From what I’ve heard, being in leadership is tough. You’re always putting out fires, always handling emergencies, and always mindful of the affairs of the people under your charge.
You’re also usually the one that gets most of the blame.
When Pharaoh told the Israelites to make bricks, then took away the straw to actually make the bricks, it wasn’t the Israelites that suffered the most. According to Exodus 5:14, it was actually the ones in charge — the foremen of the Israelites. They were the ones beaten by the Egyptian taskmasters for the Israelites failure to meet their brick quota.
On one hand, this makes logical sense. You can’t punish an entire nation for whatever infraction you’ve chosen to punish them for, so you punish the ones in charge. Then, that punishment usually trickles down further until there’s no one left to punish.
On the other, it’s quite unfair to give people a job, then intentionally withhold the supplies necessary for them to complete it when it’s within your power to do so. Yet that’s exactly what the Egyptians did to the Israelite slaves.
The foremen picked up on this, and in a remarkable show of courage, actually stood up to Pharaoh. In Exodus 5:15, they question the representatives of Pharaoh about their mistreatment, going so far as to blame the Egyptians themselves for their failure.
That’s a bold move. In a nation that probably numbered close to a million (if not more), there were probably plenty more Hebrews that Pharaoh could round up to replace the foremen, should he decide to execute them. It’s likely even he recognized the injustice, which is why he reverted back to his old party line of them being lazy (Exodus 5:17).
For a brief, fleeting moment though, the bravery of the foremen is admirable. It’s up there with the courage of the midwives from Exodus 1.
Then, everything goes south. The foremen turn on Moses, blaming him for making the Israelites “odious” in the sight of the Egyptians. Moses, in turn, questions God for sending him to Egypt in the first place. It’s a classic blame game, first seen in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve and replicated countless times today.
The difference is, God will respond. He’ll answer the charge of Pharaoh personally, in a way that will make it impossible for Pharaoh to ignore the pleas of the Israelites any longer.
