Why did God tell Moshe to lie to Pharaoh? The very first time that God was revealed to Moshe, at the burning bush, He commanded him to tell Pharaoh that Bnei Yisrael wanted to undertake a three-day journey in the desert and to sacrifice to God. Throughout the negotiations, Moshe consistently asks Pharaoh to free them from Egypt only for three days; he makes no mention of the fact that Bnei Yisrael will never return. Additionally, why did God strike Pharaoh with ten plagues, when the same end-result could clearly have been achieved through a much smaller number? Through an examination of the parallel between Yaakov's flight from Lavan and Bnei Yisrael's exodus from Egypt, we can understand that God required Pharaoh to release Bnei Yisrael completely, out of his own free will rather than out of coercion. Thus God ensured that no one would ever be able to claim that Bnei Yisrael were still his slaves, and Bnei Yisrael would be free to worship their only true master- God.