Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies. The verse repeats the intent of verse 8 with a slightly different emphasis. The Hebrew word translated lies here — sheker — usually refers to false testimony, deception in a legal or covenantal sense. Pharaoh is claiming that the message Moses and Aaron brought — God's summons to worship — is legally and factually false. He is calling God a liar. Proverbs 19:9 says a false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will perish. Pharaoh's judgment of God's word as sheker will be answered by the one who said I AM WHO I AM — the God whose self-identification is the very definition of truth. John 14:6 identifies Jesus as the truth itself. When Pharaoh calls the word of God a lie, he is setting himself against the bedrock of reality, and reality will respond.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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