Who is the Lord?

Pharaoh confronted by God’s servant

Verses 1 - 2: With the people being convinced of the truthfulness of his ambassadorship, Moses and Aaron proceed to Pharaoh to deliver the message they have been given: Release my people so they can worship me. What is significant is his declaration of the LORD as the God of Israel. In given this description Moses is declaring to Pharaoh there is One who stands above him who is the true sovereign over Israel. This would have caught Pharaoh’s attention. It was a direct challenger to his deity and power. The reason they must be freed is so, as the Westminister Catechism puts it, that Israel may glorify God and Enjoy him forever. Pharaoh’s refuses and the reason is expressed with this key question: ‘Who is the Lord that I should obey him?’ Who is this God and what authority does He have to compel actions from me. I don’t know Him. I have no interest in knowing Him and I will not release Israel from their service to me. He is not worthy of my time. He does not exist to me. This is the great sin as highlighted by Paul, which is intimately connected with Idolatry (). What Pharaoh doesn’t understand is he has declared his direct opposition to God. On the other hand, the audience knows this is exactly what God said would happen. It is what He decreed will happen. This is so the LORD may make Himself known through Pharaoh to Israel and all the earth ().

Verses 3 - 5: Moses is not dissuaded. As the Lord’s commanded, he presses for three days to go into the wilderness. As we have talked about previously, this request wasn’t an unusual one. Work catalogs recovered in Egypt show laborers given days off for various reasons. The request is interesting given that the mission of Moses is to lead the people out of Egypt permanently, not just for a temporal feast. As we talked about a few weeks ago, this is the beginning of bargaining. He also adds an interesting additional reason. Here to now there has been no mention of a penalty against the Hebrews for refusing to worship the Lord. This will come later (). The focus has been on what will happen to Pharaoh and Egypt. The proceeding chapters record no such conversation between Moses and the Lord. Why does Moses say these words? The idea of receiving punishment for disobedience to one’s deity accepted in this time. Moses seems to making the point that failing to let the people go will bring severe negative consequence for both Egypt and Israel. It could also be said that Moses is stating fearing God is more important than fearing Pharaoh.[1] Both Christ and the Apostles made this same point in the NT (, ). In this case however, Pharaoh doesn’t grant the request. He can’t countenance the idea of submitting to this hitherto unknown God, let alone One who claims to be above him. Nor can he allow for the Israelites worshipping the LORD. This divides their loyalty and weakens His grip. A large group of people not working and not remaining loyal to him is a danger to him.

Pharaoh is also a type of the sinner. The sinner can’t allow for the priority and sovereignty of God. It is a reduction of their authority and autonomy. This is also true of public worship of God by His people. This sends the same message about who He is and who we aren’t. This is the battle of their day and continues to our day.

Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.

Pharaoh opposes God and oppresses His people

Verses 6 -14: Not only does Pharaoh refuse to obey, he responds by increasing his oppression of God’s people. Moses’s request for freedom of worship for the people is met with increased hardship. Pharaoh must discredit Moses and discourage the people so they ignore and forget the word of the Lord. The people have stopped working and have been worshipped the Lord, challenging his divinity and power. This can’t continue so he gives them a nearly impossible task: continue making the same # of bricks while having to gather your own straw. We know this can’t be done because it isn’t done. As a result the Israelite foreman are chastised and beaten () This isn’t surprising. This is what the Lord said would happen.

An important must be made here, as expressed by Douglas Stuart: “God’s people must not assume that carrying out His commands will increase their own comfort.” For Christians today, it must be stressed that the NT nowhere promises a life of ease for serving the Lord. The first few centuries of church history demonstrate this fact. An excellent representation of this is the movie Paul, Apostle of Christ. Paul was often beaten and jailed for his faithful service to the Lord. He sometimes found himself lacking all that he needed (). Yet he remained faithful because he believed God and His promises. This is we must do. Another point to be made is that while Moses was told to expect opposition, he was not told how it would come. This same is true for us. We don’t necessarily know when and how opposition and persecution will come. We just know it will. But we should be encouraged to know that God knows and is sovereign over all. We must remember that He has already achieved the victory and we will inherit in the end. As David says, we must set the Lord always before us, knowing that the Lord at our right hand will keep us from being moved.

Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2, p. 164). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.”He must discredit Moses and discourage the people so they ignore and forget the word of the Lord. He gives them a nearly impossible task: continue making the same # of bricks while having to gather your own straw. We know this can’t be done because it isn’t done. The Israelite foreman are chastised and beaten () This isn’t surprising. This is what the Lord said would happen.

The people turn against Moses

Verses 15 - 21: The foreman approach Pharaoh concerning their mistreatment. They have been faithfully in meeting their quota. The inability to do so now comes from the decision of Pharaoh, not sluggishness on their part. They can’t do their jobs properly if they have to gather straw themselves. We can take from this that confronted unjust leaders with their injustice is not wrong. We don’t need to have a fatalist mindset. God has called to us to do justice () and seek justice (). If justice is not being rendered, the people of God can and must pursue it. While we do we must keep in mind that doing and seeking justice doesn’t equal salvation. It is the outgrowth of the regenerated heart as it is being sanctified.

Pharaoh’s treatment is the nature of unjust persecution. It is not based on wrongness of the part of the faithful but the malice of the persecutor, usually someone in power. Peter clarifies the difference between the two. (, ) They are being punished for something they don’t have power over. More to the point, the reason for the hardship is their desire to worship the Lord. This must be silenced and Pharaoh knows just the way to do. What Pharaoh seems to have forgotten is oppressing God’s people hasn’t stopped God’s plan up til now (,) There is nothing to can stop the plan of God. His will shall be done and His people shall be gathered to Him. Praise the name of the Lord.

Unfortunately, the reaction of the people is not so positive. Their reaction to their increased hardship is to lash out at the messenger. They blame Moses and Aaron for the suffering, not the person actually responsible. They call upon God to judge them for the harm caused: ‘Now they hate us and want to kill us’.

In seeing the reaction of the people, I am reminded of the words of Christ in ,. These words were spoken in context of the parable of the sower and this particular portion speaks of those whom initially receive the word with joy but fall away upon persecution. This causes them to forget to the word they heard. This is what appeared to have happened with the people here. In light of what they had been told by Moses, a better response would’ve been the words of the psalmist for the Lord to hear knowing that He will answer them. ()

Practical Application

Pharaoh is a type of the sinner. The sinner can’t allow for the priority and sovereignty of God. It is a reduction of their authority and autonomy. This is also true of public worship of God by His people. This sends the same message about who He is and who we aren’t. This is the battle of their day and continues to our day.

The gospel message brings both hope and hardship, salvation and judgment, joy and wrath. As the people of God we have a great inheritance. As the people of God we will have great toil along the way. There will be times like to psalmist when we ask: Lord, How long ()? We may even ask Why, Lord (). When this happens we must remember that: 1) God is Sovereign, 2) God told us this would happen, 3) God will bring both victory and judgment. The same David that asked ‘how long?’ also declared ‘I have set the Lord always before me; because he is a my right hand I shall not be moved’. Our country is moving, practically running away from righteousness. As this continues we can expect things to get worse not better. As the happens we must stand firm on the word of God.

Gospel Application

I said earlier the key question is who is the Lord? This is an important question each and everyone of us must consider. Do we acknowledge Him as the Sovereign Creator God or is he the big man upstairs. Is He the true God or one among many. Does He exist and just doesn’t care about what happens on earth of does He hold people to account. If you don’t call Christ both Savior and Lord, I ask you to consider your ways. The LORD is God. The God of the Bible is the one true and living God and He is our final Judge. We will all stand before Him and we will all be faced with the answer to this question. The consequences for the wrong answers are eternally terrible. It doesn’t have to be this way. Jesus Christ came to save sinners and all who place their trust in Him shall be saved. If this is not you I call you to repentance and faith. Acknowledge and confess your sin. Asked for forgiveness and to be received into His kingdom. Place your trust in Christ, recognizing that your only hope is found in God’s grace and faith in Christ alone, not in your good deeds. You will be saved. Don’t delay. Repent and believe the gospel today. Amen.

1. Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.

2. Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2, p. 164). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.