Catholic Commentary on Exodus 5

"LORD, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?" (Exodus 5:22)

Pharaoh's Refusal

Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh with the first demand: let my people go. Pharaoh's answer is definitive: who is the LORD that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go. He increases the Israelites' workload: they must now gather their own straw while maintaining the same quota of bricks. The Israelite foremen are beaten. They accuse Moses and Aaron of making things worse. Moses returns to the LORD with one of the most honest prayers in the Old Testament: LORD, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.

The complaint is not unbelief but anguish: the obedient action has produced worse suffering, not deliverance. This is a recognisable experience in the life of faith: the step taken in obedience to God that makes things immediately worse rather than better. The Catechism notes that prayer of complaint is not a departure from faith but an expression of it: only those who trust God enough to address him directly speak to him this honestly (CCC 2737). The answer to Moses's prayer will come, but not immediately. The darkness gets darker before the Exodus dawn.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? The honest complaint of Moses is the prayer of everyone whose faithful obedience has been followed by apparent failure. God receives this prayer. He does not dismiss it. His answer to Moses is not an explanation but a renewed promise: now you will see what I will do. Trust the promise through the darkness that precedes it.

Prayer

Lord God, Moses cried out to you when obedience made things worse. Receive our own honest complaints. When the faithful step produces harder labour rather than freedom, sustain us with your promise: now you will see what I will do. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

5
Pharaoh’s First Refusal
1 After that, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ ”
 
2 But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
 
3 “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they answered. “Please let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or He may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
 
4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!” 5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you would be stopping them from their labor.”
Bricks and Straw
 
6 That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen: 7 “You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw. 8 But require of them the same quota of bricks as before; do not reduce it. For they are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies.”
 
10 So the taskmasters and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I am no longer giving you straw. 11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it; but your workload will in no way be reduced.’ ”
 
12 So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”
 
14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over the people, were beaten and asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”
The Cry of the Israelites
 
15 So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? 16 No straw has been given to your servants, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
 
17 “You are slackers!” Pharaoh replied. “Slackers! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ 18 Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”
 
19 The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce your daily quota of bricks.” 20 When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.
 
21 “May the LORD look upon you and judge you,” the foremen said, “for you have made us a stench before Pharaoh and his officials; you have placed in their hand a sword to kill us!”
 
22 So Moses returned to the LORD and asked, “Lord, why have You brought trouble upon this people? Is this why You sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and You have not delivered Your people in any way.”

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