Now those are encouraging words. Moses and Aaron came back. They met with the leaders of Israel. In essence, they said, “God appeared to us. Look at the signs.” To which the leaders of the people responded, “Yes! We’re out of here. Let’s worship God.” Things were looking good. If only they had stayed that way. Such was not the case, however. Consider what occurred next.
Moses went to talk with Pharaoh, seen in chapter five. He spoke to Pharaoh, “God has appeared. Let My people go!” To this Pharaoh replied in essence, “Not on your life.” Pharaoh continued, “Obviously, things are too easy for you lazy Israelites. Therefore, we will make it tougher on you.” And Pharaoh did. No longer did they supply straw for making bricks, but the tally of the bricks remained exactly the same. Instead of circumstances getting better and easier, instead of being released from bondage to go and worship God, the whole situation worsened. After this had gone on for some time, we come to the end of chapter 5. Verses 20-21 inform us that when the Israelite foremen left Pharaoh, “they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said, ‘May the LORD look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.’”
These were the same leaders who were so excited just a short time before. These were the people who were worshiping the Lord, who were thankful when everything looked so good. Now there is a 180° turn. Now these same people who were so excited, so joyous at the end of chapter 4, are now ready to get rid of Moses at the end of chapter 5.
How does Moses respond to this shocking change in their attitude and words? The text gives us clear insight concerning his state of mind in 5:22-23, “Moses returned to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.’”
This whole problem is God’s fault. In the back of my mind I can hear Moses say, “Lord, why did you do this to me? You brought me here, and it did not work.” In my imagination, I can hear Moses crying out to God, saying the same kind of words that you and I have thought and maybe also said, “All right, God, just give me three good reasons why I shouldn’t quit.” And so God does.