Exodus 5:3-4

"And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto Jehovah our God, lest he fall upon us with the pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their works? get you unto your burdens."

"God ... hath met with us ..." Whether or not this refers merely to Moses and Aaron, or to the Hebrew people is indifferent, it was true either way. God had indeed met with the Hebrew people in the person of his two chosen representatives, Moses and Aaron. To view this statement as grounds for finding "separate sources" is as lame a proposition as any ever encountered.

"In the wilderness ... and sacrifice ..." It would have been impossible for the Hebrews to sacrifice to Jehovah in Egypt, because they sacrificed the very animals that the Egyptians worshipped! All kinds of riots and commotions would have followed any such action.

"Lest he fall upon us with the pestilence, or with the sword ..." Ellison properly discerned the skill and persuasiveness of this request. If God had indeed visited his people with either pestilence, or sword, the Egyptians themselves would have been most vitally affected.[11] Think, for example, how a fatal disease breaking out among the Israelites would also have quickly spread to the Egyptians, or how, in case of a war, Egypt herself would alone have been required to repel the invader.

"Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people ...?" Pharaoh looked upon Moses and Aaron as mere rabble-rousers, labor leaders looking to improve working conditions. He considered them merely as his slaves and ordered them back to their burdens.