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Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:6-9

The picture of a tyrant-crafty, energetic, and unsparing. Scripture contains abundant portraitures, not only of good, but also of bad men, the Holy Spirit seeming to be as desirous of arousing our indignation against vice as our sympathy with virtue. Portraits are given us, as more effectual than precepts or general descriptions, appealing as they do to our feelings and imagination rather than to our intellect. The dramatic exhibition of a Pharaoh, an Ahab, a Sennacherib, a Judas Iscariot,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:6-14

The increase of trouble for God's people no proof of the failure of his purpose. I. THE DEMANDS OF GOD PROVOKE THE WRATH OF THE UNGODLY . The mad persistence of Pharaoh in his injustice is marked— 1 . In his haste: his commands were issued "the same day." 2 . In the severity of the decree: they should find their own straw, and yet deliver the same number of bricks. 3 . In his determination to have his commands obeyed. It is not meant to be an idle threat:... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:7

Straw to make brick . Straw was used in Egypt to bind together the clay, or mud, which was, of course, the main material of the bricks. , to raise crops of cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic ( Numbers 11:5 ), to catch fish ( ibid .), and attend public meetings ( Exodus 4:30 , Exodus 4:31 ). They had, in fact, had time which they could call their own. Now this was to be so no more. The Pharaoh, however, misrepresents and exaggerates, speaking as if their forced labours had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:7

Bricks without straw. The requirement of "bricks without straw" is not always made by a tyrannical king. All employers of labour who expect certain results without allowing sufficient time for them, and then complain that the work is scamped, are guilty of it. So is the father who expects his son to turn out a great scholar, without giving him the necessary books and the necessary instruction to make him one. So is the mistress who scolds her cook for not sending up a first-rate dinner,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Exodus 5:7

Some of the most ancient buildings in Egypt were constructed of bricks not burned, but dried in the sun; they were made of clay, or more commonly of mud, mixed with straw chopped into small pieces. An immense quantity of straw must have been wanted for the works on which the Israelites were engaged, and their labors must have been more than doubled by this requisition. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Exodus 5:7

Exodus 5:7. Straw To mix with the clay. Shaw tells us in his Travels, (p. 136,) that “the composition of bricks in Egypt was only a mixture of clay, mud, and straw, slightly blended and kneaded together, and afterward baked in the sun. Paleis cohærent lateres, says Philo in his Life of Moses. The straw which keeps these bricks together in Egypt, and still preserves its original colour, seems to be a proof that these bricks were never burned nor made in kilns.” The straw therefore, was... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Exodus 5:8

Exodus 5:8. They are idle The cities they built for Pharaoh were witnesses for them that they were not idle; yet he thus basely misrepresents them, that he might have a pretence to increase their burdens. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Exodus 5:1-23

5:1-15:21 DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPTMoses’ first meeting with Pharaoh (5:1-6:27)In the eyes of the Israelites, Moses’ first meeting with Pharaoh was a disaster. Pharaoh had no fear of Yahweh and no concern for Yahweh’s people. In fact, when Moses asked to take his people into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to Yahweh, Pharaoh responded by accusing the Israelites of laziness and making their work harder (5:1-14). This not only increased the suffering of the Israelites but also caused them to turn... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Exodus 5:7

straw . Tebn , an Egyptian word for chaff, or chopped straw; not our Eng. stubble. read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Exodus 5:8

tale. A. S. talu, a number. thereof . The suffix is Masculine and refers to the people, "diminish [your exactions] from them. " and . Some codices, with one early printed edition, Targum of Onkelos, and Septuagint, read "that we may". read more

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