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| 1 And afterwards have Moses and Aaron entered, and they say unto Pharaoh, 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Send My people away, and they keep a feast to Me in the wilderness;' |
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| 2 and Pharaoh saith, 'Who [is] Jehovah, that I hearken to His voice, to send Israel away I have not known Jehovah, and Israel also I do not send away.' |
And Pharaoh – Supposed to have been Menephtah. R3994:2
Type of Satan. R5273:2, R5419:5; F458
I know not the LORD – Moses was met with derision. It was a time of testing to the faith, not only of Moses and Aaron, but of all Israelites. R5263:6
He considered the sun god of the Egyptians the powerful one. R5271:5
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| 3 And they say, 'The God of the Hebrews hath met with us, let us go, we pray thee, a journey of three days into the wilderness, and we sacrifice to Jehovah our God, lest He meet us with pestilence or with sword.' |
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| 4 And the king of Egypt saith unto them, 'Why, Moses and Aaron, do ye free the people from its works go to your burdens.' |
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| 5 Pharaoh also saith, 'Lo, numerous now [is] the people of the land, and ye have caused them to cease from their burdens!' |
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| 6 And Pharaoh commandeth, on that day, the exactors among the people and its authorities, saying, |
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| 7 'Ye do not add to give straw to the people for the making of the bricks, as heretofore they go and have gathered straw for themselves; |
Straw for themselves – One of the cities built by the Hebrews that has been discovered is the Egyptian city of Pithom, discovered in 1883. It corroborates the Biblical narrative with increasingly inferior bricks being used on upper courses. R3983:3
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| 8 and the proper quantity of the bricks which they are making heretofore ye do put on them, ye do not diminish from it, for they are remiss, therefore they are crying, saying, Let us go, let us sacrifice to our God; |
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| 9 let the service be heavy on the men, and let them work at it, and not be dazzled by lying words.' |
More work – Thus their tasks were practically doubled. But by these very bitter experiences the people were all the more prepared to welcome liberty. Similarly, we should appreciate the privilege of being set free from the power of sin and death and of being inducted into God's family. R5263:6
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| 10 And the exactors of the people, and its authorities, go out, and speak unto the people, saying, 'Thus said Pharaoh, I do not give you straw, |
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| 11 ye go ye, take for yourselves straw where ye find [it], for there is nothing of your service diminished.' |
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| 12 And the people is scattered over all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw, |
The land of Egypt – Satan's dominion of sin and death. R5643:1, R5273:1; F458
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| 13 and the exactors are making haste, saying, 'Complete your works, the matter of a day in its day, as when there is straw.' |
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| 14 And the authorities of the sons of Israel, whom the exactors of Pharaoh have placed over them, are beaten, saying, 'Wherefore have ye not completed your portion in making brick as heretofore, both yesterday and to-day ' |
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| 15 And the authorities of the sons of Israel come in and cry unto Pharaoh, saying, 'Why dost thou thus to thy servants |
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| 16 Straw is not given to thy servants, and they are saying to us, Make bricks, and lo, thy servants are smitten and thy people hath sinned.' |
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| 17 And he saith, 'Remiss ye are remiss, therefore ye are saying, Let us go, let us sacrifice to Jehovah; |
He said, Ye are idle – As some of the hard-hearted will doubtless say to the poor in the coming time of trouble. A336
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| 18 and now, go, serve; and straw is not given to you, and the measure of bricks ye do give.' |
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| 19 And the authorities of the sons of Israel see them in affliction, saying, 'Ye do not diminish from your bricks; the matter of a day in its day.' |
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| 20 And they meet Moses and Aaron standing to meet them, in their coming out from Pharaoh, |
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| 21 and say unto them, 'Jehovah look upon you, and judge, because ye have caused our fragrance to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants to give a sword into their hand to slay us.' |
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| 22 And Moses turneth back unto Jehovah, and saith, 'Lord, why hast Thou done evil to this people why [is] this Thou hast sent me! |
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| 23 and since I have come unto Pharaoh, to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people, and Thou hast not at all delivered Thy people.' |
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