Exodus 5:21

Translation
King James Version
And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.
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KJV (with Strong's)
And they said H559 unto them, The LORD H3068 look H7200 upon you, and judge H8199; because ye have made our savour H7381 to be abhorred H887 in the eyes H5869 of Pharaoh H6547, and in the eyes H5869 of his servants H5650, to put H5414 a sword H2719 in their hand H3027 to slay H2026 us.
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Complete Jewish Bible
and they said to them, "May ADONAI look at you and judge accordingly, because you have made us utterly abhorrent in the view of Pharaoh and his servants, and you have put a sword in their hands to kill us!"
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Berean Standard Bible
“May the LORD look upon you and judge you,” the foremen said, “for you have made us a stench before Pharaoh and his officials; you have placed in their hand a sword to kill us!”
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American Standard Version
and they said unto them, Jehovah look upon you, and judge: because ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.
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World English Bible Messianic
and they said to them, “May the LORD look at you, and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
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Geneva Bible (1599)
To whom they said, The Lord looke vpon you and iudge: for yee haue made our sauour to stinke before Pharaoh and before his seruants, in that ye haue put a sword in their hand to slay vs.
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Young's Literal Translation
and say unto them, `Jehovah look upon you, and judge, because ye have caused our fragrance to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants--to give a sword into their hand to slay us.'
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See also
Genesis 34:30Exodus 6:91 Chronicles 19:62 Samuel 10:6Genesis 16:51 Samuel 27:121 Samuel 13:4
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The Kingdom of Egypt in the Time of Moses
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In the KJVVerse 1,654 of 31,102

Study This Verse

SUMMARY

Exodus 5:21 records the bitter accusation leveled by the Israelite foremen against Moses and Aaron, a direct consequence of Pharaoh's intensified oppression following the initial demand for Israel's release. This pivotal verse vividly portrays the immediate, painful repercussions of divine intervention as experienced by those enduring severe hardship, underscoring profound human despair and the challenging, often counter-intuitive, initial phase of God's redemptive plan.

CONTEXT

  • Literary Context: This verse immediately follows the first direct confrontation between Moses, Aaron, and Pharaoh, where they delivered God's command: "Let my people go" (Exodus 5:1). Pharaoh's response was not compliance but a defiant escalation of cruelty. He ceased providing straw for brick-making, forcing the Israelite laborers to gather their own, yet still demanding the same impossible quota (Exodus 5:7). When the Israelite foremen, who were held responsible for meeting these quotas, inevitably failed, they were brutally beaten (Exodus 5:14). Feeling utterly betrayed and subjected to even greater suffering than before Moses and Aaron's arrival, these officers confronted the two leaders, expressing their bitter complaint and invoking divine judgment upon them. This immediate backlash sets the stage for Moses' own crisis of faith and God's subsequent, powerful reaffirmation of His covenant and plan in Exodus 6.
  • Historical & Cultural Context: Ancient Egypt relied heavily on forced labor for its massive construction projects, including cities, temples, and monuments. The brick-making process, involving straw as a binder, was a common and arduous task. Pharaoh's decree to withhold straw while maintaining quotas was a calculated act of oppression designed to break the spirit of the laborers and demonstrate his absolute power. Laborers were often overseen by taskmasters who had the authority to inflict physical punishment for unmet quotas, as seen in Exodus 5:14. The concept of "savour" or "smell" (Hebrew: re'ach) was culturally significant, often associated with reputation, acceptability, or even the aroma of sacrifices pleasing to God. To have one's "savour abhorred" meant to become utterly detestable or repugnant, a severe loss of standing and a precursor to severe punishment or even death in the eyes of a tyrannical ruler like Pharaoh.
  • Key Themes: Exodus 5:21 contributes significantly to several major themes within the book of Exodus and the broader Pentateuch. It highlights the theme of Divine Sovereignty and Human Agency, showing that even when God initiates a plan through human agents, the immediate outcome can be increased suffering, testing both the agents' and the people's faith. It powerfully illustrates the Cost of Deliverance, revealing that God's path to liberation is rarely easy or immediate, often involving an initial period of intensified hardship that serves to deepen dependence on God and reveal His power more profoundly. Furthermore, it underscores the theme of Human Reaction to Adversity, depicting the common human tendency to react with anger, blame, and despair when circumstances deteriorate, even when actions are taken in faith or obedience to a divine call. This verse also implicitly sets up the theme of God's Unwavering Faithfulness, as the subsequent chapters will demonstrate His commitment to His covenant despite the people's immediate doubt and suffering, ultimately leading to the mighty acts of the plagues and the Exodus itself.

EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS

Key Word Analysis

  • judge (Hebrew, shâphaṭ', H8199): This primitive root means "to judge, i.e., pronounce sentence (for or against); by implication, to vindicate or punish; by extension, to govern." Here, the officers are not merely asking for an assessment but for a divine verdict and retribution against Moses and Aaron. They appeal to God as the ultimate arbiter, believing Moses and Aaron are directly responsible for their exacerbated suffering and should be held accountable.
  • savour (Hebrew, rêyach', H7381): From the root meaning "to blow," this word refers to "odor (as if blown); savour, scent, smell." In this context, combined with "abhorred" (H887, bâʼash, "to smell bad; figuratively, to be offensive morally"), it metaphorically refers to their reputation, standing, or acceptability in Pharaoh's eyes. The officers accuse Moses and Aaron of making their very presence and existence detestable, offensive, or utterly repugnant to the Egyptian authorities, thereby ruining any remaining goodwill or tolerance and leading to intensified mistreatment.
  • slay (Hebrew, hârag', H2026): A primitive root meaning "to smite with deadly intent; destroy, out of hand, kill, murder, put to (death), make (slaughter)." This word emphasizes the officers' profound fear for their lives. While Pharaoh had not yet literally put a sword in their hand to kill them, the increased oppression and beatings felt like a death sentence, signifying a perceived escalation that could lead to fatal consequences. This highlights the intense pressure and existential fear under which the Israelites were living.

Verse Breakdown

  • "And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge;": This opening clause is a direct imprecation, a plea for divine intervention and judgment against Moses and Aaron. It reveals the officers' profound frustration, sense of betrayal, and belief that Moses and Aaron are responsible for their worsening plight. They appeal to God, the ultimate authority, to hold these leaders accountable for what they perceive as disastrous consequences. This reflects a common human tendency to blame leaders when circumstances deteriorate, even if those leaders are acting in obedience to a higher call.
  • "because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants,": This clause provides the specific accusation. The phrase "made our savour to be abhorred" is deeply evocative. It means that Moses and Aaron's actions, intended for liberation, had paradoxically rendered the Israelites utterly repulsive or detestable in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials. Any previous tolerance or perceived value the Israelites might have had as laborers was now gone, leading to their increased mistreatment and loss of dignity. Their very existence had become an offense.
  • "to put a sword in their hand to slay us.": This dramatic statement articulates the officers' ultimate fear: death. They perceive Moses and Aaron's actions as having provided Pharaoh with a pretext or justification for even more severe violence, potentially leading to their extermination. While a literal sword was not yet wielded, the increased oppression, beatings, and the threat of impossible quotas felt like a death sentence. This illustrates the intense psychological and physical pressure the Israelites were living under, where any perceived misstep or act of defiance could escalate to fatal consequences.

Literary Devices

Exodus 5:21 employs several powerful literary devices to convey the depth of the Israelite officers' despair and accusation. The most prominent is Imprecation, where the officers invoke divine judgment upon Moses and Aaron ("The LORD look upon you, and judge"). This is a direct curse or plea for God to intervene against them, highlighting the severity of their perceived betrayal. Metaphor is evident in the phrase "made our savour to be abhorred." While "savour" literally refers to smell, here it metaphorically represents their reputation, standing, or acceptability. To make their "savour abhorred" means their very existence has become offensive, a powerful image of their diminished status. Finally, Hyperbole is used in the statement "to put a sword in their hand to slay us." While Pharaoh did not literally hand a sword to his servants to kill the Israelites at this moment, the phrase dramatically expresses the officers' profound fear and the perceived existential threat. It emphasizes the extreme nature of the increased oppression, which felt tantamount to a death sentence.

THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS

Exodus 5:21 offers profound theological insights into the nature of divine deliverance and human responses to adversity. It reveals that God's redemptive plan often unfolds through stages that initially appear to worsen circumstances, serving as a crucible to refine faith and demonstrate His absolute power. This period of intensified suffering was not a sign of God's absence or failure, but a necessary part of His strategy to humble both Israel and Pharaoh, ensuring that the ultimate deliverance would be undeniably attributed to His mighty hand alone. It underscores the spiritual reality that the path to true freedom often involves a deeper dependence on God forged through trials.

REFLECTION AND APPLICATION

Exodus 5:21 serves as a powerful and sobering reminder that God's plan for deliverance, whether for an individual or a community, often involves initial difficulties and increased pressure. For believers today, it highlights the critical importance of persevering in faith, even when circumstances worsen after an act of obedience or a step taken in faith. Trusting in God's ultimate purpose is crucial, recognizing that His deliverance is not always immediate, nor is it always without trials. God often uses challenges, setbacks, and periods of intensified hardship to refine character, deepen dependence, and demonstrate His power more profoundly than if the path were smooth. While the Israelite officers' reaction was understandable given their intense suffering, their blaming of Moses and Aaron distracted from God's overarching sovereignty and the wisdom of His unfolding plan. This passage reminds us to seek God's perspective and cling to His promises even amidst frustration and despair, rather than immediately accusing those who lead in faith, knowing that God Himself would soon reaffirm His covenant and plan for liberation directly to Moses, reassuring him of His unwavering commitment (Exodus 6:1-8).

Questions for Reflection

  • How do I typically react when circumstances worsen after I've taken a step of faith or obedience?
  • In what ways might God be using current difficulties to refine my character or deepen my dependence on Him?
  • How can I cultivate a perspective that trusts God's sovereignty even when His plan seems to lead to greater immediate hardship?
  • When I feel like blaming others for my suffering, how can I reorient my focus to God's ultimate purpose and control?

FAQ

Why did God allow the Israelites' suffering to increase after Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh?

Answer: God allowed the suffering to increase for several strategic and theological reasons, all serving His ultimate redemptive purpose. Firstly, it was part of His plan to further harden Pharaoh's heart, providing more opportunities for God to display His power through the plagues, thereby demonstrating His absolute supremacy over the gods of Egypt and the might of the oppressor (Exodus 7:3-5). Secondly, this intensified suffering deepened the Israelites' desperation and reliance on God alone, showing them that their deliverance would come solely by His mighty hand, not by human negotiation or strength. This process refined their faith and prepared them to fully appreciate the magnitude of their salvation, ensuring they would know that "the LORD fights for you" (Exodus 14:14). It served as a crucible, forging a people who would recognize and worship their Deliverer.

Was it wrong for the Israelite officers to blame Moses and Aaron?

Answer: While their reaction was understandable given their intense suffering, fear, and the immediate worsening of their conditions, their blame was ultimately misplaced. Moses and Aaron were acting in direct obedience to God's explicit command (Exodus 5:1). The officers' immediate focus on their increased hardship prevented them from seeing God's larger, unfolding plan and His sovereign control over the situation. Their accusation highlights a common human tendency to react emotionally to adversity rather than trusting in God's sovereignty and the wisdom of His chosen leaders, even when the path is difficult. God later reassures Moses and reaffirms His covenant, demonstrating that He was fully aware of their suffering and had a plan (Exodus 6:1-8).

CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT

Exodus 5:21 profoundly foreshadows the truth that the path to ultimate deliverance often involves intense suffering and even accusation before the full realization of salvation. Just as the Israelites experienced increased hardship and blamed their divinely appointed deliverers, Moses and Aaron, so too did humanity, in its fallen state, resist, misunderstand, and ultimately accuse the true Deliverer, Jesus Christ. Christ, the ultimate Lamb of God, faced not only unimaginable suffering but also profound accusation from those He came to save, enduring the "sword" of divine judgment on the cross for humanity's sin (Isaiah 53:5; Romans 8:3). His suffering and death, far from being a sign of failure, were the necessary prelude to ultimate victory over sin and death, turning the "abhorred savour" of humanity's rebellion into the sweet aroma of reconciliation with God through His perfect sacrifice (Ephesians 5:2). Through His death, resurrection, and ascension, Christ fully accomplished the liberation that the Exodus only prefigured, disarming the powers of darkness and securing eternal freedom for all who believe, thereby putting the "sword" of judgment away from us and bringing us into His glorious kingdom (Colossians 2:13-15).

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Commentary on Exodus 5 verses 15–23

It was a great strait that the head-workmen were in, when they must either abuse those that were under them or be abused by those that were over them; yet, it should seem, rather than they would tyrannize, they would be tyrannized over; and they were so. In this evil case (Exo 5:19), observe,

I. How justly they complained to Pharaoh: They came and cried unto Pharaoh, Exo 5:15. Whither should they go with a remonstrance of their grievances but to the supreme power, which is ordained for the protection of the injured? As bad as Pharaoh was his oppressed subjects had liberty to complain to him; there was no law against petitioning: it was a very modest, but moving, representation that they made of their condition (Exo 5:16): Thy servants are beaten (severely enough, no doubt, when things were in such a ferment), and yet the fault is in thy own people, the task-masters, who deny us what is necessary for carrying on our work. Note, It is common for those to be most rigorous in blaming others who are most blameworthy themselves. But what did they get by this complaint? It did but make bad worse. 1. Pharaoh taunted them (Exo 5:17); when they were almost killed with working, he told them they were idle: they underwent the fatigue of industry, and yet lay under the imputation of slothfulness, while nothing appeared to ground the charge upon but this, that they said, Let us go and do sacrifice. Note, It is common for the best actions to be mentioned under the worst names; holy diligence in the best business is censured by many as a culpable carelessness in the business of the world. It is well for us that men are not to be our judges, but a God who knows what the principles are on which we act. Those that are diligent in doing sacrifice to the Lord will, with God, escape the doom of the slothful servant, though, with men, they do not. 2. He bound on their burdens: Go now and work. Exo 5:18. Note, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked; what can be expected from unrighteous men but more unrighteousness?

II. How unjustly they complained of Moses and Aaron: The Lord look upon you, and judge, Exo 5:21. This was not fair. Moses and Aaron had given sufficient evidence of their hearty good-will to the liberties of Israel; and yet, because things succeed not immediately as they hoped, they are reproached as accessaries to their slavery. They should have humbled themselves before God, and taken to themselves the shame of their sin, which turned away good things from them; but, instead of this, they fly in the face of their best friends, and quarrel with the instruments of their deliverance, because of some little difficulties and obstructions they met with in effecting it. Note, Those that are called out to public service for God and their generation must expect to be tried, not only by the malicious threats of proud enemies, but by the unjust and unkind censures of unthinking friends, who judge only by outward appearance and look but a little way before them. Now what did Moses do in this strait? It grieved him to the heart that the event did not answer, but rather contradict, his expectation; and their upbraidings were very cutting, and like a sword in his bones; but, 1. He returned to the Lord (Exo 5:22), to acquaint him with it, and to represent the case to him: he knew that what he had said and done was by divine direction; and therefore what blame is laid upon him for it he considers as reflecting upon God, and, like Hezekiah, spreads it before him as interested in the cause, and appeals to him. Compare this with Jer 20:7-9. Note, When we find ourselves, at any time, perplexed and embarrassed in the way of our duty, we ought to have recourse to God, and lay open our case before him by faithful and fervent prayer. If we retreat, let us retreat to him, and no further. 2. He expostulated with him, Exo 5:22, Exo 5:23. He knew not how to reconcile the providence with the promise and the commission which he had received. "Is this God's coming down to deliver Israel? Must I, who hoped to be a blessing to them, become a scourge to them? By this attempt to get them out of the pit, they are but sunk the deeper into it." Now he asks, (1.) Wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? Note, Even when God is coming towards his people in ways of mercy, he sometimes takes such methods as that they may think themselves but ill treated. The instruments of deliverance, when they aim to help, are found to hinder, and that becomes a trap which, it was hoped, would have been for their welfare, God suffering it to be so that we may learn to cease from man, and may come off from a dependence upon second causes. Note, further, When the people of God think themselves ill treated, they should go to God by prayer, and plead with him, and that is the way to have better treatment in God's good time. (2.) Why is it thou hast sent me? Thus, [1.] He complains of his ill success: "Pharaoh has done evil to this people, and not one step seems to be taken towards their deliverance." Note, It cannot but sit very heavily upon the spirits of those whom God employs for him to see that their labour does no good, and much more to see that it does hurt eventually, though not designedly. It is uncomfortable to a good minister to perceive that his endeavours for men's conviction and conversion do but exasperate their corruptions, confirm their prejudices, harden their hearts, and seal them up under unbelief. This makes them go in the bitterness of their souls, as the prophet, Eze 3:14. Or, [2.] He enquires what was further to be done: Why hast thou sent me? that is, "What other method shall I take in pursuance of my commission?" Note, Disappointments in our work must not drive us from our God, but still we must consider why we are sent.

Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 15–23. Public domain.
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Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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