Let My People Go

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

-- Exodus 5: 1 (KJV)

You may think that the oft-quoted phrase, "Let my people go," is Moses' one classic line in the Bible. But not only is this demand borrowed from Yahweh (the "my" of "my people"), it's delivered to Pharaoh by Moses' elder brother Aaron, a high priest of Israel and a much more dynamic orator.

Moses himself admits to God (Exodus 4: 10) that "I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue" -- a roundabout way of putting it, which proves the point. So God commisions Aaron to deliver the line -- not that he succeeds any better in persuading Pharaoh. "I know not the Lord," Pharaoh retorts, "neither will I let Israel go" (5: 2).

In fact, Pharaoh imposes new sufferings on the enslaved Israelites. Moses promptly complains to God, who of course already knows that the brothers have failed. And this time the gloves are off: "Now shalt thou see," Yahweh says, "what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land."

Yahweh's device is a series of brutal plagues, ten according to Exodus but only seven according to two different Psalms (78 and 105). The description in Exodus of these plagues is actually a composite, with the older narrative (J's) also listing seven plagues -- of blood, frogs, flies, death of cattle, hail, locusts, and death of first-born boys. The Priestly Author adds plagues of gnats, boils, and darkness.

Whether or not these plagues have a basis in history -- and it's possible to ascribe them to natural causes -- there was no doubt some good reason Egypt let go of Israel, even if it wasn't Moses' eloquence. But once the Hebrews discover that freedom does not end their troubles -- far from it -- they begin to wish Pharaoh would take God's people back.

Incidentally, it is from Yahweh's promise that, while killing Egypt's first-born sons, he shall "pass over" the Hebrews (Exodus 12: 13) that we take the name "Passover." To this day Passover, a feast commemorating the Hebrews' deliverance from slavery, is the most widely celebrated of Jewish holidays.

 
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Michael Macrone is Associate Site Producer of GraceCom and the author of nine books on language, literature, and ideas, including the best-selling Brush Up Your Shakespeare!