Exodus 5:4

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2 And Pharaoh said, ^a“Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, ^bnor will I let Israel go.”

3 So they said, ^a“The God of the Hebrews has ^bmet with us. Please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with ^cpestilence or with the sword.”

4 Then the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your ^alabor.”

5 And Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are ^amany now, and you make them rest from their labor!”

6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the ^ataskmasters of the people and their officers, saying,

7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make ^abrick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Exodus 5:4

Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron - He hints that the Hebrews are in a state of revolt, and charges Moses and Aaron as being ringleaders of the sedition. This unprincipled charge has been, in nearly similar circumstances, often repeated since. Men who have labored to bring the mass of the common people from ignorance, irreligion, and general profligacy of manners, to an acquaintance with themselves and God, and to a proper knowledge of their duty to him and to each other, have been often branded as being disaffected to the state, and as movers of sedition among the people! See Clarke on Exodus 5:17 (note).

Let the people - taphriu , from para , to loose or disengage, which we translate to let, from the Anglo-Saxon lettan , to hinder. Ye hinder the people from working. Get ye to your burdens. "Let religion alone, and mind your work." The language not only of tyranny, but of the basest irreligion also.

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