“Yes,” says Dennis Prager in his 1996 lecture on Exodus 5. “It is not necessarily their fault.
“I’m more afraid now of dying than I was at 20. I have a family now so there is more at stake now with my life. You know how teenagers are cavalier about their mortality. As you age, there is more weight upon you. The weight of responsibility. You have a world that is depending upon you. And you know how precious life is as you get older. Mortality stares you much more in the face.”
Prager’s talking about the Hebrew elders dropping out when Moses and Aaron go to visit Pharoah.
