Aaron and Moses go to Pharaoh and tell him that the “I Am” demands that he let the people of Israel take a three day trip out into the wilderness to worship.  Pharaoh says he doesn’t know who this “I Am” is, and slaves don’t get holidays. Most Bibles translate the “I Am” name into LORD with all caps. 

To reiterate his position of absolute power, the Pharaoh tells the taskmasters not to supply the slaves any straw for their bricks, but demand the same production. So now the Israelites have to scramble around gathering straw in addition to making bricks. The masters beat the Israelite foremen for not making quotas. 

This causes the foremen to complain to Moses and Aaron. Not only are they not free, but everyone is having a worse time because of them and their interference. Moses prays to the God asking why he was ever sent and what he did to deserve this? 

Everything is going exactly how God told Moses it would go. Pharaoh is being stubborn and doubling down, just as anticipated. The lesson for us is that intentional moves towards freedom will inevitably meet push back. The Declaration of Independence wasn’t granted upon delivery, it was the start of the American Revolutionary War. The Emancipation Proclamation, did not immediately free slaves, it caused the secession of the South  launching the Civil War. Men in charge do not willingly concede power.  In this story, Aaron and Moses are leaders of zero armies, but their ancestral God, the “I Am” has already promised to perform his wonders.