The Jews were convinced easily enough... for the time being.
But, Pharaoh wouldn't break so easily. Actually, he was never to be broken. He
would die unconvinced ... trying to drive a wheel less chariot in pursuit of
the Hebrews that he hated (Exodus 14:25).
Just as God had said it would be, Pharaoh didn't know, fear
or respect the God of Israel and therefore he refused to submit to Him (Exodus
3:19). His only concern was the work that "his slaves" were supposed
to be doing.
Hypothetically, can you imagine how much God would have
blessed Pharaoh and Egypt if they had readily obeyed the Word of the Lord and
sent the Hebrews on their way? But, it wasn't to be. The Egyptian Pharaoh
thought he was a god, so he had no intentions of allowing anyone else to control
him. He was a man of amazing ambition and stubborn foolishness.
In response to the request of the Levite brothers to let his
workforce go worship, Pharaoh actually made the tasks of the Hebrews even more
difficult. His perspective was that they had too much time on their hands if
they had space and energy to imagine and organize a trip. He cut off their
supply of brick-straw while demanding that they not only maintain their quota,
but produce even more. He figured they had time to find their own straw-substitute
for their brick making responsibilities. What a jerk, eh? Yet, the revelation
of his arrogance had only just begun.
When Moses and Aaron came out from Pharaoh, instead of
gathering the nation for a grand exit... they had to see their people scattering
frantically in search of whatever stubble they could glean. It was not the
product they had hoped for from their meeting with the king.
The people were understandably distraught. Except for the
land right next to the Nile River, Egypt was a desert. It's hard to imagine
that the properties which were devoted to agricultural endeavors would have
been freely available for the Jews to peruse through in their efforts at
picking up stubble. Clearly they
struggled. They didn't meet the demands of their master and they were beaten
because of their failure (Exodus
5:14-16).
"Thanks for nothing, guys! Look what you got us into!" That was the response of the Israelite
leaders when they saw Moses and Aaron
next. To say the least, Moses was discouraged. Even though God had told him
that it would be this way (Exodus 4:21), Moses was at his wits' end. His
heart's cry was evident in his prayer to God: "Why is it that You have
sent me? You haven't delivered Your people at all. Their condition is worse now
than it was before I came. What's going on?!" (Exodus 5:22-23).
Q: What do you do when your obedience seems to make your
state worse instead of better? A: Obey God anyway.
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