John Gill Commentary Exodus 5:4

"And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their works? get you unto your burdens." — Exodus 5:4 (ASV)

And the king of Egypt said to them
For he was not struck dumb, as Artapanus ^F7 , before cited writer, says:

wherefore do you, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works ?
as they did when they gathered them together, and wrought signs before them; which Pharaoh it seems had heard of, and had got their names very readily:

get you unto your burdens ;
meaning not Moses and Aaron, ordering them to go about their private and family business, but the people they represented, and on whose account they came; and it is highly probable the elders of the people, at least some of them, were with them, to whom these words might be more particularly directed. See (Exodus 3:18) .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)