Exodus 5:5

5 And Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land [are] now many, and you want to stop them from their {forced labor}."

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 And they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go [on] a three-day journey into the desert, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our God, lest he strike us with plague or with sword."

4 And the king of Egypt said, "Why, Moses and Aaron, do you take the people from their work? Go to your {forced labor}!"

5 And Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land [are] now many, and you want to stop them from their {forced labor}."

6 And on that day Pharaoh commanded the slave drivers over the people and his foremen, saying,

7 "You must no longer give straw to the people to make the bricks like {before}. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "burdens" or "burdensome labor"