10 NO STRAW

As Christian leaders you and I minister to both unsaved people who are in slavery to sin and Christians who are saved, but still need Christian leadership so they grow in the Lord, become fruitful and honor the Lord by their Christ-like behavior. People need Christian leadership in men and women of God who can pray and see them delivered from the power of the devil. Let’s find the lessons in the story of Moses when Pharaoh no longer gave straw to the Hebrew slaves. When burdens and difficulties increase, good leadership becomes all the more important.

Moses and Aaron, having delivered their message of deliverance from slavery in Egypt to the elders of Israel with whom they found good acceptance, are now to deal with Pharaoh, to whom they come in peril of their lives—Moses particularly. Remember forty years earlier Moses was probably outlawed, for killing the Egyptian. Even though God had told Moses that those who wanted to kill him had died, it is understandable that this was still a traumatic time for Moses. His message itself was displeasing and affect Pharaoh’s honor and purse, both tender points. Moses and Aaron are faithful ambassadors who boldly deliver the difficult message whether Pharaoh will hear or not. That takes courage.

The demand is godly and bold: verse 1 says, “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.’” Moses, in speaking with the elders of Israel, is directed to call God the God of their fathers; but, in speaking with Pharaoh, they call him the God of Israel. This is the first time in Scripture we find Him called this. He is called the God of Israel, the person, in Genesis 33:20 but here He is called the God of Israel, the people! They are just beginning to be formed into a people when God is called their God. In this great name they deliver their message: Let my people go. They were God’s people, and therefore Pharaoh ought not detain them in bondage. God will acknowledge His own people, though ever so poor and despicable, and will find a time to plead their cause. “The Israelites are slaves in Egypt, but they are my people,” says God, “and I will not allow them to be always trampled on.” This is true too for the community, people group or congregation to which God has called you to serve. In prayer, we pray to God in Jesus’ name that the Holy Spirit will work. We do not talk to the devil when we pray, but in the same spirit as Moses, with the same courage as Moses had, we can pray to God for the people to whom He has sent us. We can pray boldly for God to set them free. I hear some people talking to the devil, commanding this and demanding that when they pray, but it is much better in prayer to address God in Jesus’ name. Pharaoh is an illustration of the devil and He expected services and sacrifices from the Hebrew slaves. They must have Pharaoh’s permission to go where they could freely exercise their religion, without giving offense to, or receiving offense from, the Egyptians. So Moses boldly addressed Pharaoh to let God’s people go. We find a parallel in that today God delivers His people out of the hand of their spiritual enemies. This too is so that they may serve Him, and serve Him cheerfully, that they too may hold a feast to Him, which they may do while they have His favor and presence, even in a dry and barren wilderness.

Pharaoh’s answer is defiant, ungodly and seemingly just as bold as Moses’ demand: Verse 5 says, “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.” Being summoned to surrender, Pharaoh, instead hangs out the flag of defiance, defies Moses and the God Who sends him. He promptly refuses to let Israel go. He will not discuss it, nor so much as bear the mention of it. Notice how scornfully he speaks of the God of Israel: “Who is Jehovah? I neither know him nor care for him, neither value him nor fear him:” It is a strong name that he never heard of before, but he resolves it shall be no threat to him. Israel was now a despised oppressed people, looked on as the tail of the nation. By the slaves’ position, Pharaoh makes a woefully inaccurate estimate of their God. Pharaoh concludes that their God is no better a figure among the gods than His people are among the nations. Hardened persecutors are more malicious against God Himself than they are against His people. The wise and insightful Isaiah said, “Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!” (Isaiah 37:23). Ignorance and contempt of God are at the bottom of all the wickedness in the world. Men either do not know the Lord or have very low and disrespectful thoughts of Him. Therefore they do not obey His voice, nor will they let anything go for him. So we can also see how proudly Pharaoh speaks of himself: “That I should obey him and let Israel go” I, the king of Egypt, a great people, obey the God of Israel, a poor enslaved people? Shall I, that rule the Israel of God, obey the God of Israel? No, it is below me; I scorn to answer His demands.”

Many are children of pride who are children of disobedience. Job 41 discusses a proud and mighty beast, probably a crocodile, and concludes the chapter with verses 33 & 34, “Nothing on earth is its equal—a creature without fear. It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.” Pharaoh is like the mighty and proud crocodile, defiant against God. And Ephesians 5:6 says “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.” Scripture paints a picture of the forces of unrighteousness as ranked, orderly, and with certain assigned areas such as the prince of Persia who prevailed in his assigned territory. You and I can come against these proud spirits in the invisible spirit world and see their power broken and their slaves set free in the name of Jesus. Ephesians 6:12 makes this clear. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” In Missiology we call them “territorial spirits.” Territorial spirits may have authority over specific territories of the world as Pharaoh had over Egypt, but Jesus is more mighty than they. Proud men or spirits think themselves too good to stoop even to God Himself and refuse be under control—even of One who could do them good!

Here is the core of the controversy: God must rule, but man and evil spirits do not want to be ruled. “I will have my will done,” says God: “But I will do my own will,” says the sinner, disobedient saint and demons who work through them against God and His Church. How resolutely Pharaoh denies the demand: Neither will I let Israel go. In prayer obedient Christians have the promise that what we bind on earth will be bound in the heavily realm (the spirit world) and what we loose on earth will be loosed in the heavenly realm (the spiritual realm). Jesus made this clear in this promise, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). We can be a Moses in our generation. Not only can we be; we must be. Otherwise today’s slaves will remain in captivity.

Finding that Pharaoh had no respect at all for God, Moses and Aaron next try whether he had any compassion for Israel, and become humble intercessors to him for permission to go and sacrifice. But this too is in vain. Their request is very humble and modest, as verse 3 states, “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.’” They make no complaint of the rigor with which they were ruled. They plead that the journey they designed was not merely a project formed among themselves, but that their God had met with them and called them to it. They beg with all submission: “Now let us.” The lowly must use entreaties. Though God may allow princes that oppress, it looks better for us to ask in humility and make requests to them. What the Hebrew slaves ask is reasonable, only for a short vacation, while they went three days’ journey into the desert, and that on a good and normal errand. “We will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as other people do to theirs.” Lastly, they give a very good reason, “Lest, if we quite cast off his worship, He might fall on us with one judgment or other, and then you, Pharaoh, will lose all your slaves.”

Pharaoh’s denial of their request is cold, hard and unreasonable. He claims that the people were idle, and that therefore they talked of going to sacrifice. The cities they built for Pharaoh, and the other fruit of their labors, were witnesses for them that they had not been and were not idle. But he basely misrepresents them, that he might have a pretense to increase their burdens. He suggests that Moses and Aaron made them idle with vain words, “Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.” Here God’s words are called vain words and those words called them to the best and most needful business of all, the worship of God. They are unfairly accused of making them idle. The hatred and jealousy of Satan has often represented the service and worship of God as suitable activity only for those that have nothing else to do, the business only of the idle. But, to the contrary, indeed it is the indispensable duty and privilege of all of us. Today Satan opposes our worship, but the Christian leader, a prayer warrior, will lead God’s people out of slavery into worship.

Pharaoh’s resolutions in this were most hateful and he includes Moses and Aaron themselves as slaves that need to get back to work. But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” Though Moses and Aaron were leaders, they were still Israelites. Though God had distinguished them from the rest, Pharaoh makes no difference: they must share in the common slavery of their nation. Opponents of God’s people have often taken a particular pleasure in placing contempt and hardship on ministers of churches. You, Christian leader, must brace yourself, prepare to wage spiritual war and when the opposition comes to you, remember Moses and his victory. The usual quota of bricks was to be maintained even without the usual allowance of straw to mix with the clay, or perhaps with which to make a fire to bake the bricks. The result was that more work would be laid on the slaves, which if they performed, they would either be broken with labor or exposed to punishment.

Pharaoh’s orders are put into action; straw is denied, and yet the work is not diminished. The Egyptian task-masters were very severe. The devil is a harsh and hateful taskmaster too, as you  will see when you wrestle to set slaves free from his dominion. Pharaoh having decreed unrighteous decrees, the task-masters were then ready to put into practice the new harsh policies he had prescribed. And what does God say about such unfair treatment? Oh yes! What does God say? God has the last word. Isaiah 10:1 answers that question. “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees.” Cruel princes will never lack cruel instruments under them to carry unkind orders. These task-masters under Pharaoh insisted on the daily tasks, as when there was straw, as it states in verse 13, “The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, ‘Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.’” From this you and I can see what need we have to pray for those we seek to set free, those whom we serve by praying for their deliverance and that we too, may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. 2 Thessalonians 3:2 reminds us, “And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith.” The hatred of the serpent’s offspring against the seed of the woman is unkind and unfair. We see it in Pharaoh and his slave drivers and also the harsh slave-driving evil spirits of our generation, mistreating Israeli slaves in Moses’ day and God’s congregations in our day. These forces break all the laws of reason, honor, humanity, and common justice. Only by prayer can we cast down this wickedness. Until they were miraculously delivered, the people were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble. Their bad situation became worse. “So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw” (12). By this means Pharaoh’s unjust and unkind treatment of them came to be known to all the Egyptians too, and perhaps caused the Hebrews to be pitied by their Egyptian neighbors. Maybe this is why later they would be generous with the Hebrews when the Hebrews took so much treasure from Egypt. Pharaoh’s mistreatment of the Hebrews made Pharaoh’s government less acceptable even to his own subjects. Pharaoh may have hurt himself and Egypt as much as he hurt the Hebrew slaves. Pharaoh was not fair and neither is the devil against whom we wrestle!

Even the Israelite-officers were used with particular harshness. Those that were the fathers of the houses of Israel paid dearly for their honor; for from them the price was demanded, and they were beaten when the quota was not reached. “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?’”What a miserable thing slavery is! And what reason we have to be thankful to God that we are a free people and not oppressed. Spiritual slavery is just as bad and it is our spiritual ministry challenge and opportunity.

The elders of Israel had received Aaron and Moses’ good news. Now the “news” was reversed. What disappointments we often meet after our expectations have been raised. The Israelites had lately been encouraged to hope for freedom, but now experience greater distresses. This teaches us always to rejoice with some caution and trembling. What strange steps God sometimes takes in delivering His people! He often brings them to the utmost difficulties just when He is ready to deliver them. The lowest ebbs go before the highest tides; the night is darkest just before dawn and cloudy mornings commonly introduce fair days. Deuteronomy 32:36 says, “The Lord will vindicate his people and relent concerning his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.” God’s time to help is when things are at their worst; God’s plan sometimes seems like a paradox, The worse the better. Certainly the more desperate the situation is, the greater glory God receives when He delivers us from it. 

In the entire story of Moses the deliverer, see Moses illustrating what God calls every Christian leader to do. Wrestle with the enemy in the spirit world. Set God’s people free by prayer. There will be other lessons for us to learn as we study the plagues God used to humble Pharaoh, but the central lesson for men and women of God today is that we must have the courage, perseverance and tenacity to demand “God says let my people go.”