We are in Exodus chapter five with our word for today used 5 time in our chapter. שׁוֹטֵר civil servant, office holder, officials, administrators. It is used 25 times in the Old Testament. We find our word used to describe a group of people God sets up to help spread out the tasks of civil government as this group of slaves become a nation. Numbers 11:16-17 The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and וְשֹׁטְרָ֑יו officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone. Deuteronomy 16:18 Appoint judges and וְשֹֽׁטְרִ֗ים officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. We also see our word used in the sense of a foreman in charge of the work and workers. 1 Chronicles 23:4 David said, “Of these, twenty-four thousand are to be in charge of the work of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be וְשֹׁטְרִ֥ים officials and judges.
This same sense of organizing workers is how we see our word used in our chapter today. These officials were fellow Hebrews appointed by Pharaoh’s taskmasters to organize and be responsible for the people getting the work done. Exodus 5:6-7, 10-19 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their שֹׁטְרָ֖יו foremen, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves…So the taskmasters and the וְשֹׁ֣טְרָ֔יו foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” And the שֹֽׁטְרֵי֙ foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?” Then the שֹֽׁטְרֵי֙ foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” The שֹֽׁטְרֵ֧י foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” God allows us to get in over our head where we realize that we are in trouble because there seems like no way out of an impossible situation. This reminds me of another time someone was in over their head. Peter started to drown. Why? Because he did what Jesus asked him to do and step out of the boat and come to him on the water. Just like these foreman who were also fellow Hebrews who listened to Moses who said that God would deliver them from slavery. But instead they are in over their head. The good news is that Jesus was there to catch Peter when he started to drown and we will see how God is there to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt in the days to come.
