“And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.”
Moses and Aaron try a softer approach: the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword. The addition of or he may strike us introduces a note of urgency — this is not merely a religious preference but a divine requirement. The specific framing of three days and sacrifice echoes Genesis 22, where Abraham took a three-day journey to offer a sacrifice on a mountain. The language of meeting — he has met with us — reflects the relational nature of the God being represented: not a deity demanding tribute but a personal God who encounters His people and calls them to respond. Acts 5:29 will later capture the principle Moses and Aaron are enacting: we must obey God rather than human beings. The softer request is still a claim that God's command supersedes Pharaoh's.
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