Exodus 5:1 - 6:1 Notes: Bricks Without Straw

Section 9: Exodus 5:1 – 6:1 Bricks Without Straw

Theme or topic of this section

God’s Gonna Get His Way No Matter What

God Introduces Himself to Pharaoh

We Fear God

It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

Some interesting points

A big question – just what is God’s intent with these events? ? ?

The result of their second request to go three days into the wilderness to worship God:  They are worse off than before.  “This is like a National Labor Relations Board negotiation.”

Discussion Question: 

One commentary* points out that the English words worship, bondage, slavery, and service all come from Hebrew words that are related.  For the Israelites, what is the difference between serving Pharaoh and serving God? How is worship related to service?

*John Goldingay, Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, in the commentary Exodus for Everyone.

A few answers:

- All four words imply a submissive posture.  If they are in service to Pharaoh, they have to submit to him.  If they are in service to God, they have to submit to God.  Submission to Pharaoh is forced submission, whereas we choose to worship God.

- We ask God what we should do to serve him, and God says, “Love me, love one another.”

Did Pharaoh know that the Israelites intended to leave for good?

- Perhaps it is like arranging a bribe – both sides know what they mean, but it’s not stated outright.

Note that the Israelites are only three days ahead of Pharaoh in learning about God.

What we learned about the nature of God from this passage

God is powerful (more powerful than the Egyptian gods).

God is patient.

God has the plan.

He put two people in charge – God wants our participation in the plan.

God wants a relationship with his people.

God wants us to trust him.

God loves all of us, no matter our condition.

What we learned from this passage that we can apply to our lives

- Sometimes we pray for relief and things seem to get worse.  How do we keep from being discouraged?  We rely on our church family to support us.  And we rely on our personal relationship with God.  We can pray.

- We learned about our spiritual maturation rate.  We’re all somewhere on the path to sanctification.