John Calvin Commentary Exodus 5:1

"And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness." — Exodus 5:1 (ASV)

And afterwards Moses and Aaron went in. Moses here begins to explain how many and how great were the proofs of God’s power displayed in the deliverance of His people. For, since the pride, the madness, and the obstinacy of the king were indomitable, every door was closed, until broken down miraculously and by various means.

It was, indeed, possible for God to overwhelm him at once, by a single nod, so that he should even fall down dead at the very sight of Moses. But, as we have already briefly stated and He will Himself soon declare:

1. In the first place, He chose more clearly to reveal His power; for if Pharaoh had either yielded voluntarily or had been overcome without effort, the glory of the victory would not have been so illustrious.
2. In the second place, He wished this monument to exist of His unique love towards His chosen people; for by contending so persistently and so powerfully against the obstinacy of this most powerful king, He gave no doubtful proof of His love towards His Church.
3. In the third place, He wished to accustom His servants in all ages to patience, so that they would not lose heart if He does not immediately answer their prayers and constantly relieve them from their distresses.
4. In the fourth place, He wished to show that, against all the strivings and devices of Satan, against the madness of the ungodly, and all worldly hindrances, His hand must always prevail, and to leave us no room to doubt that whatever we see opposing us will in the end be overcome by Him.
5. In the fifth place, By detecting the illusions of Satan and the magicians, He would make His Church more cautious, so that she might carefully watch against such devices and that her faith might continue invincible against all the machinations of error.
6. Finally, He would convince Pharaoh and the Egyptians that their folly was not to be excused by any pretense of ignorance; and, at the same time, by this example, He would show us how horrible a darkness possesses the minds of the reprobate when He has deprived them of the light of His Spirit.

These things must be attentively observed in the course of the narrative, if we desire to benefit from it.

Since it is difficult to obtain access to kings, who do not deign to admit to their presence any of the common people, Moses and Aaron must have been endowed with no ordinary confidence when they boldly approached Pharaoh. For it was a disagreeable message, and one very likely to give offense, that he should permit the people to take a three days’ journey beyond the borders of Egypt. A suspicion must undoubtedly arise that, if dismissed in this way, they would no longer remain his subjects, and that thus a part of the land would be emptied of its inhabitants.

Still, Moses and Aaron did not fear to deliver God’s command, in which there was this additional annoyance to the proud and sensitive ears of the king: namely, that they attributed the glory of Deity to the God of Israel alone. For, by calling Him Jehovah, they implied that the gods worshipped in Egypt were false and invented by human imagination.

We have said elsewhere that there was no deceit in the pretext that God called His people into the wilderness to hold a feast, although He did not reveal His counsel to the tyrant. For it was truly His pleasure that a sacrifice of thanksgiving should be offered to Him on Mount Sinai, and that they should thus be separated from the defiled nation with which they were intermingled. Assuredly, He wished to arouse the tyrant’s anger by shamefully condemning the whole of Egypt as incapable of pure worship. For He was under no obligation to declare openly their deliverance; but, so that He might draw out from the mind of the tyrant the venom of his impiety, He asked for nothing connected with the benefit of His people, but merely demanded the worship that was due to Him. The word which Moses uses means properly "to hold a feast" but also embraces whatever is connected with it; and, therefore, by synecdoche, it is understood here, as well as in other passages, for the solemn worship of God.⁶⁶

⁶⁶ Nam festum celebrare sacrificium complectitur. —sacrificium complectitur. — Vatablus in Pol.. Syn..