Exodus 5:15 - Meaning and Application

The leaders of the people were in a very hard place. They had to choose between abusing the workers under them or being abused by the officials over them. It seems they would rather suffer harsh treatment than pass it on, and that is what happened. In this bad situation, as Exodus 5:19 shows, we should notice a few things.

First, they were right to complain to Pharaoh. They came and cried out to him (Exodus 5:15). Where else should they bring their grievance except to the highest ruler, the one set up to protect people who are being mistreated? Pharaoh was cruel, but his oppressed subjects still had the right to complain to him. There was no law against asking for relief. Their report was humble but serious: "Your servants are beaten" (Exodus 5:16). No doubt, the beating was severe, especially in such a tense time, and yet the blame lay with Pharaoh’s own officials, the taskmasters, who refused to give them what they needed to do the work.

It is common for people who are most to blame to be the harshest in blaming others. But what did the workers gain from speaking up? Things only got worse. Pharaoh mocked them (Exodus 5:17). They were nearly worked to death, yet he called them lazy. They were exhausted by hard labor, yet he accused them of idleness. The only reason he gave was that they had said, "Let us go and sacrifice." It is common for the best actions to be given the worst names. Many people call holy effort in God’s service careless neglect of ordinary duties. It is a comfort to know that people are not our final judges. God knows the reasons for our actions. Those who work faithfully to offer sacrifice to the Lord will escape God’s judgment on lazy servants, even if people misunderstand them.

Pharaoh then made their burden heavier, saying, "Go now and work" (Exodus 5:18). Wicked people usually act wickedly. What else should we expect from unjust men except more injustice?

The people also complained unjustly about Moses and Aaron: "The Lord look on you and judge" (Exodus 5:21). That was not fair. Moses and Aaron had already shown clear concern for Israel’s freedom. Yet because things did not work out right away, they were blamed as if they had helped cause the slavery. The people should have humbled themselves before God and taken shame for their own sin, since that sin had turned good things away from them. Instead, they turned on their best friends and blamed the very men God was using to rescue them because of the delays and difficulties in the process.

Those who are called to public service for God and for their generation must expect trials. They will face not only the threats of proud enemies, but also the unfair criticism of careless friends. Such people judge by appearances and do not look far enough ahead. What did Moses do in this painful situation? He was deeply grieved that the outcome did not match his hope, and the people’s bitter words cut him like a sword. Still, he turned to the Lord (Exodus 5:22). He brought the matter to God because he knew he had acted by God’s direction. So he treated their blame as if it reflected on God, and like Hezekiah, he laid the matter before the Lord and appealed to him. Compare this with Jeremiah 20:7-9. When we are confused and blocked in the path of duty, we should go to God and honestly pour out our case in prayer. If we withdraw, let us retreat to him and nowhere else.

Moses also spoke plainly to God about what he could not understand (Exodus 5:22, Exodus 5:23). He could not make sense of God’s providence, that is, God’s way of ruling events, together with the promise and commission he had received. Was this really God’s way of coming down to deliver Israel? Was he, who had hoped to bless them, now becoming a burden to them? By trying to pull them out of the pit, it seemed he had only pushed them deeper into it. So he asks, "Why have you treated this people so badly?" Even when God is moving toward his people in mercy, he sometimes uses methods that make them feel badly treated. The very things meant to help can seem to hinder. What was hoped to be for their good becomes, for a time, a trap. God allows this so we learn not to trust in man and stop leaning on human helpers as if they were our final hope.

Moses also asks, "Why have you sent me?" He is complaining about his lack of success. Pharaoh has only made things worse, and no progress toward deliverance seems to have been made. It is hard for anyone God uses to see their work produce no good, and even harder to see it bring harm in the end, though that was not the goal. It is especially painful for a faithful minister to see that efforts to convict and convert people only stir up more sin, strengthen prejudice, harden hearts, and leave them in unbelief. That kind of disappointment can drive a person into deep sorrow, like the prophet in (Ezekiel 3:14).

Or Moses may be asking what else he is supposed to do in carrying out his task. "Why have you sent me?" means, "What other way should I try in obedience to my commission?" Disappointments in our work must not push us away from God. We must still ask why he has sent us.