“And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.”
The elders of Israel will listen to you, God says, and then you and they shall go to the king of Egypt and say: the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. The initial request Moses is told to make is modest compared to the full demand — not permanent departure but a three-day religious journey. Some read this as a tactical opener, knowing Pharaoh will refuse even this. Others see it as a genuine first request, testing whether any accommodation is possible before the confrontation escalates. Either way, it frames the conflict in religious terms: this is about worship. Israel's liberation is inseparable from their freedom to worship. The New Testament picks up this theme in John 4:23–24, where Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that the hour is coming when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. Exodus is about a people being set free to worship the God they belong to.
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