1 And after that, Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go so that they may keep a feast to me in the waste land.
And Moses said, We will go with our young and our old, with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds; for we are to keep a feast to the Lord.
And they will give ear to your voice: and you, with the chiefs of Israel, will go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God.
So that I may give knowledge of your unchanging word before kings, and not be put to shame.
And in this mountain will the Lord of armies make for all peoples a feast of good things, a feast of wines long stored, of good things sweet to the taste, of wines long kept and tested.
So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh as the Lord had said. Now Nineveh was a very great town, three days' journey from end to end. And Jonah first of all went a day's journey into the town, and crying out said, In forty days destruction will overtake Nineveh.
And you will come before rulers and kings because of me, for a witness to them and to the Gentiles.
And now, Lord, take note of their cruel words, and give your servants power to be preachers of your word without fear,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 5
Commentary on Exodus 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
Moses and Aaron are here dealing with Pharaoh, to get leave of him to go and worship in the wilderness.
Exd 5:1-2
Moses and Aaron, having delivered their message to the elders of Israel, with whom they found good acceptance, are now to deal with Pharaoh, to whom they come in peril of their lives-Moses particularly, who perhaps was out-lawed for killing the Egyptian forty years before, so that if any of the old courtiers should happen to remember that against him now it might cost him his head. Their message itself was displeasing, and touch Pharaoh both in his honour and in his profit, two tender points; yet these faithful ambassadors boldly deliver it, whether he will hear or whether he will forbear.
Exd 5:3-9
Finding that Pharaoh had no veneration at all for God, Moses and Aaron next try whether he had any compassion for Israel, and become humble suitors to him for leave to go and sacrifice, but in vain.
Exd 5:10-14
Pharaoh's orders are here put in execution; straw is denied, and yet the work not diminished.
Exd 5:15-23
It was a great strait that the head-workmen were in, when they must either abuse those that were under them or be abused by those that were over them; yet, it should seem, rather than they would tyrannize, they would be tyrannized over; and they were so. In this evil case (v. 19), observe,