Exodus 5:4 And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you to your burdens. You will observe that God gave a command, and Pharaoh refused either to obey the command, or to pay anything like respect unto it, I. LET US CONSIDER WHAT IT IS THAT GOD REQUIRES. In the case of Israel we see that He requires what I may sum up in three particulars. 1. He requires that they should acknowledge Him publicly as their God; that is the first principle. "Let My people go, that they may hold," etc. 2. He requires of Israel that there should be a marked acceptance of His way of reconciliation. "Let us go and sacrifice unto the Lord our God." From the very first when man sinned, there was God's revealed way by which the sinner must come near to Him; and, therefore, the feast that was to be held unto Jehovah, was a feast that was to be founded upon sacrifice. 3. God requires that everything else should give way and yield to the discharge of these required duties. They were to go at once to Pharaoh, and ask his permission to go and obey God's commands, and to sacrifice unto Him as their Lord. They were not to be withheld from doing this by their knowledge of Pharaoh's tyrannical disposition. They were not to be withheld by the remembrance of their worldly duties, or of the hardships and the toils connected with these duties. Now is there anything peculiar to Israel and to God's requirements of Israel in all this? Do we not see, underlying this narrative, a principle which is universally applicable to all those to whom God's message comes? What doth the Lord require of us, to whom the word of this salvation is sent? Does He not demand of us acknowledgment, acceptance of His salvation, and immediate decision? II. But now WHAT DOES MAN THINK OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF GOD? Let us answer this question by referring to the case of Pharaoh. Pharaoh said, "Ye be idle; therefore ye say, let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Therefore now go and work." And then again, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." And again, "Let more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein, and let them not regard vain words." What is the meaning of this language? May I not render it truly, but simply, when I say that in Pharaoh's mind there was an opinion that there was no need of so much religion? "Let them go and work"; there was no need of going to sacrifice to the Lord their God. And then when he heard God's threatenings to those who neglected His commands, how did Pharaoh feel then? He maintains that there is no danger in neglecting the supposed commands of God in this matter. He thinks them vain words, all about God's threatenings to those who do not acknowledge Him, and who do not accept His terms of reconciliation. "All these are vain words, pay no attention to them, go and work." That was Pharaoh's way of thinking. And then, further, he thought that there was no sincerity in those who professed to want to worship God. "Ye are idle; therefore ye cry, Let us go and sacrifice. You do not mean to go and sacrifice; you do not want to go and sacrifice; it is your idleness, your hypocrisy." So that you will observe Pharaoh thought thus of God's requirements; first, that there was no need of them; secondly, that there was no danger in neglecting them; and thirdly, that those who professed did not intend to worship, they did not mean what they said. Now is Pharaoh at all singular in the ideas which are thus attributed to him? Is it not still the case that an unconverted man acts in the same way as Pharaoh acted? And then when Pharaoh is reminded of the awful language in which God speaks to those who neglect His requirements, and His judgments against those who know not the Lord, and who obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, what does Pharaoh, and what do unconverted men now say, but that in their opinion all these are vain words? Pharaoh thought they were vain words; and so do men now. (W. Cadman, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. |
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