Exodus 5

Summary

Moses and Aaron meet with the Pharaoh to ask that the Hebrews be allowed to have a festival to worship. The Pharaoh refuses, saying that he doesn’t obey the Hebrew god and that they should get back to work.

The Pharaoh then orders that the Hebrew slaves need to work harder by getting the straw they need for brick themselves, saying they are lazy. The slaves realize how things are getting much worse and go complain to Moses, accusing him of causing all the trouble.

Moses in turn lays the same accusation on God.

Commentary

I suppose this is the part where God is hardening Pharaoh’s heart. Moses tells Pharaoh that they want to go to the desert and worship (a lie, but God’s OK with that), and Pharaoh sees this as a complaint from lazy slaves.

Maybe the plan is to make it so much worse that the other Hebrews have to do something and follow Moses. Kinda shitty plan, both in likelihood to success and ethically.