Moses and the Mark of
the Beast
Lesson 50
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From Pharaoh’s
Point of View
It is quite possible
to read a page in the Bible and
overlook some essential points that
are on that page. People who have
studied the Bible at length know what
I mean. Words are a means to convey
thoughts and thoughts are the
language of the Spirit! I mention
this because I would like to present
Pharaoh’s response to Aaron and
Moses from Pharaoh’s point of
view. Of course, I have speculated
about the details in the story that
are not found in Scripture, however,
I have conscientiously tried to keep
the added information consistent with
the historical setting.
One morning, as
Pharaoh Amenhotep II was sitting on
his throne and overseeing the
business of his expansive kingdom,
his court secretary informed him that
two Hebrews, Aaron and Moses were
present and wanted to speak to him.
The king was pleased to hear that
these two men wanted to meet with
him. Pharaoh had heard rumors about
Aaron and Moses and he wanted to
confront them! Pharaoh concluded this
was a fine opportunity that was
knocking at his door.
Ordinarily, slaves
were denied access to Pharaoh, since
they belonged to the lowest order of
Egyptian culture. In Pharaoh’s
government, lieutenants who managed
slaves reported to governors who
oversaw the day-to-day operations of
the kingdom. If any lieutenant or
governor allowed the king to suffer
loss, Pharaoh executed or publicly
humiliated them. Such was the harsh,
but highly effective management style
of Amenhotep II. Pharaoh wanted to
meet with Aaron and Moses because he
had received that revealed that these
two men had convinced many slaves to
rest from their labors on the seventh
day of the week. Rebellion is an
alarming development for any king,
but Pharaoh was, for the moment, more
curious than furious at this recent
development among the slaves. He
wanted to know what was going on.
So, Pharaoh invited
these two elderly men from Goshen
into his court. Evidently, Amenhotep
II did not know that Moses had killed
an Egyptian 40 years earlier. If
Amenhotep II had known, the Egyptians
would have arrested Moses on the spot
as a fugitive from justice. Pharaoh
had heard rumors that Moses had
supernatural powers and that he could
perform miracles. Pharaoh wanted to
see Moses himself and verify if this
was true. (Exodus 4:29-31) Pharaoh
also knew about a prophecy
circulating among the slaves that
their God had given to their
patriarch, Abraham, which stated that
Abraham’s descendants would
serve as slaves in Egypt for 400
years. According to the rumor, the
slaves believed their 400 years of
slavery was about to end. The timing
of these reports and notoriety
surrounding Moses aroused
Pharaoh’s curiosity, so he
allowed Aaron and Moses to meet with
him.
As Aaron and Moses
approached the elevated throne,
Pharaoh looked down on two men in
there eighties. They were humble and
polite; not arrogant or hostile. They
respectfully bowed before the king
and after expressing appreciation for
their audience, they presented the demand
of their God: ‘…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
desert.’” (Exodus 5:1)
Pharaoh was not
prepared to hear a demand from two
slaves. No doubt he reacted much like
any king would have reacted. Kings
typically have huge egos and
“demands” are something
they give – not something they
receive. Pharaoh did not expect the
sheer boldness of Aaron and Moses.
Pharaoh expected these two slaves to
have an attitude closer to begging or
groveling. After all, a couple of
slaves were talking to the Pharaoh of
Egypt. Even more, as a matter of
court etiquette, a person does not
demand something of a Sovereign. Even
Esther humbly asked her
husband, King Xerxes, to spare her
life and lives of her people from
annihilation. (Esther 7:3)
Pharaoh must have
smiled or winced at their
foolishness. He looked at them for a
couple of seconds, gathered his
thoughts and rose to his feet. He
answered their demand with two simple
statements. First, he denigrated the
God of Israel. “Who is this
Lord, the God of Israel, that I
should obey him?” As a god-man,
Pharaoh believed that he had higher
authority than the God of Israel.
Before you condemn the pompous king,
ask yourself if you have ever stood
in Pharaoh’s sandals. Have you
ever defended a belief that you
thought was true, only to learn later
the belief you supported was dead
wrong? Among the religions of the
world, which one has the greater God?
Is Allah greater than Jehovah? Is
Buddha greater than Jesus? Of course,
the answer you may give to those
questions about the superiority of
gods will depend on your beliefs
about God. Pharaoh worshiped the sun
god, Ra, and he was convinced his god
was superior to the God of Israel.
The Egyptians believed that Ra
appointed Pharaoh himself to rule
over Egypt and Pharaoh believed that
Ra had divinely empowered him to be
Egypt’s king.
Pharaoh truthfully
answered: “I do not know the
Lord and I will not let Israel
go.” Pharaoh faced the bearers
of God’s demand and bluntly
stated that he would not obey
the demand. His response was about as
direct and to the point as a human
being can get – no weasel words
from Pharaoh. In his defense,
Pharaoh’s response reflected his
religious beliefs. From his point of
view, Ra was superior to
Israel’s God because the Hebrew
nation was subservient to Egypt. If
the God of the Hebrews was greater
than Ra, then let Him deliver them
from his hand! Now be honest. If you
had been in Pharaoh’s sandals
that day, would you have granted a
couple million slaves time off for a
three-day religious service after two
elderly slaves, speaking for the God
of captives, demanded it?
The Fear of the Lord
“Then they said
[to Pharaoh], ‘The God of the
Hebrews has met with us. Now let us
take a three-day journey into the
desert to offer sacrifices to the
Lord our God, or he may strike us
with plagues or with the
sword.’” (Exodus 5:3) Moses
and Aaron were caught between their
fear of the Lord and their fear of
Pharaoh. They wanted to be sure the
king knew they were not requesting a
three-day leave of absence simply as
a ploy to escape Pharaoh’s
dominion. Rather, they were
presenting a demand that the Lord
their God had given to them. Moses
and Aaron tried to reason with
Pharaoh and told him the Hebrews
needed to make atonement for their
sins with their God or their
God might destroy them! During the
400 years of slavery in Egypt, the
Hebrews had largely ignored God
because remaining faithful to a God
who permits His children to be held
captive in a depressing situation
that had no apparent end is very
difficult. So, God told Israel
through His servant, Moses, that His
people must atone for their sins, as
a precondition for being delivered
from slavery. In other words, before
a person (or nation) can receive the
gift of freedom from slavery (sin),
he or she must first make things
right with God, then submit to
God’s demands.
To be honest, I do not
think Pharaoh gave their response any
thought. He wanted to get down to
business. Standing before him were
two men who had caused a big
administrative problem. Pharaoh said,
“…Moses and Aaron, why are
you taking the people away from their
labor? Get back to your work!”
(Exodus 5:4, italics mine) The king
had heard that Moses and Aaron were
the instigators of a Sabbath rest
rebellion and he ordered them to stop
resting on the seventh day and get
back to work. This is quite a story.
The story started when Moses notified
the Hebrew elders that God required
the Hebrews to rest from their labors
on His holy day, the seventh day of
the week, as another precondition for
deliverance from slavery. Every slave
was excited to hear that deliverance
was at hand and of course; everyone
welcomed a day of rest from his or
her labors. So, the elders gave the
word and the slaves began to keep
God’s seventh day Sabbath by
resting from their labor. Can you
imagine the response of the
taskmasters when they went to work as
usual and found no slaves to do the
work? So, Pharaoh’s lieutenants
immediately responded by requiring
the slaves to produce the same
quota of brinks in six days as
they had been producing in seven. As
far as the lieutenants were
concerned, this requirement ensured
the same level of production each
week as before. The slaves did not
complain, even though the observance
of Sabbath meant extra hours of work
each day – doing the work of
seven days in six days.
Note: Scholars have
debated whether the work stoppage
caused by Moses and Aaron was the
observance of God’s seventh day
Sabbath. Even though Exodus 5 does
not specifically say the slaves
rested on the seventh day of the
week, the harmony of four supporting
points adequately resolves this
question.
- From Creation
to the time God gave the Ten
Commandments at Mt. Sinai (a
period of about 2,500 years),
the only day set aside for
rest is God’s Sabbath,
the seventh day of the week.
(Genesis 2:2,3; Exodus 20:
8-11)
- Before God
spoke the Ten Commandments on
Mt. Sinai, He tested the
Israel to see if they would
obey Him by observing His
seventh day. (Exodus 16:4.)
This test proves two things.
First, God’s seventh day
was holy before God
gave the Ten Commandments.
(Genesis 2:1-3) Second, God
required Israel to observe
His Sabbath before He
gave the Ten Commandments
- God demands
that His subjects observe His
Sabbath day as written in the
fourth commandment because
worshiping God cannot be
determined by reason,
customs, traditions or
culture. True worship is
joyful submission to Gods demands.
The Ten Commandments are not
ten suggestions; the Ten
Commandments are ten laws.
Some scholars argue that
Sabbath observance was an
idea codified in the Ten
Commandments to benefit the
children of Israel. If this
argument were true, why did
God declare the seventh day
of the week to be
“holy” (or set
apart) to Adam and Eve?
(Genesis 2:1-3)
- The word
Pharaoh used suggests that
Moses and Aaron led Israel to
Sabbath from their
labors. In Exodus 5:5,
Pharaoh said to Moses
“…You make them
rest from their labor”
(KJV) and “…You are
stopping them from
working…”(NIV) This
verse indicates two things:
First, Pharaoh appropriately
charges Aaron and Moses for
causing the Israelites to
cease their labor. Think
about this. Did Aaron
and Moses cause Israel to
rest from making bricks to
agitate Pharaoh or did the
slaves submit to the Sabbath
rest because it was
God’s holy day?
Second, the Hebrew word used
by Pharaoh is shabath
(Strong’s #7673). He
said, …”You make
them shabath….”
This is the same word God
used in Genesis 2:2 when He rested
from His creative work on the
seventh day. Furthermore, the
Hebrew word for
“Sabbath” in the
fourth commandment is a
derivative of shabath
– the word Pharaoh
used.
The combination of
these four points indicate that the
Hebrews were not honoring God’s
Sabbath day as they knew God had
commanded, and He told Moses that
they must worship Him by keeping His
Sabbath holy if they wanted to be
delivered. (See Ezekiel 20:7,8.) So,
the slaves obediently began to rest
on the seventh day. Allegiance to
God’s demand put Israel in
direct opposition to Pharaoh’s
demand! This is exactly what God
wanted and the end time parallel to
this story will be no different. When
it comes to worshiping God –
faith, obedience and deliverance are
inseparable. It is possible for a
person knowingly to defy God’s
sovereignty and simultaneously, enjoy
God’s favor. Moses informed the
Hebrew elders that Israel must prove
its faith in god to be delivered from
slavery. Their first step in faith
was to rest on God’s Sabbath.
Israel had to submit to God’s
higher authority to be delivered from
slavery. God tested Israel’s
faith because His higher law
conflicted with Pharaoh’s lesser
law. The distinct end time parallel
should be obvious.
Pharaoh Becomes Mean
“That same day
Pharaoh gave this order to the slave
drivers and foreman in charge of the
people: ‘You are no longer to
supply the people with straw for
making bricks; let them go and gather
their own straw. 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.”’” (Exodus 5:6-8)
After Aaron and Moses departed,
Pharaoh reacted hatefully to their
visit. God knew this was coming.
Pharaoh became mean because he had no
intention of losing control of the
slaves. Notice how the carnal heart
operates: Selfishness is all about
getting and gaining, not losing. Ego
is all about being in control, not
losing control. The threat of loss
produces anxiety and anger in the
carnal heart. Aaron and Moses pressed
Pharaoh’s big red panic button,
and his immediate response did not
surprise God. God knew this was
coming.
Please understand
three things about living by faith.
First, faith in God is much more than
believing something about God is
true. Agreeing with truth is
different from living by faith. (Even
the demons know certain truths about
God – and tremble. James 2:19)
Faith in God means obedient
submission to God’s will at
any cost.
Second, a life of
faith is a life of testing.
God’s higher law is higher than
man’s law and He seriously tests
faith when we are caught between
doing right (as man decrees) or right
(as God decrees) – especially
when the penalty for violating either
law is severe. Daniel demonstrated
this point when he was lowered into
the lion’s den. He violated the
king’s law and he was to die in
the lion’s den. (Daniel 6) The
story of Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego also demonstrates this
point. These men were about to die
(or so they thought) for honoring
God’s law and violating the
king’s law. (Daniel 3) Many
people misunderstand what it means to
have faith in God. God’s law
demands a level of righteousness that
no human can achieve. The good news
of the gospel is that God has
eliminated our condemnation if we are
willing to live by faith in Christ
Jesus. This does not mean that God
has eliminated His law. Instead, it
means that god will cover our
imperfections with Christ’s
righteousness if we are willing to
submit to His laws that are above all
other laws. (Romans 7 and 8)
The third component of
living by faith concerns ignorance.
Ignorance is no excuse for
disobedience in man’s laws. You
may drive 65 mph on a highway,
honestly thinking that it is the
speed limit. Not until the officer of
the law stops and tells you that the
speed limit is 55 mph and writes a
speeding ticket, do you realize your
error. When it comes to God’s
law, ignorance does not lessen the
consequences of sin, but ignorance
does cancel the guilt. In this
regard, God is much more generous
than man because he knows our heart.
But, remember that god will not,
under any circumstances pardon a
person who lives in defiant state of
disobedience. (Hebrews 10:26) God
confronted Pharaoh with the
sovereignty of a higher King and his
stubborn defiance eventually brought
about condemnation and destruction.
These three points are
inserted so you can see how God dealt
with Pharaoh, who at first, was
ignorant of God’s
sovereignty. He honestly believed
that the God of the Hebrews was a
lesser God than the sun god, Ra.
However, when the evidence of
God’s superiority became
overwhelming, Pharaoh’s
ignorance did not give way to
submission. Instead, it turned into
open defiance. Pharaoh’s
experience translates into a powerful
end time parallel. Currently,
billions of people are ignorant of
God’s demands on the human race.
Some people will submit to God’s
demands, but a large majority of
people will make the transition from
ignorance to defiance.
Countermeasures
To counteract what he
thought to be the religious nonsense
spread by Aaron and Moses, Pharaoh
imposed his authority on the slaves
to painfully remind them of his
sovereignty. Pharaoh demanded more
work from the slaves than they could
produce and his demands translated
into immediate suffering.
Pharaoh’s lieutenants controlled
the slaves through a very clever
scheme. Hebrew elders were appointed
over family work units. Whenever a
work unit failed to meet its quota,
the elders were publicly beaten while
their family work unit watched. This
form of terrorism controlled the
Hebrews very well. It was too much
for sons and grandsons, daughters and
granddaughters, to see their fathers
beaten when production was
inadequate, so they worked “like
slaves” to meet their quotas.
Pharaoh imposed his
demand on the Hebrews the very day
that Moses and Aaron presented
God’s demand to the king. What a
knee jerk reaction! Consider the
following dilemma: God demanded
Sabbath rest as a precondition for
deliverance, and Pharaoh demanded
greater work and higher quotas from
the slaves. In addition to producing
the same quota of bricks as before,
they now had to gather the straw
– an impossible demand! This
meant the elders of each family would
be beaten regularly since the quotas
could not be met. Suddenly,
God’s Sabbath became a
nightmare. How could the slaves spend
Sabbath with any peace of mind
knowing that Sabbath rest would
produce ruthless beatings? Even if
the slaves did not observe the
seventh day Sabbath rest, they now
had to gather straw to make their
bricks. This chore was not required
of them before Moses came to town.
So, the workload reached a new high
and their despair reached a new low.
Their hopes of deliverance were
crushed by intense sufferings.
“Leave Us Alone
Moses!”
A group of elders went
to Pharaoh’s court and with one
voice they begged him to be
reasonable and lighten the workload
because it was humanly impossible for
them to fulfill the demand. The Bible
says, “The Israelite
foreman realized they were in trouble
when they were told, ‘You are
not to reduce the number of bricks
required of you for each day.’
When they 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 hands to kill
us.’” (Exodus
5:19-21) Aaron and Moses must have
felt terrible. A simple demand
presented to Pharaoh had turned life
for the Hebrews upside down. Of
course, God foreknew these events
would occur, but He wanted to
demonstrate several key parallels
about Pharaoh’s carnal heart for
future generations. People can
joyfully declare allegiance to god
when there is no contest between the
laws of man and the laws of God.
Keeping God’s Sabbath rest is a
joy when there is no threat of
persecution. However, sooner or
later, God’s sovereignty
collides with governments of this
world. The Bible says there was war
in Heaven over the issue of
God’s sovereignty. (Isaiah 14
and Revelation 12.) The struggle for
supremacy is the essence of the
battle – whether the battlefield
is the human heart, the court of
Pharaoh, or in Heaven. The battle to
control human loyalty has never been
more intense than it is right now,
and most people are unaware that it
is even going on! The devil knows
that his days are short and he is
working overtime to keep the minds of
people dull with extra cares of life.
The devil has lured young people into
sexual immorality and he has pacified
“pew warmers” with
entertainers who have no idea of
God’s coming wrath. The day when
God will suddenly step into the
affairs of the human race and reveal
His sovereignty is almost here. On a
single day, life on Earth will
change! (Revelation 8:2-5)
