Exodus 5:4

4 Then the king of Egypt said unto them, Why do ye, Moses and Aaron, keep the people from their works? Go 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 hearken to his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews has found us; therefore we shall go three days’ journey into the desert and sacrifice unto the LORD our God lest he encounter us with pestilence or with the sword.

4 Then the king of Egypt said unto them, Why do ye, Moses and Aaron, keep the people from their works? Go unto your burdens.

5 Pharaoh also said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them cease from their burdens.

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