.

 

But praise God (!), just as Pharaoh’s cruel yoke on Israel would be broken by the Lord, so too the Devil’s crueler yoke on sinners is broken by Jesus as soon as that sinner turns to Christ. Jesus said, “…everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin…” but “…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34, 36) Considering how cruel Pharaoh’s yoke is to Israel, how wonderful is the yoke of Christ? Matthew 11:28ff, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” So to all who are weary and need rest, all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares, all who sin and need a Savior: the gospel offers welcome in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

We’ve seen the cruel yoke of Pharaoh, now see…

 

A Confused People (v15-21)

Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

 

Here in v15-21 there are really two scenes. In the first we see the foremen of Israel before Pharaoh in desperation, and in the second we see the foremen of Israel before Moses and Aaron in anger. In both scenes we see God’s people in deep confusion. We’ll take them in turn.

 

As this dire situation continued to play out with the Israelites suffering at the hands of Pharaoh’s decree, the leaders of Israel, called the foremen here in v15, come before Pharaoh. Perhaps they believed there had been some mistake in protocol, breakdown in communication, or failure in the chain of command going on. Clearly the fault lies with these Egyptian taskmasters who refused to give straw and were beating them for not reducing the quota of bricks, and maybe Pharaoh didn’t know about it.[9] Notice the words used in v15. It says they “came and cried out…” These are familiar words. As they face moments of deep distress we see Israel doing a lot of crying out to God. They did it back in chapter 2 during their suffering, they’ll do it again at the Red Sea, they’ll do again it in the wilderness, and they’ll do it in many more places too. But here, who are they crying out to? At the first sign of trouble, they run to Pharaoh. There’s no mention of them coming to the Lord and crying out to Him. It seems that they’ve recognized Pharaoh as not the source of their problems but as the one who can give them relief. This shows their confusion.

 

I think this is confirmed even further in v15 when we see them identify themselves. See it? How do these foremen identify themselves in v15? “Why do you treat your servants like this?” Here and in the verses that follow they identify themselves like this two more times. I think this is more than mere words.[10] It seems they have a true and real devotion to Pharaoh, which is completely out of bounds. They ought to see themselves as servants of the Lord, wherever they are, whatever their condition, yet here we see their confused identity. This is one reason why the Exodus must happen, to save them from Pharaoh and from themselves, and this is one reason why God begins the Ten Commandments, not with a command, but with an assurance of their true identity. Exodus 20:2 says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” They must ever know the Lord as their Redeemer and know themselves as the redeemed.

 

But here they come before Pharaoh in bitter distress. They state the obvious in v16, and Pharaoh responds in v17 with the same reasoning he’s given before, ‘You are idle…that is why you want to go and worship, go make bricks, go back to gathering your own straw, I will not reduce your quota.’ In Pharaoh’s words the foremen of Israel learn two things. First, they learn the reason behind all their trouble is Moses and Aaron. They went and asked to be let go, Pharaoh heard that and believed the people were idle, so he stopped giving them straw and forced them to get their own. The second thing they learn is in v19, see it? At this moment they saw how dire their troubles truly were. It’s like a wake-up call for them, as they realize how difficult it actually will be to be freed from Pharaoh’s grasp, if it’s possible at all.

 

This brings us to the second scene. The foremen go out from Pharaoh’s presence and, what do we see in v20? Moses and Aaron are waiting for them to see how things went. What’s this whole scene like from their perspective? Perhaps they’re hoping against hope, maybe they believe Pharaoh will realize his mistake, repent of his sins, alleviate the misery of the people, and let them go. But what happens? The foremen see Moses and Aaron on their way out and they say the following to them in v21, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

 

On one hand their anger is understandable. When people are angry they always try to find someone to blame. So here God’s people in their anger blame the leaders God sent to them. And humanly speaking, they were right, Moses’ plan had entirely failed. Moses sought to free them and ended up increasing their sorrow and suffering. For this they are angry, and they turn that anger toward Moses and Aaron, using strong spiritual language to rebuke them, going as far as to say God will judge them for their actions!

 

While their anger is understandable on one hand, it’s entirely inexcusable on the other hand. Instead of suffering and running right back to Pharaoh, they should’ve gone straight to the Lord and pled for rescue and relief! Their current anger is a dark contrast to the worship at the end of chapter 4. Remember that? They met with Moses and Aaron, saw the signs of God, heard the words of God, they believed that God was going to come save them, and so they worshiped God! I’m sure they boldly encouraged Moses and Aaron to go out and speak with Pharaoh, without even giving thought to the fact that there might be a cost. They were worshiping, but now at the first taste of increased suffering, their worship turns to anger and confusion.

 

Question, what is their sin is this moment? It’s a common one, I wonder if you see it. You might think its anger, or doubt, or even treating Moses and Aaron so poorly. While all of those could truly be in view, I think the biggest sin of Israel here in this text, is believing God wouldn’t let such bad things happen to them. Their God’s people after all, hadn’t God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and called him to do all these things, and given him the signs to prove it? Hadn’t God said He was going to free His people and bring them out by His strong arm? Yes! So why in the world are they suffering so much if God had promised them all of these things? Has God forgotten them? Has Moses and Aaron made all of this up? Clearly something has gone astray, because obedience to God doesn’t bring this much suffering, right?

 

Remember the big idea here. Israel is moving closer and closer towards freedom, even though their suffering is increasing in the present moment. God is saving them, yet, their discomfort grows. For this they grow angry. We’ve all heard language like this before from Christians, perhaps you’ve even said it yourself. Language that assumes if people come to God and obey God and love God that bad things won’t happen to them. I remember hearing it when I first became a Christian, ‘Adam, staying in the middle of God’s will for your life is the safest place to be.’ But Church, that’s a lie. This passage reminds us that being in the exact place God intends us to be, might just be the most unsafe place to be. Yes, God commands obedience, but God never promises an easy road if we obey.

 

Conclusion:

Why do we think this?

 

I think deep down, many Christians believe that if they obey God, God will be in their debt and will give them a good life here and now. It’s almost a kind of prosperity light gospel. Of course, none of us would say this out loud, but our anger in hard circumstances might just reveal it.

 

What then are we to do? Church, we’re to trust the Lord.

 

Wherever He calls us to go in life, even if its incredibly difficult, it is truly the best place for us to be. Amid all the hardship and pain and suffering, God will be God to us, even there! We should never assume that our obedience will bring us a life of ease.

 

The kingdom of darkness never rages so fiercely as when Jesus invades the world. God’s servants will face fierce opposition from the enemy and sometimes from the Church too. But Jesus continues to reign over it all. He will build His Church nonetheless. In His reign and rule, we can ever rest!

 

[1] Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory – Preaching the Word Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015) 132.

[2] Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus – NAC (Brentwood, TN: B&H Publishing, 2006) 159.

[3] John D. Currid, Genesis 1:1-25:18 - EP Study Commentary (Holywell, UK: Evangelical Press, 2015) 119.

[4] Stuart, 165.

[5] Ryken, 133.

[6] Currid, 121-122.

[7] Howard Vos, quoted in Ryken, 135.

[8] Ryken, 136.

[9] Ryken, 137.

[10] Currid, 122.