Exodus 5:5

5 dixitque Pharao multus est populus terrae videtis quod turba succreverit quanto magis si dederitis eis requiem ab operibus

Exodus 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 5:5

And Pharaoh said, behold, the people of the land now are many,
&c.] So that if some were taken off, as suggested, there were enough of them to do business and so he cared not; but if allowed to go, they might mutiny and rebel, and give a great deal of trouble to quell them; or it may be, the sense is, they were very numerous, and too numerous already, and if they were took off of their work, and allowed to go a feasting, they would be more so, which agrees with the next clause:

and you make them rest from their burdens;
which was the way to make them more numerous still, and to frustrate the design of laying burdens upon them, which was originally intended to hinder the multiplication of them, ( Exodus 1:9-14 ) .

Exodus 5:5 In-Context

3 dixerunt Deus Hebraeorum vocavit nos ut eamus viam trium dierum in solitudinem et sacrificemus Domino Deo nostro ne forte accidat nobis pestis aut gladius

4 ait ad eos rex Aegypti quare Moses et Aaron sollicitatis populum ab operibus suis ite ad onera vestra

5 dixitque Pharao multus est populus terrae videtis quod turba succreverit quanto magis si dederitis eis requiem ab operibus

6 praecepit ergo in die illo praefectis operum et exactoribus populi dicens

7 nequaquam ultra dabitis paleas populo ad conficiendos lateres sicut prius sed ipsi vadant et colligant stipulam