Exodus 5:4

4 But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your ¹labors!"

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 But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD , and besides, I will not let Israel go."

3 Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please, let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, otherwise He will fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."

4 But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you draw the people away from their work? Get back to your labors!"

5 Again Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!"

6 So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying,

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 1:11; Exodus 2:11; Exodus 6:5-7

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "loose"
• [b] Lit "works"
• [c] Lit "burdens"