Exodus 7:2, commentary and pictures

Thou shalt speak all that I command thee assigned Moses to deliver everything he received from God, speaking exactly what was commanded without omission or addition. He was thus appointed to receive the divine message and to convey it onward as the appointed channel between God and Aaron. Aaron his brother was to take that message and speak it to Pharaoh before the king himself. The demand to be laid before Pharaoh was that he send the children of Israel out of his land, releasing them from Egypt.

The charge was a direct commission for open, public confrontation with Pharaoh in his character as a cruel king. That confrontation would not at first succeed, for Pharaoh would refuse to release Israel until divine judgments fell upon Egypt. The punishments would come in succession, each growing more severe than the last, until Pharaoh was humbled and compelled to recognize God's power.

Through that deliverance the weakness of Egypt's wisdom and of its gods would be exposed, its idolatry punished, and God's power made known among the nations. At the same time the same deliverance would draw Israel away from the idolatry absorbed in Egypt and lead them into pure worship. By contrast, Paul in his imprisonment received no comparable command and had no like opportunity to address a ruler directly and demand such release.