Bricks Without Straw (Exodus): When God told Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go,” Moses did exactly what God told him to do. But the suffering of the Israelites got worse, not better! The truth is, in a broken world, obedience to God’s word is no guarantee of short-term prosperity. But this doesn’t mean that God has abandoned you or that no good will ever come from times of suffering. Our God is faithful to redeem. You’ll see. Recorded on Oct 13, 2024, on Exodus 5:1-6:12 by Pastor David Parks.
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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.
Sermon Transcript
We’re working through a sermon series on the book of Exodus called Journey to Freedom. And we’ve said that Exodus is a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. The first few chapters of Exodus describe the bitter suffering of the family of Abraham and Sarah (ancient Israelites) when they were slaves in Egypt, the most powerful kingdom in the world at the time. We’re introduced to Moses, who would go on to be the mighty prophet and deliverer of Israel for Yahweh God. But his story was not this smooth rise into power. It didn’t seem to go according to any sort of plan. But God was faithful, and he didn’t abandon Moses even after his forty-year exile in Midian. But when the set time had fully come, God sent Moses, born in Egypt and adopted into the royal household of Egypt, back to Egypt to redeem his people who were still enslaved in Egypt. But this was a mission Moses didn’t want. Maybe he thought he was too old. Or maybe after his first disastrous attempt at leadership, he doubted his leadership abilities. But Moses gave one excuse after another before asking Yahweh just to send someone else. But God was merciful (and patient) and provided miraculous signs to verify his message and calling. He also allowed Moses’ brother, Aaron, to help him speak and lead. But the most important thing God promised was his own Presence. Yahweh would go with Moses. So Moses packed up his wife, Zipporah, and his two sons and went to Egypt to do this crazy thing God called him to do. In Egypt, Moses and Aaron spoke to the elders of the Israelites and shared the message God gave them: that Yahweh God, the God of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was going to deliver them from Egypt and would bring them out into the land he had promised them. They performed the signs, as well, and the Israelites believed and worshipped the God who had seen their suffering, heard their prayers, and had concern for them. Chapter 5 picks up the story in the courts of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. How would he respond to Moses and the message and miracles of Yahweh God? If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 5:1.
Exodus 5:1–9 (NIV), “1 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.” So that didn’t go well. But this was only the first of many meetings between Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh, King of Egypt. It’s interesting to think that Moses, adopted/raised by an Egyptian princess, and the current Pharaoh probably grew up together. We’re never told if they had been close before Moses fled to Midian. Historians are not settled on which Pharaoh this would’ve been, but many believe it could’ve been Ramses II, known as Ramses the Great. Well, whoever he was, in response to the famous “Let my people go” line, Pharaoh arrogantly asks, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh and I will not let Israel go.” Moses tried to tactfully make it clear that there might be serious consequences if this request was ignored. But not only did Pharaoh disdainfully ignore Yahweh, but he also decided to punish the Hebrews out of spite. He thought the Hebrews were lazy and didn’t believe Moses and Aaron had a message from God. He told the slave drivers and overseers not to listen to what he considered to be lies. (“Did God really say, ‘You must let the Israelites go?’”) But would Yahweh have some secret up his sleeve? Would he miraculously provide straw to make bricks? How would he do what he said he would do? Let’s see.
Exodus 5:10-23 (NIV), “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.” We know from Chapter 1 that the Israelites were doing the back-breaking work of building store cities for Pharaoh. And they were already suffering bitterly as slaves. But now, they had to do the same work and meet the same quota without the supplies they needed. This was a serious problem, and they knew they were in trouble. They were being beaten every day for not meeting this impossible quota. The Israelite overseers didn’t have any luck appealing to Pharaoh, and afterward, they let Moses and Aaron know how they felt about their great rescue plan. “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.” Moses, in turn, let God know in prayer how he felt about this great rescue plan. Moses could’ve prayed, “What are you doing, Lord? Wasn’t Pharaoh supposed to let us go? We did exactly what you asked, but it only made things worse!” I wonder if Moses thought about running back to the safe obscurity of Midian. This was the second rejection of his leadership from his fellow Hebrew people, and they made it clear how they felt about all his help. The text implies that some time had passed, but eventually, maybe after Moses had waited to see if some miracle was coming…Moses started praying. And this is so helpful. When you’re upset, when things aren’t going your way, in the middle of the storm, when the miracle hasn’t happened yet, you better start praying. The Lord cares about you. And he knows what’s happening. Bring your praise and your problems to him. Well, how would God respond?
Exodus 6:1-8 (NIV), “1 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 [Yahweh]. 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 [Yahweh].’” In response to what seemed like a huge setback to their rescue plan and a second rejection of Moses, Yahweh El Shaddai, the Lord God Almighty, says, “Now you will see what I will do…” Do you want to see some crazy stuff? Do you want to see some fireworks? Just watch. Just you wait and see what I’ll do. “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.” Pharaoh won’t get away with his arrogance or his abuse. He had asked, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him and let Israel go?” God tells Moses he’s about to show Pharaoh just what he’s capable of. But Yahweh isn’t just out to make Egypt pay for their idolatry or their enslavement and genocide of the Hebrew people. We also see God’s heart for his people when he promises, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God…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.” This isn’t a setback. This is a setup for a cosmic showdown. But how can Moses know that God is able to accomplish all these things? What is the basis for these promises? It is God himself. vv. 2 and 8 bracket all these promises with a repeated statement of God’s identity and his covenant relationship with Israel. I am the Lord/Yahweh. I will do all these things because this is who I am. I AM WHO I AM. The I AM will do all this for you. I’ll stake my name/reputation on it. What an incredible answer to prayer! Can you imagine if you were at a low point in your life and God gave all these promises to you? I will rescue you. I will defeat your enemies. Out of all the peoples of the world, you will be my people, and I will be your God, and I will provide all that you need. You just have to trust me, and I will do it. If I was in trouble and prayed for help and God answered my prayers with half of what he promised here, I’d be undone. This would be the ultimate source of security and hope, right? “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Ro 8:31b) Let’s see what Moses and the Israelites thought about all this.
Exodus 6:9-12 (NIV), “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?” This is God’s word. Well, our text ends at a low point. Pharaoh hadn’t listened to Yahweh because he didn’t believe in him or his word. The people hadn’t listened to Yahweh’s amazing promises because they were so discouraged. Their suffering had broken their spirit and killed their hope. And Moses was ready to quit again. This is the second time Moses mentions something about his ability to speak. He literally says he is of uncircumcised lips (faltering in the NIV). Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean he had a speech impediment, but it’s possible. However, I suspect the problem had more to do with his self-confidence in doing what God called him to do. After he gets going with this whole prophet/deliverer role, Moses delivers all kinds of speeches. At any rate, next week, we’ll see the “outstretched arm” and the “mighty acts of judgment” of Yahweh El Shaddai. But today, we’re still in the struggle. We’re still in the dark valley, and we’re not out yet. God promised a rescue but hasn’t done it yet. Maybe some of you can resonate with that today? Maybe some of you are in the desperately uncomfortable time between the prayer and the answer to prayer, between the problem and the solution? Now, obviously, none of us are in the exact same situation as ancient Israel. But I know that some of us are in the middle of something difficult, while all of us will be there at some point in life. What do we do? How do we wait for relief/deliverance and not lose our faith? How can we keep from becoming so discouraged we stop believing the promises of God? Well, we’ve said that Exodus is a great picture of the gospel and the Christian life. This chapter of the story is a helpful reminder that even those who are known by God and have been saved from the power of sin and death by faith in Jesus Christ still live (for now) in a broken world. So, unfortunately, things can sometimes get more difficult even when (as Moses found out) you are being obedient to God’s word. Doing the right thing can sometimes make things worse in the short run. This can be very disorienting if your expectations are wrong. Maybe it’s your expectations about timing. Commentator Douglas Stuart writes, “God’s timing only sometimes coincides with our expectations, and his idea of the hardships we need to go through only sometimes coincides with our idea of how much we can take.” (Exodus, vol. 2, TNAC, p. 169) Or maybe it’s your expectations about pain and suffering. That if you’re a good person, then good things will happen to you. This is the underlying belief of karma. Basically, everyone gets what they deserve. But this is not what the Bible teaches. In fact, the foundation of the gospel is that God doesn’t treat us as we deserve, he treats us as Christ deserved and treated Christ how we deserved on the cross. So if hardship in your life may or may not be what you deserve, what else might God be doing with those painful seasons? In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” (The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics, p. 604) Very few things drive needed change like pain and suffering. Now, on this side of eternity, we rarely see the full picture of all the good that God is able to bring out of any certain painful situation. But, As Tim Keller writes, “Just because you can’t see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn’t mean there can’t be one.” (The Reason for God, p. 23). God reminds us of his nature in Isaiah 55:8–9 (NIV), “8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” So, obedience to God’s word is no guarantee of short-term prosperity. In fact, it might lead to more struggle/suffering/pain/persecution. But, as we see in the Exodus story, this doesn’t mean God has abandoned you or that no good will ever come from the times when you’re walking in the valley of the shadow of death. Our God is faithful to his promise, and he is a redeemer. You’ll see. He brings life out of death and beauty from the ashes. He turns mourning into dancing and groaning into shouts of praise. But nowhere is this seen more clearly than at the foot of the cross. Jesus suffered and died on the cross in humiliation. He was subject to injustice and abuse. And he wasn’t just a good man; he was perfectly obedient to the word of God. He was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Heb 4:15b). Jesus did everything right. So why did God allow him to suffer? Was he abandoned by God the Father in heaven? No. There was a plan. And it would be the greatest act of redemption in the history of the world. Out of the brutal and unjust suffering of the Son of God, the Father would bring the greatest possible good. So, while we wait, let’s resist discouragement and doubt, let’s pray and trust the God who sees/hears/cares for us, his people, in Christ. Let us pray.
