The situation for the Israelites became worst. It was as if they had been thrown from the frying pan into the fire. And it all seemed to start after Moses and Aaron sent by God said to Pharaoh, “Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” It was bad enough that they should be made to build Pharaoh’s extravagant monuments, now they had to make bricks and to make them without given the material. As it was already, they were being treated harshly. But with Moses and Aaron’s request, the hardship dished out to the Israelites picked-up to a point of intense cruelty. They were expected to make bricks without given the required material. The quota was not reduced even though they were not given any straw. We can imagine the frantic Israelites moving all over the land desperately looking for stubble and straw. Isn’t the action of Pharaoh much like what sin will do to us? It will make demands on us far more than we are willing to pay and hold us longer than we are willing to stay.
The unreasonableness of Pharaoh was beyond endurance. This can be seen in the despondency of the Israelites. There came a point when they could endure no longer that they even took the courage to complain to Pharaoh. They wanted to know how could they make bricks when the taskmasters refused to give them straw. They were begging to be treated reasonably. Their question was how could they ever meet their daily quota when they were given no straw? Their pleas received no sympathy from Pharaoh. The insufferable monarch even accused them of being lazy. He turned their request to go on a pilgrimage to worship God into an accusation. He insisted that they were making excuse for their laziness. It then dawned upon the foremen who came to Pharaoh that the way they were treated was not just a glitch in an administration, it was a decree from the cruel king. From this, we can see that it’s pointless to seek leniency from one who decrees the cruelty. A spiritual lesson to glean here is that we should not expect our load to be lessened when we comply with Satan’s demand. In reality, the more we comply with sin’s demands, the deeper we will find ourselves entrenched in its demands.
Verses 19-21 describe how quickly the foremen came to Moses and Aaron and found the pair waiting for them. The first things they did was they began to accuse them bitterly and blame them for the cruel treatment dished out to them by Pharaoh and his taskmasters. They even called upon the LORD to judge the two of them for making them odious in the sight of the king. What Moses and Aaron did was far from delivering them, but instead gave Pharaoh a reason to make their life more miserable. The foremen’s reaction towards Moses and Aaron reflects for us what people would do when they are confronted by a bad situation. Many would blame their spiritual leaders without considering that what they were experiencing could possibly be the hand of God preparing the circumstance for them to experience a great breakthrough. When we learn to factor God in our life, even in the worst of circumstances of life, we don’t become unhinged so easily. We must hold steady and realized that in everything God is working out something for our good.
In what way could they oppressed people respond better? Verses 22-23 give us a clue. They could be like Moses and Aaron and bring their heartaches to God. They could be honest with God and even tell Him their difficulty. But to rent at their spiritual leaders was uncalled for. Moses and Aaron were only acting as God had told them to. This is a lesson for us. The right approach when we face any hardship is to first seek God, and let bring our trouble to Him. We should not resort to murmuring and complaining. We can be honest with our feeling before God. For there is nothing that He does not know. It is never right to react by accusing our leaders for our misfortune in life. One thing know is this: God is faithful, with every trial, He knows exactly how to bring us out of the pain. We can take our pain to God in prayer and trust Him!
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