Daily Lesson for March 18, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Exodus chapter 5 verses 1 through 9:

Afterwards Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.” ’ 2But Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.’3Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.’ 4But the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labours!’ 5Pharaoh continued, ‘Now they are more numerous than the people of the land and yet you want them to stop working!’ 6That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors, 7‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves.8But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, “Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.” 9Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labour at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.’

Pharaoh never backs down lightly.

True change is hard-earned because power never concedes power unless it absolutely has to. 

Moses and Aaron begin with a moral appeal: “Thus says the LORD!” But Pharaoh doesn’t know the LORD so a moral appeal will not work. 

Social pressure must instead be applied. Economic pressure will have to be applied. Ultimately, the whole house of Pharaoh will have to be brought to grief before he relents. 

That’s how tight-fisted Pharaohs are when it comes to power. 

In the abolition speech Frederick Douglass famously traveled the North the most oft-quoted paragraph began with the following words about the reality of the hard struggle ahead:

“Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress.”

Pharaoh will not simply give up without a fight. So if Moses, Aaron, and the rest of the Israelites really want to be free then they will have to fight. They will have to fight the good fight. And they will have to keep on fighting . . .