Exodus - Following God into Freedom: Week 5
Opening Prayer:
Heavenly Father,
You are sovereign.
You created all things, and You reign over all things.
Help us to remember this, and to remember You when we stand up to speak Your truth to the powers of this world that seek to dethrone You.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Key Scriptures:
Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”
2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”
3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”
4 But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” 5 Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”
6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: 7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”
10 Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. 11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’” 12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. 13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” 14 And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”
15 Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? 16 Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”
19 The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” 20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, 21 and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”
9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”
12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”
13 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
Exodus 5:1-6:13
Sermon Summary:
In today’s passage there are four main players; Pharaoh, embodying earthly power, Moses, called by God to be His representative both to the Israelites and to Pharaoh, the Israelites, who as the story progresses seem very ambivalent about Moses as their leader and who appear to forget about God quite easily, and finally God Himself, the One who will work through Moses (and the Israelites) to bring about His redemptive work.
After much wrestling with God – and many attempts to get out of the call to be God’s messenger – Moses (with Aaron) finally goes to see Pharaoh to demand that he let God’s people go. Pharaoh refuses to do so, he only sees the Israelites as workers not as the children of God. He doesn’t even acknowledge their God, asking who is this God that I should listen to Him? Pharaoh is the earthly power that refuses to listen to the word of God.
In this passage, Moses speaks truth to power. He brings the word of Almighty God to Pharaoh and confronts the predominant earthly power with the truth of God’s word. Moses learns several important lessons as he does so. Firstly, he learns that speaking truth to power often comes with a personal cost. It wasn’t easy for Moses, especially when the Israelites were sceptical of his leadership and weren’t the easiest of followers to have. Secondly, he learns that things don’t always go easily. Even with God on Moses’ side, Pharaoh didn’t immediately give in to his demands.
Speaking truth to power is not an easy road to walk. Moses also learns that while speaking truth to power is hard, it can go somewhat better if you have someone in your corner – in this case, for Moses, he had Aaron on his side as a support. And finally, there is always a bigger picture. Moses could only see his small part, the small but important role God had called him to play. But even though he couldn’t see it, what Moses was doing was part of the bigger picture of God’s redemptive plan for His people and ultimately for all creation. This story fits inside the bigger story of God’s redemptive purpose for His people.
Speaking truth to power is an important part of discipleship, whether on a big stage or in the smaller moments of our lives. A New Zealand example of this is seen in the life of Dame Whina Cooper, a tireless campaigner for the rights of Māori and for Māori women, who is perhaps most famously remembered for leading the 1975 Māori land march. A woman of deeply devout Catholic faith, Dame Whina led the protests for greater acknowledgement of the injustices done to Māori over the issues of land. She spoke truth to power, regardless of the cost, supported by those around her.
We are also called to speak truth to power. Maybe not on the same scale as Moses or Dame Whina but speaking truth to power is part of what following Jesus is about – as speaking truth to power was something that Jesus himself did, humbly but forcefully, to the Jewish priests and also to the Roman governor Pilate.
It won’t be easy, or straightforward. We see in part, but God sees the whole. We don’t see the whole picture, but when God calls us to speak truth to power, He knows what He is doing, and despite the challenges we will face, He is with us and is in control of the bigger situation that we see in part.
Questions to Consider:
What was Pharaoh’s response to Moses?
What was Moses’s response to Pharaoh’s refusal to do as God commanded?
What was the cost to Moses for following the path God instructed him to walk down?
How was Aaron a support to Moses? What role did he play?
Why is speaking truth to power an important part of following Jesus?
How do we speak truth to power? What does (or should) this look like for us?
What are the powers that need to be confronted with the truth today? Why?
Prayer Prompts:
Pray for our people and communities overseas.
Continue to pray about how you can Give, Pray, and Go.
Additional Resources:
Further Study Resources:
Bible Project - Exodus Scroll
Bible Project - The Exodus Way
Find the full sermon recording here
For a printable version of this guide click here