Exodus 8:25-28

"And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land, And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, as he shall command us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: entreat for me."

"Go sacrifice to your God in the land ..." Here is the first of four compromises suggested by Pharaoh as a means of hindering the will of God. The second is in Exodus 8:28, "Ye shall not go very far away." The third is in Exodus 10:11, "Only the men must go." The fourth is in Exodus 10:24, "The flocks and the herds must be left behind." Moses' ultimate answer to these was the stern declaration: "There shall not a hoof be left behind!" (Exodus 10:26). The marvel of these writings is their correspondence with spiritual truth in all ages. Many have pointed out that these compromises are exactly the same as those which Satan and his servants propose to believers who would follow the Lord Jesus Christ in these present times, or in all times. We may paraphrase them thus:

1. If you must serve Christ, do so in the world. Why bother with belonging to the church? Of course, this is as impossible now as it was when Pharaoh suggested it. The Christian must sacrifice what the world adores!
   
2. If you must be religious, then don't be a fanatic. Do not go very far! This is the motto of all lukewarm, indifferent Christians, who fancy that they are serving Christ, but they have not gone very far!
   
3. Only the males must go! Leave your families out of it. If you must be a Christian, do not attempt to take others with you. Let everyone make up his own mind. Keep your religion to yourself!
   
4. Let the flocks and herds stay behind. If you must be a Christian, go ahead, but don't invest any money in it. Use your wealth for yourself. Of this class of Christians are those whose pocketbooks were never baptized!
   

Concerning such applications of the Sacred Scriptures here recorded, Unger said:

"In these compromises we read Satan's attempt to keep God's people ensnared by the world, and thus to hold them under his control and power. In this strategy he has highly succeeded in Christendom."[29]

"We shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians ..." Scholars usually interpret this as meaning that the Hebrews would sacrifice cows which were considered sacred in Egypt, but Keil objected to this on the grounds that "cows were not an abomination to them."[30] However, the clause could mean that "the sacrificing of cows" was the abomination spoken of. Fields thought that the best explanation is, "The abomination involved the use of sheep for sacrifice. Every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians (Genesis 46:34)."[31] We still favor the common view, because it is illuminated by the spiritual derivative of it, that Christians must sacrifice that which the world worships! Rylaarsdam also preferred this understanding of it, pointing out that:

"The Elephantine Papyri show that Egyptians of a later era actually did react violently to Israel's worship. Most of Israel's animal sacrifices would have offended Egyptians."[32]