Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh
Exodus & Wilderness · Draft · BSB
Content revision: d01c4fa325bfdd18 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: c. 1446 BC · Moses aged 80, Aaron 83 (Exodus 7:7)
Moses and Aaron ask Pharaoh to let Israel go to worship in the wilderness. Pharaoh refuses and makes them gather their own straw for bricks, and the foremen turn on Moses. God renews his promise to bring Israel out as his own people. Aaron’s staff becomes a serpent before Pharaoh, but Pharaoh’s heart is hardened.
Primary Scripture
5:1 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.’”
5:2 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.”
5:3 “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.”
5:4 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!”
5:5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you would be stopping them from their labor.”
5:6 That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen:
5:7 “You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw.
5:8 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.’
5:9 Make the work harder on the men so they will be occupied and pay no attention to these lies.”
5:10 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.
5:11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it; but your workload will in no way be reduced.’”
5:12 So the people scattered all over the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
5:13 The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”
5:14 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?”
5:15 So the Israelite foremen went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way?
5:16 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.”
5:17 “You are slackers!” Pharaoh replied. “Slackers! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’
5:18 Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”
5:19 The Israelite foremen realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce your daily quota of bricks.”
5:20 When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.
5:21 “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!”
5:22 So Moses returned to the LORD and asked, “Lord, why have You brought trouble upon this people? Is this why You sent me?
5:23 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.”
6:1 But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for because of My mighty hand he will let the people go; because of My strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
6:2 God also told Moses, “I am the LORD.
6:3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make Myself known to them.
6:4 I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners.
6:5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My covenant.
6:6 Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
6:7 I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
6:8 And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’”
6:9 Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.
6:10 So the LORD said to Moses,
6:11 “Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.”
6:12 But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I am unskilled in speech?”
6:13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
6:14 These were the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. These were the clans of Reuben.
6:15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.
6:16 These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.
6:17 The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, by their clans.
6:18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.
6:19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of the Levites according to their records.
6:20 And Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.
6:21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
6:22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
6:23 And Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
6:24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the clans of the Korahites.
6:25 Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These were the heads of the Levite families by their clans.
6:26 It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.”
6:27 Moses and Aaron were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
6:28 Now on the day that the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt,
6:29 He said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I say to you.”
6:30 But in the LORD’s presence Moses replied, “Since I am unskilled in speech, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
7:1 The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.
7:2 You are to speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land.
7:3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay My hand on Egypt, and by mighty acts of judgment I will bring the divisions of My people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
7:5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
7:6 So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them.
7:7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
7:8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
7:9 “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.”
7:10 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent.
7:11 But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts.
7:12 Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other staffs.
7:13 Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
Related Scripture
Paul cites God’s purpose in raising up Pharaoh.
Location evidence
Event map marker: Approximate region; [longitude, latitude] = [31.3075, 30.129444]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Egypt: Approximate region. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [31.3075, 30.129444]. Classification source: editorial.
For the class
Why might God let things get worse before they get better?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/exodus-wilderness.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm