Moses and Aaron now go to address Pharoah, as instructed, they tell him that YHWH-God commands him to let the Israelites go a three-day journey into the wilderness to celebrate a feast. The king’s response is that he has not heard of this YHWH and he has no intention of letting his slaves off their labours. He concludes that life is too easy for them if they are getting such ideas. So, he instructs his task masters to withdraw the supply of straw that the Israelites mixed with mud-clay to make bricks. They will now have to work harder, gathering their own resources (Exodus 5:1-9).
The task-masters go back to the people with this message. Notice how the result is that they are “scattered” as they have to go searching for resources in the wider land. Pharoah’s aim is not only to keep them busy but to disrupt attempts for them to unite and come together. In that respect there are echoes of Babel when God scattered the peoples of the Earth. As with Moses’’ time in Midian, this represents an additional exile on top of the exile already experienced from the promised land (v10-14).
The Israelite foremen complain to Pharoah about the harsh and unfair new conditions. However, his response is to accuse them of being idle. He reflects that this is why they want time off for a holiday in the desert. It seems that the Hebrew leaders had not been aware that Moses and Aaron were the cause of their latest oppression. They meet with Moses and Aaron afterwards and complain that they have kicked up a stink, offending Pharoah. They call down God’s judgement on Moses (v15-21).
Moses in turn complains to the Lord, expressing his regret that God had called him and that he had agreed. There is something Jonah-esq about his complaint and his reluctance to serve YHWH (v22). God’s response is to reassure Moses that he will deliver the people, it will come to the point where Pharoah will not merely allow them to leave but forcibly seek to drive them out (6:1).
God appears to Moses again, reminds him that he was with his ancestors and once again uses the covenant name, YHWH to identify himself. Whilst this name seems to have dated back to Genesis, God states that this wasn’t the name that the patriarchs new him by, not the name by which he revealed himself. It is here in God’s act of deliverance that the name takes on its specific meaning.[1] Moses is also exhorted to go again and speak to the people, promising them that God will deliver them. However, this time, they do not want to listen (v2-9). Again, God sends Moses to Pharoah and again Moses resists but God insists with a solemn charge (v10-13).
The author then provides us with Moses and Aaron’s genealogy. We have had the genealogies of those who came into the land already. A new genealogy is a signal that these now are the ones that God is specifically dealing with and through at this time (v14-27). The section closes with a reminder of God’s commission to Moses and his plea that he has “uncircumcised lips, a plea that will be echoed by Isaiah’s exclamation that he had unclean lips (v28-30).
[1] So, as Enns points out, it’s not a new name but rather a fuller revelation of it. This also deals with any confusion over why God might seem to reveal the name to Moses twice, once in ch3 and once in ch 6. Chapter 6 can be seen as providing a refresher and an expansion on the revelation of the name’s meaning. The name cannot of course have been a new name as then that would raise questions as to what purpose it served in reassuring the people that God had sent Moses. The point is that this name only makes sense in the context of God fulfilling his promises and rescuing his people. See Enns, Exodus, 173-174.
Faithroots 