Before Moses ever steps into Pharaoh's throne room, God rehearses the scene with him in advance. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, the expansive Aramaic paraphrase, preserves the staging: they will hearken to thee — the elders will believe — and only then, thou and the elders of Israel, shall approach the king of Egypt together.
This is not a solo mission. The Targum is careful to insist that Moses walks in with the elders behind him. The Hebrew speaks of the God of the Hebrews; the Aramaic sharpens it to the God of the Jehudaee — the God of the Judeans, the God whose name is known to a specific people and not borrowed from anyone else's pantheon.
A Three-Day Journey, a Festival in the Wilderness
The ask is strikingly modest. Not liberation. Not conquest. Just a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice before the Lord our God. The Targum preserves this carefully because the midrashic tradition reads it as both genuine and tactical: a real religious festival, and also a test of Pharaoh's willingness to loosen his grip even slightly.
The takeaway: Moses learns that leadership means walking with the elders, not ahead of them. God stages the encounter so that the community moves together — slaves find their voice in the presence of their leaders, and their leaders find their courage in the presence of their king.