Exodus 5:5-7

"And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make bricks, which they did make heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves."

"The people of the land are many ..." There appears to be some disagreement among scholars as to the exact meaning of this, but, apparently, Johnson's suggestion that it means merely, "common working people"[12] is as good a rendition as any.

"The taskmasters of the people ..." There are no less than three classes of overseers mentioned in this chapter, and a differentiation among them is vital to the understanding of it. There are three different words used in the Hebrew, as follows:

1. [~sarrey] [~massira], superintendents over major projects, and of high rank,
   
2. [~nogeshim], subordinate overseers of various specific projects, and far more numerous, and
   
3. [~shoterim] (rendered "officers") each group of slaves, numerous clerks-of-the works, who were recruited from among the Hebrews themselves, being therefore, Hebrews elevated over their own brethren, and thus enjoying special favors from Pharaoh.[13]
   

"Ye shall no more give the people straw ..." The ancient monuments in Egypt show bricks containing straw, and others without it. The straw apparently had two uses. It made the mud of which the bricks were made to be more easily handled, and also increased the stability of the brick before it was dried. Until this episode, Pharaoh's taskmasters had supplied the straw, but, here the cruel despot increased the rigor of their tasks by withholding straw, yet requiring the same number of bricks as formerly, requiring the people to go and gather their own straw! It was a cruel and unreasonable edict.

There is evident in this chapter a kind of schism in the ranks of Israel. "The elders of Israel had been instructed to go in with Moses before Pharaoh (Exodus 3:18). Where were they?[14] Their appeal a little later to Pharaoh in their own persons, instead of with Moses and Aaron, confirms the suspicion that they might have been among the special "officers" who enjoyed favors from the king, and who did not risk losing their petty positions by associating with Moses.