Moses and Aaron then went to Pharaoh and told him that God demanded that he must set the Israelites free.
Pharaoh refused and said to them that he didn't acknowledge God's authority and that he will never set them free.
Instead he turned the nation's life into a hell.
He commanded his taskmasters to deny them straw to build bricks. He further doubled their working hours, so that they don't have time to praise or talk to God. The Israelite overseers were beaten every day for not getting the workers to make more bricks for Egypt.
When they spoke to Pharaoh over the injustice, he told them that although there was no more straw, that they must deliver their daily quota. The Israelites were scattered all over Egypt to gather straw.
They complaint to Moses and Aaron about how they were treated since Moses spoke to Pharaoh to release them in God's name, and Moses went to speak to God.
The Lord the said to Moses: 'Now thou shalt see what I do to Pharaoh ... for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.'
The Lord further said to Moses: ' I am the Lord ... and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob [Israel] by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of
their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.'
'And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant ... and I will give Canaan to you as an heritage ... I am The Lord.'
When Moses told the Israelites what God had said, they didn't hear, because of their cruel bondage and their anguish of spirit.
And The Lord spoke unto Moses again: 'Go, and speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go, out of this land.'
Moses then asked The Lord that if the Israelites didn't hear him, how will Pharaoh hear him?
And The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and put them in charge of the whole nation of the Israelites ... and He put them in charge of Pharaoh to release the children of Israel of their bondage.
Moses then said before The Lord: 'Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh listen to me?'
The Lord said unto Moses: 'See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh ... and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.'
The Lord further said that He will harden Pharaoh's heart and He will multiply His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt ... so that the Egyptians would know the He is The Lord, and that He was going to free the children of Israel from their bondage.
Moses and Aaron did as God commanded them, so did they.
Moses was 40 years of age and Aaron 43 years of age, at that time, when they spoke unto Pharaoh.
The Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron, saying: 'When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, 'Shew a miracle' to you ... then thou shalt say unto Aaron, 'Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh', and it shall become a serpent.'
.
Moses and Aaron then went to Pharaoh, and did as The Lord had commanded ... Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
Pharaoh called his wise men and sorcerers, and they did the same thing with their enchantments.
Every one cast down his rod and the rods became serpents ... but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't hear unto them ... as The Lord had said.
And then God sent His 10 plagues ...
Source: Exodus Chapter 6
