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Exodus 5:2 Josephus omits the biblical statement (Exod. 5:2) in which Pharaoh asks who is the God whom he is to obey and why Moses and Aaron do not mind their own business instead of hindering the Israelites from their work.

 

Exodus 5:1-9 In Exod. 5:1-9, in the first encounter between Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh, there is no reference to Moses’ offer to perform the miracles that God had shown Moses. Josephus, in the interests of economy of space, has combined this first encounter with the second encounter with Pharaoh (Exod. 7:10-13), in which Aaron casts down his staff, which becomes a serpent, only to be followed by the Egyptian magicians, who do likewise.

 

4. However, the king was no more moved when was done than before; and being very angry, he said that he should gain nothing by this his cunning and shrewdness against the Egyptians; - (Verse 6) and he commanded him that was the chief taskmaster over the Hebrews1, to give them no relaxation from their labors, but to compel them to submit to greater oppressions than before; and though he allowed them chaff before for making their bricks, he would allow it them no longer, but he made them to work hard at brick-making in the day-time, and to gather chaff in the night2. Now when their labor was thus doubled upon them, they laid the blame upon Moses, because their labor and their misery were on his account become more severe to them. But Moses did not let his courage sink for the king's threatenings; nor did he abate of his zeal on account of the Hebrews'3 complaints; but he supported himself, and set his soul resolutely against them both, and used his own utmost diligence to procure liberty to his countrymen4. So he went to the king5, and persuaded him to let the Hebrews go to Mount Sinai, and there to sacrifice to God, because God had enjoined them so to do. He persuaded him also not to counterwork the designs of God, but to esteem his favor above all things, and to permit them to depart, lest, before he be aware, he lay an obstruction in the way of the Divine commands, and so occasion his own suffering such punishments as it was probable any one that counterworked the Divine commands should undergo, since the severest afflictions arise from every object to those that provoke the Divine wrath against them; for such as these have neither the earth nor the air for their friends; nor are the fruits of the womb according to nature, but every thing is unfriendly and adverse towards them6. He said further, that the Egyptians should know this by sad experience; and that besides, the Hebrew people should go out of their country without their consent.7

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1 In Exod. 5:6 Pharaoh commands the taskmasters of the people and their foremen.

 

2 In Exod. 5:13 the taskmasters tell the Israelites, “Complete your work, your daily task, as when there was straw.” Although there is no mention of night, the Hebrew reads ביומו יום- דבר, that is, the day’s work is to be completed in its day. In Exod. 5:6-19 Pharaoh’s instructions to the taskmasters to require the Israelites to gather their own straw are given after the first encounter with Moses and Aaron and before Aaron performs the miracle with his staff (Exod. 7:9-10), whereas here in Josephus the instructions are given after the performance of the miracle.

 

3 Josephus here omits the biblical statement (Exod. 5:22-23) of Moses’ complaint to God as to why He let so much evil come upon the Israelites, why He has sent him, and why since he has come to Pharaoh, Pharaoh has done more evil to the Israelites. Josephus omits the biblical statement (Exod. 6:9) that the Israelites did not listen to Moses because of their broken spirit and cruel bondage.

 

4 Aaron in the biblical narrative, no less than Moses, is the object of recrimination by the Israelites’ foremen when Pharaoh increases the tasks imposed upon them (Exod. 5:19-21). In Josephus’ version it is Moses alone whom the Israelites hold accountable for the increased severity of their labors. Josephus omits the passage (Exod. 6:3) in which God tells Moses that He was not made known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the Tetragrammaton.

 

5 Elsewhere in the Bible, while it is true that Aaron never speaks to Pharaoh alone, Pharaoh frequently addresses himself to both brothers (Exod. 8:4, 21; 9.27; 10.16-17). Indeed, it is to Moses and Aaron jointly that God gives His formal charge (just before the enumeration [Exod. 6:14-25] of the heads of the families of the Israelites, which Josephus omits) to speak to the people of Israel and to Pharaoh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exod. 6:13); significantly Josephus here omits this passage.

 

6 This thought is a Josephan editorial.

 

7 When God gives his charge to Moses telling him to go to Pharaoh to request that he allow the Israelites to leave, in Exod. 6:4 He reminds Moses that He had established His covenant with the forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them the land of Canaan. A few verses later, God tells Moses that He will bring the Israelites into the land that He had sworn to give to the forefathers and that He will give it to them as a possession, clearly once again signifying that the Israelites are to displace the Canaanite inhabitants and establish an independent state (Exod. 6:8). Josephus significantly here omits this entire passage.