Exodus 5:5-9 "And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words."
Pharaoh was not happy with Moses and Aaron. After years of bondage, the children of Israel had a voice speaking for them in Pharaoh’s court. Pharaoh’s first mistake was in assuming that he was only dealing with a couple of rebellious Hebrew slaves. He made fun of their desire to go and worship the God of the Hebrews.
Since this God had not been an issue before, Pharaoh decided that the children of Israel had just suddenly become lazy. They had too much time on their hands. He was sure he had a solution to the problem. Make daily life harder for them and they would forget about this God.
It has already been recorded that the children of Israel were made to work with rigor (violence). Moses fled Egypt to begin with because he witnessed one of the Egyptian taskmasters beating an Israelite. Moses killed the Egyptian and tried to cover it up. That did not work, and he ended up fleeing for his life.
Now, here he was forty years later hearing this Pharaoh command that the lives of the children of Israel be made harder. They were to continue to make just as many bricks for the building up of Egypt as they always had. The difference was that they would now have to gather their own raw materials, too. Pharaoh’s plan was to keep them too busy to think about worshipping God.
Beloved of God, this is a tactic that is still used today by the prince of this world. Satan will give you more and more work to do so that you do not have time to actually consider what God would have you do. We can find ourselves caught up in so many “good” causes that we do not have time for the cause of Christ. This bondage is so insidious that we may not even realize that we have become slaves. When you realize that you are in bondage, take heart. The same LORD that has caused you to understand that you are in bondage is able to deliver you that you might go and worship Him!