Exodus 5:5

5 And Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye 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 And they said, "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us. Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice unto the LORD our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."

4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, "Why do ye, Moses and Aaron, delay the people from their work? Get you unto your burdens!"

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

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

7 "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.