Exodus 5:5

5 Look!" Pharaoh added, "the population of the land has grown, yet you are trying to have them stop working!"

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 They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the desert, so that we can sacrifice to ADONAI our God. Otherwise, he may strike us with a plague or with the sword."

4 The king of Egypt answered them, "Moshe and Aharon, what do you mean by taking the people away from their work? Get back to your labor!

5 Look!" Pharaoh added, "the population of the land has grown, yet you are trying to have them stop working!"

6 That same day Pharaoh ordered the slavemasters and the people's foremen,

7 "You are no longer to provide straw for the bricks the people are making, as you did before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.