Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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After much protest and a few excuses, Moses finally does what the Lord called him to do.
With the help of Aaron, his brother/spokesperson, Moses returns to Egypt and there assembles the elders of Israel with great results:
Just as God promised, the elders listen to Moses and Aaron.
Their time before the leadership of the enslaved Israelites went very well.
The Israelites listen.
They believe.
They bow down and worship.
Like I said: great results.
Every preacher I know would be over the moon with any of the three.
“Hey, they listened this morning.
They believed.
They bowed down and worshipped.”
No doubt encouraged by the reception they received from the Israelite elders, Moses and Aaron head toward Pharaoh—the king of Egypt—in order to relay the message the Lord has for him.
Going to the elders of Israel was a softball compared to marching up to the King of Egypt and confronting him.
Moses knows, because the Lord has told him already, that Pharaoh is not going to listen, he’s not going to let the people go.
The Lord has hardened Pharaoh’s heart (4:21).
This task for Moses and Aaron is not going to go well; it will not be easy.
Pharaoh will not listen to them.
He will not believe.
He will not bow down and worship the Lord.
And still, Moses goes down to tell old Pharaoh, “Let my people go.”
—>If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Exodus chapter 5.
If you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word.
We’re going to read all of chapter 5 (so if you need to set down, I understand).
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
_______________________________________
So, after meeting with and worshipping alongside the Israelite elders, Moses and Aaron approach Pharaoh, boldly proclaiming what the Lord hath said—This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
This is a statement of authority.
Moses and Aaron don’t speak with their own authority; these words come from the Lord.
“The OT prophets used this phrase as a standard reminder to both messenger and recipient that the words came from and would be acted upon by the Lord.”
-ESV Study Bible
Moses and Aaron boldly tell Pharaoh that which the Lord told them to say.
The Lord’s main point: “Let my people go.”
The Lord’s motivation: that His people would worship Him.
But Pharaoh’s not having it.
Pharaoh’s question seems to indicate a lack of awareness.
He may not know anything about Israel’s God.
Pharaoh might be completely ignorant about who the Lord, the God of Israel, is.
That’s possible, and even likely, I’d say.
But Pharaoh’s posture, his attitude toward the Lord he doesn’t know is more important.
Even if Pharaoh had known who the Lord was, he wouldn’t have listened to what He had to say.
For Pharaoh, the only authority is Pharaoh.
He—and all of his minions and underlings—believe that he (Pharaoh) is a god.
One of the basic principles of Egyptian religion is that the king is a god.
The Egyptians believed that “in the person of pharaoh, a super human being had taken charge of the affairs of man…the creator himself had assumed kingly office on the day of creation.
Pharaoh was his descendant and his successor.”
-Henri Frankfort, Ancient Egyptian Religion
It is significant that the word Pharaoh uses for “work” (Exod.
5:9) and the word God uses for “worship” (Exod.
4:23) have the same Hebrew root: abad.
Pharaoh considers the Hebrews to be his servants.
They are to work for and serve him as if he were a god.
Pharaoh even speaks as if he is a god.
In verse 1, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and say: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says:”
In verse 10, Pharaoh uses that phrase for himself, having his spokesmen tell the Israelite slaves: “This is what Pharaoh says:”
Verse 1: “Thus saith the Lord!”
Verse 10: “Thus saith Pharaoh!”
Pharaoh puts himself on, believes himself to be on the same level as the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
This is outright defiance, utterly sinful rebellion; this is rebellious unbelief.
He is ignorant and stubborn, and he’s just a tad bit foolish.
He’s about to figure out that he is not on the same level as the Lord.
He’s about to realize that he has no authority, no real power, no standing compared to the Lord, the God of Israel.
P. G. Ryken says this: “With these words, Pharaoh posed the central question of the exodus: ‘Who is the Lord?
Who is the one true God? Who is the supreme deity who alone has the right to demand praise from every creature?’”
God has already revealed the correct answer to Pharaoh’s question back at the burning bush.
Who is the Lord?
He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He is Yahweh, the Great I AM—the eternal and self-existent Lord.
But Pharaoh and his ilk deny that the Lord is anyone of any significance.
They deny Him and defy Him—defiant Pharaoh isn’t about to do what the Lord has said; in fact, verse 9 makes it clear that Pharaoh believes all of this talk about the Lord, the God of Israel to be a lie.
This is ever the world’s response to the Lord and His ways; this might be your response to the Lord—if not denial then defiance, one or the other, maybe both.
Perhaps the Lord isn’t really a significant influence in your life; it’s possible that you believe He is, but don’t believe that He is important.
You might come to church and self-identify as “Christian” but otherwise live as a practical atheist.
Maybe you’re that self-identified “Christian” who looks the part, who talks the talk from 9:30-Noon on Sunday morning, and then turns it off come Sunday afternoon.
(Understand: your behavior doesn’t make you a Christian, but it just might show where your heart is).
Are you, in your life, denying Him outright?
Perhaps you are more of the defiant sort; it’s possible that you believe in Him and belong to Him and yet you don’t really want to do what He’s asking.
You might have a relationship you know isn’t honoring to the Lord; you know He would have you break it off.
And yet you defy Him, and chart your own course.
You might be of the “Frozen” generation; you know the stupid song: “no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I’m free!” That’s defiance—doing what you want instead of what He wants.
Pharaoh and those of us like him deny the Lord and defy the Lord.
—>Instead of doing as the Lord has said, instead of letting the Lord’s people go, Pharaoh doubles down; he makes the work harder.
Pharaoh makes things even worse for Israel.
He cracks the whip—both literally and figuratively.
“Bricks without straw.”
That’s Pharaoh’s order.
The people of Israel would not be given straw.
And they still have to produce the same number of bricks.
“Bricks without straw…that’ll shut them up with all that ‘Let-us-go-so-we-can-worship-the-Lord’ stuff.”
“Bricks without straw”—this really does have all the makin’s of an awful situation.
Israel is already in bondage.
They are slaves.
They are oppressed heavily, and have been for generations.
And now, it has gone from bad to worse.
The slave drivers do as Pharaoh demands, telling the slaves:
This is a truly difficult situation: the people scatter searching for straw, the slave drivers keep pressing them and beating them.
“Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”
Difficulty leads to discouragement, as it often does.
The Israelite overseers—the enslaved middlemen between the slave drivers and the brick-makers—turn to Pharaoh.
They don’t understand why they are being treated even more poorly than normal.
The Israelites know they are in real trouble.
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