“Get to your labors!”  — Exodus 5:1-6:13

In light of the recent news of striking fast food workers, it is perhaps worth remembering that the Exodus began as a labor dispute.

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and asked him to let the Israelites go — not, initially, forever, but just for a religious holiday. “Let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to our God.” A three-day weekend, that’s what they asked for. But management was unwilling to negotiate. “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work?” Pharaoh replied.” Get to your labors.”

Which I guess makes the Exodus the largest mass strike in history.

(photo: Mary Altaffer, AP)