Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 5

Went in. — Hebrew, went — that is, they left their usual residence and approached the Court, which, according to Psalm 78:12; Psalms 78:43, was held at Zoan (that is, Tanis). This was the ordinary residence of Rameses II and his son Menephthah.

Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. — Hebrew, Thus has said Jehovah, God of Israel. The Pharaohs claimed to hold direct communications with the Egyptian deities and could not deny the possibility of the Hebrew leaders holding communications with their God. Menephthah himself—the probable “Pharaoh of the Exodus”—declared that he had received a warning from Phthah in the fifth year of his reign (Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. ii., p. 119; 1st ed.).

That they may hold a feast unto me. — God’s entire purpose is not immediately revealed to Pharaoh. He is tested with a moderate demand, which he might well have granted. By refusing it, he showed himself harsh, unkind, and inconsiderate, so tempting God to lay upon him a greater burden.

In the wilderness. — that is, beyond the frontier, or, at any rate, beyond inhabited Egypt—so that the Egyptians might not be driven to fury by seeing animals sacrificed which they regarded as sacred. (See Exodus 8:26 and the comment on that passage.)

Who is the Lord?—Heb., Who is Jehovah? If Jehovah was a name whose use had been laid aside, as the later chapters of Genesis seem to indicate, and which was revived by the scene at the burning bush, Pharaoh very probably had not heard of it.

That I should obey his voice.—The king means to say that, whoever Jehovah is, He can have no authority over him, as He is not one of his gods. The Egyptians were accustomed to the idea of local gods and quite expected every nation to have its own deity or several deities; but they regarded the power of each as circumscribed, certainly not extending beyond the race or nation to which the god belonged.

The God of the Hebrews. —Moses accepts Pharaoh’s view, and does not insist on the authority of Jehovah over Egyptians, but makes an appeal ad misericordiam. He has, at any rate, authority over Hebrews; and, having made a requirement, He will be angered if they neglect it. Will not Pharaoh allow them to escape His anger?

With the sword. —Egypt was very open to invasion on its eastern frontier; and the brunt of an invasion in this quarter would fall upon the Hebrews. In the time of the nineteenth dynasty, Hittite incursions were especially feared.

And Pharaoh said. —After Moses and Aaron had retired, with the matter unresolved, Pharaoh turned to the officers of his court. He reproached them for allowing the Hebrews to be idle.

They have time to hold meetings (Exodus 4:30–31), listen to inflammatory speeches, and appoint leaders to make very inconvenient proposals—why are they not kept closer to their tasks? Some change of system is required.

Make them rest. —Rather, “let them rest.”

Taskmasters ... officers. —Three grades of officials are mentioned as employed in superintending the forced labours of the Hebrews—

1. “lords of service” (sarey massim), in Exodus 1:11;
2. “taskmasters” (nogeshim), here and in Exodus 5:10, 13-14; and
3. “officers”—literally, scribes (shoterim), here and in Exodus 5:11-21.

The “lords of service” were probably a small body who exercised a general superintendence, and determined the works in which the Hebrews should be employed. They were, no doubt, native Egyptians.

The nogeshim, or “taskmasters,” were their subordinates—Egyptians like themselves—comparatively numerous, and serving as intermediaries between the “lords” and the “officers.” These last were Hebrews, and engaged mainly in keeping the tale of the bricks, and seeing that the proper number was reached. Such an organisation is consonant with all that we know of the Egyptian governmental system, which was bureaucratic and complex, involving in every department the employment of several grades of officials.