Following the urgent pleas of his advisors, Pharaoh shifts his strategy and decides to negotiate with the leaders of Israel. His goal is to minimize the damage and expose their true intentions. Moses and Aaron do not return to the palace on their own initiative; rather, they are retrieved by messengers dispatched by the king [רש״י, רלב״ג, שטיינזלץ]. These messengers may have been high-ranking ministers sent to escort them back [העמק דבר], or simply royal servants who sensed Pharaoh's unspoken desire to resume the dialogue [רש״ר הירש]. Throughout this encounter, Moses remains the undisputed central figure and primary negotiator [אבן עזרא].
Pharaoh offers what sounds like a basic agreement for the Israelites to go and serve God, but this concession is entirely a tactical maneuver. He deliberately keeps his permission vague, aiming to test the leaders while retaining the power to veto any specific details [אור החיים, קאסוטו]. By doing so, he hopes to prove to his advisors that Moses is deceiving them, and that if the entire nation is allowed to leave, they will simply run away and never return [ביאור יש״ר].
When Pharaoh asks exactly who will be going on this journey, he is not merely requesting information. He is demanding that the Israelites align with the accepted religious norms of the ancient world. In that era, divine worship and the offering of sacrifices were the exclusive domain of priests, leaders, elders, and strong men, while the general public and children were strictly excluded. Pharaoh naturally assumes that only the elite will travel to offer sacrifices, and he is baffled by the demand that the entire population must go [רמב״ן, הטור הארוך, העמק דבר, פרדס יוסף, שפתי כהן]. He challenges Moses to look at the surrounding nations and observe who typically participates in religious rituals [כלי יקר]. What the Egyptian king fails to grasp is that a festival for God is not just about the strict act of worship; it is about the joy of the holiday. True joy is incomplete without the presence of the entire family, including women and children [כלי יקר].
From another angle, Pharaoh's inquiry serves as a profound theological test. Ancient idolaters divided their theology between a good god and a bad god. A good god was not offered blood sacrifices; instead, worshipers would come before him with their women and children to rejoice and dance. Conversely, a bad god required animal sacrifices to appease his anger, and worshipers were careful to leave their children behind out of fear that the angry deity might harm them or demand them as an offering. By asking who exactly is going, Pharaoh is trying to determine the nature of the God of Israel. He calculates that if the Israelites ask to take their children and leave their flocks behind, they serve a good god. However, if they insist on taking their flocks for sacrifices while leaving their children, they are trying to appease a bad god [מלבי״ם].