While the Lord was getting Moses ready to go to Egypt, He was getting Aaron ready to meet Moses to go with him. "The Lord said to Aaron, 'Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.' So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs He had commanded him to perform." (Exodus 4:27-28) We don't know how long it's been since Moses saw his older brother, but the two of them are happy to see each other. These men are going to clash with each other at times and they are going to make some mistakes while watching over the Lord's flock for forty years in the desert, but they love each other, their people, and the Lord. They are both being obedient to Him in spite of any doubts and fears they may harbor. Just as the Lord predicted, the elders of Israel listen to and believe Moses' story of his encounter with God. And just as the Lord predicted, Pharaoh scoffs at their words and refuses to accept the Lord's command to let the people go.
"Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped." (Exodus 4:29-31) I'd love to hear all the details of this meeting but Moses has told us what we need to know about it. The people believed the Lord sent Moses and Aaron to help them. The people drew comfort from knowing their plight had not gone unnoticed by God. Sometimes when our troubles drag on and on we start to wonder if God is even watching. Or we'll acknowledge that God sees and knows everything and we'll wonder why He hasn't done anything about our problems. Here we find the people reassured that God not only sees their troubles but that He intends to deliver them out of their troubles.
The next step is for Moses and Aaron to go before the king of Egypt and make their request. Again, I'd love to know the details of how this meeting came to be arranged, and what Pharaoh's court looked like, and how matters were handled in his court. But Moses skips straight to the point and tells us what we need to know, which is that Pharaoh refuses just as the Lord said he would.
"Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, 'This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival to Me in the wilderness.'" (Exodus 5:1) Remember that we said a few days ago that the Lord isn't telling anyone to lie to Pharaoh. If Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to go into the wilderness for three days to worship the Lord and make sin offerings to Him, they would return after three days just as promised. This would show Pharaoh that they have no intentions of joining forces with the enemies of Egypt to come back and fight against the king. I assume, although we don't know for certain, that the Egyptian government is not allowing the Israelites to have religious freedom. They may be worshiping God privately at home, but they are likely not allowed to make offerings or to hold worship assemblies anywhere inside Egypt's borders. If the king had allowed the people to go away for three days and then return, he might have lost some of his prejudice toward them. He would have understood that they had a chance to run away and join with his enemies but that they didn't take it. He'd have seen that they are a peaceful people. He might also have lost some of his hard-heartedness toward the God of Israel. This is a test for him and he fails it.
"Pharaoh said, 'Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.'" (Exodus 5:2) I picture him sneering while he makes his reply in a sarcastic tone of voice. His attitude is: "The Lord? Why should I recognize the Lord of these slaves? I don't know Him! He hasn't done anything for me. He hasn't done anything for His people either, or else why are they in slavery to me? The name of the God of Israel is meaningless to me. I neither know Him nor serve Him. In fact, I don't even believe He's real. Why should I listen to or obey the words of a false God? I won't listen! I cannot be compelled to listen or obey. I will not let the people go."
Moses and Aaron continue to press their case, adding a little something extra to try to make Pharaoh think he's in danger of losing his workforce if he doesn't comply. "Then they said, 'The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.'" (Exodus 5:3) They say something like, "The people have been unable to observe the important rituals of our religion. God has commanded them to go into the wilderness for a time of worship and offerings. If they do not obey Him, what if He becomes angry with them? Something bad may happen to them if they don't do what He says!" Of course God isn't going to punish His people for not doing something they aren't able to do, but the king doesn't know that. The pagan gods of the king's culture, and of many other ancient cultures, were believed to have personalities just like human beings but with a whole lot more power. The king can comprehend the idea of a deity who flies into a violent rage when demands for offerings are not met. He gets the idea, but he rejects it. He doesn't believe the God of the Israelites will strike the Israelites dead for not making sacrifices. He doesn't believe God is real at all. The king dismisses the threat that he might lose his slave laborers if they aren't allowed to observe their customs.
Pharaoh feels this meeting is a waste of time and he wants to bring it to an end. "But the king of Egypt said, 'Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get back to your work!' Then Pharaoh said, 'Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.'" (Exodus 5:4-5) He says, "Why should the Israelites lose three days of work for the foolishness of going into the desert to make offerings to some deity who either doesn't exist or who lacks the power to help them? I never heard of such nonsense! I will not grant them a three-day 'vacation' to loll about in the wilderness while I've got projects going on here that need to be completed. And as for the two of you, don't you have anything better to do? I know I sure have better things to do than listen to this! Whatever your normal occupations are, you need to get back to them immediately."
The king ends the meeting and Moses and Aaron are compelled to leave his presence for a time. I picture him sitting on his throne, fuming at the audacity of what has been requested of him. He decides that if the Israelites have time to complain, they have time to do more work. "That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: 'You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.'" (Exodus 5:6-9)
The Israelites are worse off now than they were before Moses and Aaron went before the king. That's the king's intention. He suspects Moses and Aaron intend to stir up a revolt, but if the people see that these men have made their plight worse instead of better, perhaps they'll reject anything the men have to say.
Things are going to get worse before they get better, as is sometimes the case for us all. But that is never to be taken as a sign that God isn't working on our behalf or that He isn't going to rescue us from our circumstances. Satan fights tooth and nail to hold onto anyone on his side, and Pharaoh is definitely the devil's pawn in this game whether he realizes it or not. The devil is playing on the king's insecurities and prejudices. The devil is amplifying the king's unfounded fear of the Israelites. Satan knows Pharaoh's wicked character and he knows that the more the king resists the Lord, the harder the king's heart becomes. Why does the Lord allow the situation to continue and grow worse? Why does He let the devil whisper in Pharaoh's ear while Pharaoh grows more and more cruel and despicable? Because the Lord intends to show His great power to everyone in Egypt. By the time the Israelites leave the nation of their oppression, they are going to have the courage to follow their mighty God. By the time they leave Egypt, everyone native-born in that land from the king all the way down to the poorest peasant will have no doubt that the God of Israel is real. I believe all this is a display of God's mercy, for His people need to see His power displayed so that their faith in Him is strengthened. God is being merciful not only to His own people but to the heathen Egyptians as well. I think some of the Egyptians very well may have turned to the Lord after witnessing His great power and after witnessing their own gods doing nothing. I think some of them came to the conclusion that the gods of Egypt didn't exist but that the God of Israel was a God to be worshiped and revered. Right now in Exodus 5 the situation seems more grim than ever, but there's a purpose for it. Each time Pharaoh's heart grows harder, God is going to perform an even greater wonder.
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