We are in Exodus chapter five with our word for today. רָפָה grow slack, release, sink, relax, let go, cast down, throw, let fall, decline, lose heart, idle, lazy. It is used 46 times in the Old Testament. We find our word used in the sense of being or becoming weak. 2 Chronicles 15:7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands יִרְפּ֖וּ be weak, for your work shall be rewarded. Nehemiah 6:9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will יִרְפּ֧וּ drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands. Isaiah 13:7 Therefore all hands will תִּרְפֶּ֑ינָה be feeble, and every human heart will melt. Ezekiel 7:17 All hands are תִּרְפֶּ֑ינָה feeble, and all knees turn to water.
We also see our word used in the sense to be disinclined to work or exertion. Proverbs 18:9 One who is מִתְרַפֶּ֣ה slack in his work is brother to one who destroys. This is the same sense our word is used in our chapter today. Exodus 5:7-9, 17-18 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are נִרְפִּ֣ים idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”…But he said, “You are נִרְפִּ֥ים idle, you are נִרְפִּ֑ים 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.” As we have already looked at a few days ago because Pharaoh does not know the LORD or YHWH he not only won’t let them go and worship but he mocks and accuses them of being lazy. People who don’t know our God think worship is a waste of their time and our time. The good news is that even if they accuse us of something we are not their assessment has no value compared to God’s estimation. Romans 8:33-35, 37 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. I’ll close with this great section that encourages us to see and embrace God’s wisdom instead of the worlds. 1 Corinthians 1:20-25 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
