Exodus 5:1-6:1 Study Guide: Things Get More Difficult

Community Group Study Guide — Things Get More Difficult 
Exodus 5:1-6:1

Study Information:
Does following God’s plan make life easier? Yes and no. Many people think that God promises to make life wonderful and nice for us once we put our faith in Christ. In one way he does, we’re called to be obedient to God’s word and there is a blessing when we’re walking with God and following his ways. Yet for many, life gets harder once they start following Christ. This can take the form of temptation, fighting against sin or opposition from friends and family. Something inside us desires for obedience to God be easy. A core temptation for many Americans is a pull to comfort and we think that is something God promises but for many the exact opposite happens and God will often bring greater challenges into our lives to deepen our trust. 

Our passage gives us an example of how following God made life harder for the Israelites. Moses and Aaron obeyed God and went back to Egypt to confront Pharaoh and that made the day to day life for the Israelites exceedingly difficult. They’d be freed and brought out of slavery, but not yet. God used this experience to expose Pharaoh’s pride and to free the Israelites from what had become their “comfortable norm”  as he deepened their faith and trust. 

Pharaoh’s Pride
Exodus 5:1-4
After visiting the elders of Israel, Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and request their freedom. Presumably the elders of Israel were the ones who enabled this meeting to happen with their connections to the Egyptian court. It was common for oppressing regimes to appoint people from within the oppressed party to places of leadership. We also were told that this Pharaoh did not know Moses and was not the same Pharaoh he grew up with; this confrontation would have been their first meeting. Moses came out of the gate strong with his demand to Pharaoh, “thus says the LORD, let my people go!” 

It is not surprising that this went poorly. Moses came into that meeting as an unknown nobody, made a huge demand and God had told him that Pharaoh’s heart would need to be hardened and he’d need to see signs and wonders in order to be broken enough to let them go. 

Pharaoh’s reply to Moses was “who is Yahweh that I should obey him? I do not know him, moreover I will not let them go.” This question “who is Yahweh?” was not sincere, it was a question of defiance and it becomes a theme for the rest of the interactions between God and Pharaoh. God answered that question with the plagues and hardened Pharaoh’s heart to the point of breaking. We see this clearly in Exodus 7:5 where God told Moses that “the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt…” 

Pride is one of the greatest spiritual dangers we can face because pride prevents people from hearing the truth of God. It is understandable that Pharaoh would be hesitant to obey this foreign God that he had not heard of, but it is more than that, pride led to this plan of oppression against the Israelites so Pharaoh could live in ease and exalt Egypt’s power. The previous Pharaoh began a harsh system of oppression and this current Pharaoh continued that oppression to exalt himself. We should always be on guard against pride because of how it makes it difficult to love others and to love God. Pride has a unique way of tempting people to use others and ignore God because pride leads one to put themselves first. 

When Life Gets Harder Before it Gets Better
Exodus 5:5-23
Pharaoh’s anger was kindled against God and the Israelites so much so that he desired to make an example out of Moses and Aaron and to use them to break the backs of the Israelites. Pharaoh’s reply was “if you have time to go worship Yahweh then you have time to do more work with fewer resources (Exodus 5:6-9).” The task masters took away the resources the Israelites used to make bricks and instead they needed to go gather up those resources and bring about the same quota of work as before. This would obviously make their jobs harder and their life more difficult. 

When the Israelite foremen came to Pharaoh they asked “what happened?!” Pharaoh pointed the finger at Moses and Aaron and their demand to let the people go worship Yahweh. This system of oppression can be seen throughout history and even into unjust societies today. For example, Rome commissioned Jews to collect taxes from their fellow Jews to fund Rome’s empire, thus creating division among the people as they ruled over them. Today, people who are in indentured slaves are often sold there by family or are kept oppressed with crushing burdens and quotas they can never reach. 

This system of oppression in Egypt also served to create division between Moses, Aaron and the people, which was designed to keep them from unifying. The people who had previously accepted Moses (Exodus 4:31) now turned on Moses and Aaron for the extra hardship they had to endure (Exodus 5:21). It is natural to get angry and frustrated when life gets more difficult. However, we should not lose sight on what God can do during such seasons. God was using this time to deepen their desire for freedom, expose the injustice of Pharaoh’s oppression and draw them to depend on God more. We’re not sure what Moses expected, but this was all going according to God’s plan. God had told Moses it would take signs and wonders being multiplied as God broke Pharaoh’s hard heart; it would not be solved with one conversation. Followers of Jesus should expect that things often get more difficult before they get easier and that God uses those difficult times to deepen our need and our trust.

Disappointment and God’s Promised Deliverance
Exodus 5:22-6:1
Moses expressed his disappointment with what God allowed to happen. “God why did you ever send me?! Nothing but evil has happened since I went to Pharaoh.” Moses what did you expect? God’s reply indicated deliverance would come and it would be spectacular. We will talk more in the next study guide about God’s response to the disappointment and doubt of Moses, but for now it is important for us to have the right expectation of what following God entails, it will be challenging and require faith and trust. When Jesus called his disciples to follow him he commanded that they take up their cross daily and follow him because it would lead to life (Luke 9:22-27). In that call form Jesus we get and understanding of the Christian life will be difficult but worth it and we get to follow the same path that Jesus walked. Daily we will face the trials of Christian life but in that we will also experience blessing, joy and hope of eternal life. Deliverance may not come right away but there is blessing in following and trusting Christ. 

At your community group:
Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week? 

Discussion Questions:
Read Exodus 5:1-3
What was Pharaoh’s response to Moses and Aaron’s request? Did Moses and Aaron follow the exact instructions from God in Exodus 3:18?

How did Pharaohs response about God and the people show his pride and arrogance?

Read Exodus 5:4-6:1
What did the increased work load do to the morale of the Israelites?

Why do you think God would allow for things to get more difficult rather than deliver his people after this one encounter between Moses, Aaron and Pharaoh?

Have you experienced the Christian life getting more difficult before it gets easier? Do you think that American Christians desire comfort and ease? 

What are some reasons it can be more challenging to follow Christ at times?