Making Bricks without Straw

Story: Making Bricks Without Straw

Passage: Exodus 5

Characters:  Moses, Israel, Pharaoh

Summary:  Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to let them sacrifice in the desert for three days.  Pharaoh did not acknowledge God and denied their request.  They asked again and Pharaoh refused again.  Pharaoh then told the Egyptian foremen to no longer give the Hebrews straw to make bricks, but to require the same quota of bricks.  The Israelites struggled and were could not meet the demands.  When they complained to Pharaoh he blamed Moses so the Israelites blamed Moses.  Moses asked why God ever sent him.  He blamed God for not delivering His people.

Notes:  Moses was feeling good after the favorable reaction of his fellow Hebrews.  He went to Pharaoh with Aaron and told him that God had commanded Pharaoh to let the people go worship in the desert.  Pharaoh was probably suspicious of the Israelites motives.  He also was not willing to submit to this God.  Remember, in Egypt, Pharaoh was a god.  Who was this Hebrew God that would allow Him to tell Pharaoh what to do?  Moses tries again, but once again he is rejected. Pharaoh did not want to lose this huge workforce he had created.  To teach Moses a lesson, he made the workload essentially impossible for the Israelites.  They were given no straw but expected to make the same number of bricks.  If they failed, they were beaten.  The burden on the Israelites became so great that they personally complained to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh told them that they were lazy and wanted a break.  Interestingly, Moses and Aaron were not in this meeting, but were waiting outside.  The people knew very well that Moses and Aaron were the reason for the greater workload.  They blamed Moses and Aaron and asked the Lord to judge them.  Moses was desperate.  He told God that He was not delivering His people and that He had done evil to his people.  He asked God why he was sent in the first place.  Moses had trouble listening to God.  God said that the Israelites would believe him, but Moses doubted that.  God told him that Pharaoh would not believe, but Moses was discouraged and ready to give up when Pharaoh rejected their request.  God had told Moses everything he had to know but once things were tough, Moses was ready to give up.

Questions:  Did Pharaoh know that the Israelites were going to try to escape?  Why were Moses and Aaron not in the second meeting with Pharaoh?  Was this Pharaoh related to Moses?  Did they know each other growing up?  If so, who was older? If they were siblings, could there have been jealousy that Moses was on his brother Aaron’s side instead of his own?

Lessons:  In this passage, we see that what God said would happen happened even if it was a bad thing.  We need to learn to trust God is in control even when things don’t make sense and don’t seem to be going ours or God’s way.  God is in control and He is controlling the situation so that He is brought glory!