Exodus 5:4

4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, "Why do ye, Moses and Aaron, delay the people from their work? Get you unto your burdens!"

Exodus 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 5:4

And the king of Egypt said to them
For he was not struck dumb, as Artapanus ^F7, afore cited writer, says:

wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works?
as they did when they gathered them together, and wrought signs before them; which Pharaoh it seems had heard of, and had got their names very readily:

get you unto your burdens;
meaning not Moses and Aaron, ordering them to go about their private and family business, but the people they represented, and on whose account they came; and it is highly probable the elders of the people, at least some of them, were with them, to whom these words might be more particularly directed. See ( Exodus 3:18 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Ut supra. (Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 27. p. 434.)

Exodus 5:4 In-Context

2 And Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go."

3 And they said, "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us. Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice unto the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."

4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, "Why do ye, Moses and Aaron, delay the people from their work? Get you unto your burdens!"

5 And Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens!"

6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying,