John Calvin Commentary Exodus 5:9

"Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein; and let them not regard lying words." — Exodus 5:9 (ASV)

Let there more work be laid upon the men. Although Pharaoh knew that he was cruelly treating the unhappy Israelites, who, as strangers, should have been hospitably and kindly received, he still said that they were abusing their idleness and were revolting because he indulged them too much. Thus, when tyranny has lost all regard for justice, there are no bounds to its harshness; and complaints, far from moving it to pity, only aggravate its cruelty.

And these are the means by which its flatterers inflame it further: namely, that its subjects will never be quiet unless they faint under the weight of their burdens. They argue that this is the best method for governing them—to oppress them so much that they dare not open their mouths. If the people cry or murmur, they should be oppressed even more,⁶⁹ until they grow hardened and, as it were, callous to their bondage. Therefore, tyrants do not lessen their abuses and cruelties until the wretched people have altogether succumbed.

Pharaoh insults them still more maliciously when he says that he imposes heavier burdens upon them so that they may not regard vain words. But what are these vain words except their request for permission to worship God? His impiety, therefore, bursts forth in the midst of his tyrannical insolence. He not only means to utter a blasphemy against God, but he is also instigated by the wiles of Satan to undermine the faith of the Church. By a similar impulse, Rabshakeh proclaimed that Hezekiah deceived the people with vain words when he urged them to trust in the living God (Isaiah 36:5, 7). Nor does Satan cease to employ the same scheme against the faithful, as if all that God promises were deceit and vanity.

⁶⁹ The original here is, “ut obdurescant ad servitutem, quasi contracto collo;” which the French translates “pour l’endurcir a servitude, comme si on le trainoit par le col.” The Geneva edition of 1617, as well as that of Amsterdam of 1671, however, have substituted “callo,” which certainly seems to make the sense clearer.