Exodus 6:9-11 - But they did not listen

6:9

Moses went and reported all this to the Israelites “but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labour”. The effects of the slavery made them unable to hear the message. We are mistaken if we think that merely presenting the gospel in a reasonable way, explaining how it all works, will be enough to bring people to faith. Occasionally it will (usually built on a host of other things that God has been doing in the person’s life), but often it won’t. Either harshness of circumstances, or the relentless bombardment of secular ideology, binds people up and makes them deaf to the gospel. So is all lost? Definitely not! As we shall see in the next verse.

6:10,11

It needs acts of power to set people free. Jesus spoke of binding up the strong man (Matt 12:29). Note that the miracles done before the Israelites did not “work”, it was the miracles done against Pharaoh that “worked”. “Worked” here meaning bringing freedom. We do need to proclaim and explain the gospel, and to demonstrate it, but it is an act of God to bring someone to faith. So Moses is to go directly to Pharaoh and to command him (not merely ask) to let the Israelites go.