Exodus 5:5

5 And Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many and you make them rest from their burdens!"

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 Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us; let us go, we pray, a three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."

4 But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get to your burdens."

5 And Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many and you make them rest from their burdens!"

6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen,

7 "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves.