Exodus 5:7-12

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:9

Let there more work be laid upon the men . Rather, as in the margin, "Let the work be heavy upon the men." Let the tasks set them be such as to occupy all their time, and not leave them any spare moments in which they may be tempted to listen to mischievous talkers, like Moses and Aaron) who flatter them with vain (literally, lying , words. Pharaoh, no doubt, imagined that the hopes raised by the two brothers were vain and illusive. He was utterly blind as to the course which events were... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:9

Vain words. There can be no doubt that "vain words" are unworthy of attention, deserve contempt, are foolish, unjustifiable. But what are "vain words'? What is the test whereby we are to know whether words are vain or not? Simply, the issue of them. Pharaoh thought that the promises of deliverance wherewith Moses and Aaron had excited the people were "vain words." Sennacherib described similarly the words of trust and confidence in God uttered by Hezekiah ( 2 Kings 18:20 ). The Athenians... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:10

The taskmasters … went out , i.e . quitted the royal palace to which they Had been summoned ( Exodus 5:6 ), and proceeded to the places where the people worked. The vicinity of Zoan was probably one great brickfield. Thus saith Pharaoh . The exact words of Pharaoh. ( Exodus 5:7 ) are not repeated, but modified, according to men's ordinary practice in similar cases. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:10-14

The command of Pharaoh gone forth—no straw was to be provided for the Israelites, they were themselves to gather straw. The taskmasters could not soften the edict; they could only promulgate it ( Exodus 5:10 , Exodus 5:11 ). And the Israelites could only choose between rebelling and endeavouring to obey. To rebel seemed hopeless; Moses and Aaron did not advise rebellion, and so the attempt was made to carry out Pharaoh's behest ( Exodus 5:12 ). But experience proved that obedience to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:10-14

A blind obedience to the commands of tyrants not laudable. The Egyptian taskmasters seem to have carried out their monarch's orders to the full, if not with inward satisfaction, at any rate without visible repugnance. They published abroad the orders given without in any way softening them ( Exodus 5:10 , Exodus 5:11 ), harassed the Israeli people all day long by "hasting them" ( Exodus 5:13 ), and bastinadoed the Israelite officers at night ( Exodus 5:14 ). How different their... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:10-15

Bricks without straw. Tyrants seldom lack subordinates, as cruel as themselves, to execute their hateful mandates. Not only are these subordinates generally ready to curry favour with their lord by executing his orders with punctilious rigour, but, when they get to know that particular persons are in disfavour, they find a positive delight in bullying and insulting the unhappy victims, and in subjecting them to every species of vexatious interference. The callous taskmasters entered... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:11

Get you straw where ye can find it . Straw was not valued in Egypt. Reaping was effected either by gathering the ears, or by cutting the stalks of the corn at a short distance below the heads; and the straw was then left almost entirely upon the ground. Grass was so plentiful that it was not required for fodder, and there was no employment of it as litter in farmyards. Thus abundance of straw could be gathered in the cornfields after harvest; and as there were many harvests, some sort of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Exodus 5:12

The people were mattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt . The expression used is hyperbolical, and not to be understood literally. A tolerably wide dispersion over the central and eastern portions of the Delta is probably intended. Stubble instead of straw . Rather, "stubble for the straw." Teben , the word translated straw, seems to he properly "chopped straw" ( stramenta minutim concisa , Cook). The Israelites, who had been accustomed to have this provided for them,... 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

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