“You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. You shall require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to our God.’ Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it. Don’t let them pay any attention to lying words.”
The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished.’ ” So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent saying, “Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!” The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why haven’t you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 13 Hebrew, yesterday and ere yesterday.
Hebrew, yesterday and ere yesterday.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–14 Exo 5:7 Ye shall no more give the people…
Exo 5:7 Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.
Ver. 7. Ye shall no more give the people straw.] Speculum tyrannidis semper augescentis atque invalescentis. "The matter mends with us," said those martyrs in prison, "as sour ale doth in summer." {a}
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{a} Act. and Mon.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 12 The straw was used either to mingle with the…
The straw was used either to mingle with the clay, that’ it might not be too brittle; or to cover the clay when it was formed into bricks, that the heat of the sun might not dry them too much, which might easily be done in that hot country; or for fuel, either wholly or in part, to burn their bricks with, straw being abundant there, and much used for that purpose.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v10 Pharaoh's orders are here put in execution; straw is…
Pharaoh's orders are here put in execution; straw is denied, and yet the work not diminished. 1. The Egyptian task-masters were very severe. Pharaoh having decreed unrighteous decrees, the task-masters were ready to write the grievousness that he had prescribed, Isa 10:1. Cruel princes will never want cruel instruments to be employed under them, who will justify them in that which is most unreasonable. These task-masters insisted upon the daily tasks, as when there was straw, Exo 5:13. See what need we have to pray that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, Th2 3:2. The enmity of the serpent's seed against the seed of the woman is such as breaks through all the laws of reason, honour, humanity, and common justice. 2. The people hereby were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble, Exo 5:12. By this means Pharaoh's unjust and barbarous usage of them came to be known to all the kingdom, and perhaps caused them to be pitied by their neighbours, and made Pharaoh's government less acceptable even to his own subjects: good-will is never got by persecution. 3. The Israelite-officers were used with particular harshness, Exo 5:14. Those that were the fathers of the houses of Israel paid dearly for their honour; for from them immediately the service was exacted, and they were beaten when it was not performed. See here, (1.) What a miserable thing slavery is, and what reason we have to be thankful to God that we are a free people, and not oppressed. Liberty and property are valuable jewels in the eyes of those whose services and possessions lie at the mercy of an arbitrary power. (2.) What disappointments we often meet with after the raising of our expectations. The Israelites were now lately encouraged to hope for enlargement, but behold greater distresses. This teaches us always to rejoice with trembling. (3.) What strange steps God sometimes takes in delivering his people; he often brings them to the utmost straits when he is just ready to appear for them. The lowest ebbs go before the highest tides; and very cloudy mornings commonly introduce the fairest days, Deu 32:36. God's time to help is when things are at the worst; and Providence verifies the paradox, The worse the better.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–14 Ye shall no more give the people straw to…
Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick,.... Whether this was given and used to mix with the clay, as is done in some places (h), that the bricks made thereof might be firmer and stronger, or to burn them with in the furnaces, or to cover them from the heat of the sun, that they might not dry too soon and crack, is not easy to determine; though it is said that the unburnt bricks of Egypt formerly were, and still are made of clay mixed with straw. The Egyptian pyramid of unburnt brick, Dr. Pococke (i) observes, seems to be made of the earth brought by the Nile, being of a sandy black earth, with some pebbles and shells in it; it is mixed up with chopped straw, in order to bind the clay together, as they now make unburnt bricks in Egypt, and many other eastern parts, which they use very much in their buildings. He says he found some of these bricks (of the pyramid) thirteen inches and a half long, six inches and a half broad, and four inches thick; and others fifteen inches long, seven broad, and four inches three quarters thick. But be the straw for what use it will, it had been dealt out to them by proper persons to be used in one way or another; but now it was forbidden to be given them:
as heretofore it had been done:
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let them go and gather straw for themselves; out of the fields where it lay, after the corn had been reaped and gathered in, or in barns, where it had been threshed; to do which must take up a good deal of their time, and especially if the straw lay at any distance, or was hard to be come at.
(h) Vide Vitruvium de Architectura, l. 2. c. 3. p. 46. & Philander in ib. (i) Observations on Egypt, p. 53.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 14 Straw - To mix with the clay, or to…
Straw - To mix with the clay, or to burn the brick with.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 14 Verse 7. Straw to make brick] There have been…
Verse 7. Straw to make brick] There have been many conjectures concerning the use of straw in making bricks. Some suppose it was used merely for burning them, but this is unfounded. The eastern bricks are often made of clay and straw kneaded together, and then not burned, but thoroughly dried in the sun. This is expressly mentioned by Philo in his life of Moses, who says, describing the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt, that some were obliged to work in clay for the formation of bricks, and others to gather straw for the same purpose, because straw is the bond by which the brick is held together, πλινθου γαρ αχορα δεσμος. - PHIL. Oper., edit. MANG., vol. ii., p. 86. And Philo's account is confirmed by the most intelligent travellers. Dr. Shaw says that the straw in the bricks still preserves its original colour, which is a proof that the bricks were never burned. Some of these are still to be seen in the cabinets of the curious; and there are several from ancient Babylon now before me, where the straw which was amalgamated with the clay is still perfectly visible. From this we may see the reason of the complaint made to Pharaoh, Ex 5:16: the Egyptians refused to give the necessary portion of straw for kneading the bricks, and yet they required that the full tale or number of bricks should be produced each day as they did when all the necessary materials were brought to hand; so the people were obliged to go over all the cornfields, and pluck up the stubble, which they were obliged to substitute for straw. See Ex 5:12.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Exo 5:7. Straw — To mix with the clay.…
Exo 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 not wanted for burning them with it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7, 12 Some of the most ancient buildings in Egypt were…
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.
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Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 12, 14 Straw, beaten small and mixed with clay, to make…
Straw, beaten small and mixed with clay, to make brick and mortar. See Ezechiel xiii. 11, 15; Chardin, Perse ii. p. 76.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 12, 13 Ye shall no more give the people straw to…
Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick--The making of bricks appears to have been a government monopoly as the ancient bricks are nearly all stamped with the name of a king, and they were formed, as they are still in Lower Egypt, of clay mixed with chopped straw and dried or hardened in the sun. The Israelites were employed in this drudgery; and though they still dwelt in Goshen and held property in flocks and herds, they were compelled in rotation to serve in the brick quarries, pressed in alternating groups, just as the fellaheen, or peasants, are marched by press gangs in the same country still.
let them go and gather straw for themselves--The enraged despot did not issue orders to do an impracticable thing. The Egyptian reapers in the corn harvest were accustomed merely to cut off the ears and leave the stalk standing.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv11–12 11. Get you straw — For the sun-baked bricks,…
11. Get you straw — For the sun-baked bricks, which were made of Nile mud mixed with cut straw, as is seen in specimens still preserved. Similar oppression and a like unreasonable exaction are on record in an Egyptian papyrus of the nineteenth dynasty, wherein the writer complains, “I have no one to help me in making bricks, no straw.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14 8. tale] that which is told or counted: an…
8. tale] that which is told or counted: an archaism for ‘number’ (= Germ. Zahl). So v. 18, 1Sa_18:27, 1Ch_9:28. Cf. Milton, L’Allegro, 67 f., ‘And every shepherd tells [i.e. counts: Psa_48:12; Psa_147:4] his tale [viz. of sheep] Under the hawthorn in the dale.’ The Heb. here means properly a rightly regulated amount.
therefore they cry, &c.] Their request to be allowed to make a pilgrimage to their God is merely a pretext for idleness.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 12, 13, 14 (7) Straw to make brick.—“The use of crude brick…
(7) Straw to make brick.—“The use of crude brick was general in Egypt for dwelling-houses, tombs, and ordinary buildings, the walls of towns, fortresses, and the sacred enclosures of temples, and for all purposes where stone was not required, which last was nearly confined to temples, quays, and reservoirs” (Wilkinson, in Rawlinson’s Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 213). These crude bricks were always made of the mud of the Nile, mixed with chopped straw, which served to bind them together (Rosellini, Monumenti Civili, vol. ii. p. 252).
Let them go and gather straw.—It has been estimated that this requirement would “more than double” the people’s toils (Canon Cook). They would have to disperse themselves over the harvest fields, often lying at a considerable distance from the brick-fields, to detach the straw from the soil, gather it into bundles, and convey it to the scene of their ordinary labours. Having done this they were then required to complete the ordinary “tale.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7–14 Straw to make brick. Straw was used in Egypt…
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. (See Wilkinson, in the author"s "Herodotus," vol. 2. p. 2130 It is usually chopped into small pieces. Let them go and gather straw. This would involve the leaving of the brickfields, and the scattering of the people over the harvest-grounds, where alone they would be able to find straw in any quantity. There are so many harvests in Egypt, that straw would perhaps be obtainable somewhere during the greater part of the year.
Bricks without straw.
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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, yet grudges every penny for the kitchen expenses. There are congregations which demand perpetual sermons of a high quality, yet do not either provide their pastors with sufficient money to buy books, or allow them sufficient leisure time for reading them. There are incumbents who act similarly by their curates, mercantile men who, mutatis mutandis, act so by their clerks, officials of all kinds who so treat their subordinates. The demand for bricks without straw is, unfortunately, far too common a demand. Let this note be set against it, that it is Pharaonic and tyrannical.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v7 Ye shall no more give the people straw.
Exo_5:7-12
Ye shall no more give the people straw.
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Requiring the impossible
I. That there are some people in society who strive to make those under them do the impossible. Pharaoh tried to make the Israelites do the impossible, when he commanded them to make bricks without providing them with straw. This demand of tyranny is heard to-day, in our large factories, and amongst our agricultural population.
1. All require men to do the impossible who wish them to work beyond their capabilities.
(1) Physical strength.
(2) Intellectual ability.
(3) Moral energy.
2. All require men to do the impossible who wish them to work beyond their opportunity. Every man must have time, and a proper time to do his work. He must not be expected to do two things at once.
3. Contemplate the method employed to get men to do the impossible. These methods are various. Some will condescend to flattery and cant to get men to do that for which they are wholly unadapted. Others will use force and persecution.
(1) They set taskmasters over us. To watch our conduct. To inspect our work. To augment our burden. To darken our sorrow.
(2) They abuse us. They say we are idle, and that even after we have made the best attempt within our power to fall in with their unjust demands.
(3) They mock our religious sentiment. Therefore, ye say, let us go and do sacrifice unto the Lord. They impeach our religious motives. These, then, are the ways and methods in which we are treated, when tyrants endeavour to compel us to do the impossible.
(4) Some people will attempt to accomplish the impossible. It will involve you in utter failure and distress at last, when you will get no sympathy from those who urged you to it.
II. That the people who strive to make those under them do the impossible are throwing society into an attitude of pain and complaint. Then the officers of the Children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants.
1. The requirement of the impossible tends to throw society into an attitude of pain. National happiness is to a very large extent the outcome of a free and sympathetic employment of the working classes.
2. The requirement of the impossible tends to throw society into an attitude of complaint.
III. That the people who strive to make those under them do the impossible, and who throw society into an attitude of pain are but little affected by the woe they occasion, and generally resent any mention of it to them. Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.
1. Notwithstanding the outcry of the oppressed, the tyrant demands renewed work. Go therefore now, and work.
2. Notwithstanding the outcry of the oppressed, the tyrant adheres to his cruel measures. There shall no straw be given you.
3. Notwithstanding the outcry of the oppressed, the tyrant mocks their woe, and treats them with contempt.
Lessons:
1. Never require the impossible.
2. Never attempt the impossible.
3. Adapt methods to ends.
4. Cultivate kindly dispositions toward your employers. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
Lacking the essential
Writing on the treatment of his brother, General A. S. Johnston, Mr. W. P. Johnston says: His command was imperial in extent, and his powers and discretion as large as the theory of the Confederate Government permitted. He lacked nothing except men, munitions of war, and the means of obtaining them! He had the right to ask for anything, and the State executives had the power to withhold everything. (H. O. Mackey.)
Strawless bricks
I. An illustration of the painful aggravations of the lot of the toilers of every age.
II. An illustration of the unsatisfactory efforts of men seeking for happiness apart from religion.
III. An illustration of the powerlessness of all religious systems not possessed of a living Christ.
IV. An illustration of futile endeavours to attain Christian peace without exercising living faith. (F. Hastings.)
The world and Satan opposed to the Christians spiritual progress
If thou come to serve the Lord, saith the wisdom of the Son of Sirach, prepare thy soul for temptation. Have you listened to the gracious pleading of the Spirit of God, in sincere anxiety for a complete and eternal deliverance? You will meet with hindrances, one of the first will arise from those who make a mock at sin, who deride the privileges and duties of pure and undefiled religion.
I. The prejudices of the careless and worldly against sincere and vital godliness.
1. It is regarded as the dream and vision of a heated and enthusiastic imagination.
2. It is regarded as inconsistent with a proper attention to the duties of active life.
II. Another temptation which satan employs to oppose an entire devotion of the heart to God, is by exaggerating the importance of worldly pursuits. Let there be more work laid upon the men. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, if he shall lose his own soul? A double caution may be deduced:
1. To those who would hinder the spiritual freedom of others whom they may control or influence; as Pharaoh would have impeded the political deliverance of Israel. You may settle from Scripture and prayer whether the resolutions and desires you oppose arise from the inspiration of God, or the imagination of men. Woe to him that striveth with his Maker.
2. You who are thus hindered, remember that Scripture addresses you with a cautionary voice Be not slothful in business. (J. R. Buddicom.)
The burdens increased
Note that--
I. Benefactors may expect misrepresentation. Moses was censured; Christ rejected by His own. The enemy will slander. Our hope is in working only for God.
II. Sin asks to be let alone. Pharaoh blamed Moses; Ahab blamed Elijah; the Jews blamed the disciples.
III. Sin becomes more terrible with age. Pharaoh grew more exacting, and the people weaker; he answers prayers with falsehoods and insults. Sin toys with youth, but scourges manhood.
IV. All appeal must be made to God. Moses turned to God; he did not censure the elders.
V. It is darkest just before day. Sin grows worse till it breaks down. It threatens in order to drown conscience. (Dr. Fowler.)
Sin more tyrannical when men would escape from it
When Moses demanded from Pharaoh the liberation of the Hebrews, the tyrant increased their burdens; and in like manner, when the soul rises to expel evil from its domain, it then for the first time discovers the full bitterness of its bondage. Its earliest impulse thereon is to blame the truth which awakened it to a sense of its degradation, for causing the misery which it only revealed. The preacher is accounted cruel when he has been only faithful; and his hearer accuses him of personal malice when he has been only holding up a mirror wherein the angry one caught a glimpse of himself. But all these are hopeful signs. They are, indeed, when rightly regarded and fostered, the prophecies of a coming conversion. The docile slave, who is contented with his condition, is petted and made much of by his master; but if he tries to run away, he is immediately put into fetters. So, when we are roused to battle with sin, it is then that, most of all, we feel its power. Satan does his worst on the soul just as he is about to be expelled from its possession. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Means necessary to work
I. That man cannot accomplish work without means. A man cannot write a book without intellect, or build a church without money, or save souls without intimate communion with God. Folly to make the attempt.
II. That one man has often the power to intercept the means by which another man works.
III. that when men are robbed of their means of work, they are thrown into great straits.
IV. Any man who intercepts the wore. Of another takes a fearful responsibility upon himself. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The Church cast upon her own resources
I. That the church is often cast upon her own resources. Times of dark depression.
II. That when human aid is thus withdrawn, men expect from the church the same amount of work that she accomplished before.
III. That when the church does not accomplish her work is fully and speedily under these difficult circumstances, she is persecuted and slandered by the world. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The discipline of failure
The intervention of Moses in behalf of his people was not, at first, attended with happy results. The people themselves were abject and spiritless, and Pharaoh was stubborn and unyielding. The condition of the Hebrews grew worse instead of better. And yet, it was but passing through a stage as helpful to its ultimate success as any other. Great enterprises are wont to encounter such cheeks in their initial stages. The worm that is to be a butterfly must go into the condition of a chrysalis, and lie motionless, and seemingly dead. The seed that is to be a plant must fall into the ground and die. Men want the rapid, the grand, and noticeable; and the kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation. Men desire deliverance, but they do not like the process of deliverance. Yet such checks are tests of character, trials of mens faith and earnestness. Moses did not despair of a cause because it had met with a reverse. He believed that the cause was Gods. He believed in himself as Gods instrument to make it victorious. Now I have said that this sort of discipline is common; and doubtless it is needful and salutary. A defeat at the outset, duly used, is the security of an augmented success. Yet, at no age is the trial that is ever repeating itself, though it be with diminished force, an unprofitable subject of contemplation--the trial of an over-sanguine expectation followed by painful and disheartening failure. Such an one, starting with a full, strong confidence in his own sincerity and earnestness, looks for large and speedy results. The strong man armed keepeth his house, and his goods are in safety. He looks at him over the ramparts with placid contempt. And now comes the hour of despondency. His ministry is a failure. He is nothing; he can do nothing. Men will not heed his message. The trial of your faith is more precious than of gold that perisheth. Try it again. Thou shalt see greater things than these. God will help thee, and that right early. And thou shalt come again with joy, and bring thy sheaves with thee. (R. A. Hallam, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v10 MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_5:10-14
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_5:10-14
THE TRUE PICTURE OF A GREAT TYRANT
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In the Word of God we have many patterns of human life and moral conduct. We have depicted the proud man in his gaiety, the covetous man with his wealth, the foolish man in his folly, and the tyrant in his cruelty. These pictures of life are eminently calculated to answer a useful and practical purpose. When the picture is of moral goodness and virtue, it is calculated to inspire with its beauty, and to lead men to an imitation of it. When, however, it is of tyranny, as in the case before us, it is likely to awaken supreme contempt, and deep abhorrence for it. There is in man a certain intuition which always utters a response to these representations of conduct, especially when they are presented in a pictorial form, as then they appeal to the imagination, and make a far deeper impression upon the mind than any mere precept could. In these pictorial representations of character there is real life; we feel that we are in contact with men who exhibit feeling, who speak, who act, whose bearing is in harmony with our own inner experiences: hence they take deep hold of your souls. We hope that the picture sketched in the verses of this paragruph will give us such a vivid realization of the cruelty and horror of tyranny that we shall flee from it ourselves, and endeavour to repress it in others. We observe—
I. That tyrants generally take offence at and make the slightest interference with their conduct the occasion of additional hardship to their slaves. The narrative informs us that Moses and Aaron had been divinely commissioned to go to Pharaoh, and rebuke his treatment of the Israelites, and to demand their freedom.
1. Thus we see that it is the duty of good men to rebuke tyrants. God calls men, and especially qualifies them, to rebuke tyrants who are oppressing humanity. It would appear as if Pharaoh had almost had his own way in the oppression of Israel. Egypt had not intercepted him, nor had the Israelites risen in rebellion against him, nor had any heroic champion undertaken their cause; they were the slaves of a monarch who acted towards them according to the arbitrary and cruel impulse of his iron will. And this had been the case for years. He has, therefore, grown impatient of rebuke, and especially when administered by comparative strangers. It does sometimes happen that tyrants are allowed long to pursue their course of cruel oppression without interruption; hence they are imperious. But God will one day arrest them by a stern message. He will send an heroic servant, qualified by heavenly vision and a clear insight into the purposes of the future, who shall meet the tyrant in his own palace, and reveal a power supreme and unconquerable, before which he will have to yield. Some good people think it best to let tyrants alone, to let them work their own cruel purpose until they come to their sad end, when they will die unpitied.16 They imagine it foolish to arouse their rage by interference, to awaken them to further cruelties to those already under their charge. We say that this is a wrong and cowardly method of viewing the matter. We are unwarranted in allowing tyrants to reign for a day; in standing near while multitudes are suffering the agonies of a bondage they have not power to resist. In such an emergency we must be men; above all, we must be Christian men. It is our duty to demand the freedom of the oppressed, and, if necessary, to use stringent measures to obtain it. We must be tired with a holy courage, and go as angels to snap the letters of the bondmen, and bring them into sweet liberty.
2. That good men who rebuke tyrants are likely to involve themselves in anxiety and conflict. Moses and Aaron who have just rebuked Pharaoh for his cruelly to, and demanded the freedom of, Israel, have by so doing, commenced a struggle that will involve them in lifelong trouble and anxiety. And so it is now. To rebuke a tyrant is a difficult matter, and especially if he occupies a high social position. There are always men of policy, place-hunters, who will defend such a man as Pharaoh, animated by the hope of future gain: hence such hollow-hearted hypocrites are the first to insult, and, if possible, to defeat, the earnest endeavours of the good to relieve the slave of his chains. A few such sycophants as these can contrive plots, circulate slander, and awaken animosities very difficult to be overcome. Many a man has rendered sad his life by interfering with a tyrant in the interest of humanity at large. Such a sacrifice of personal comfort is hard to make, but is often required at the hands of those who would be the heroic emancipators of the enslaved. Such will get their reward. They will win a calm peacefulness of soul which outward clamour will not be able to disturb, and the gratitude of the world. Instance Wilberforce.
3. That good men by their rebuke often awaken tyrants to further animosity. We are painfully conscious that the attempts at freedom are not at first successful; they require long-continued operations, which are likely to augment the rage of the despot they seek to dethrone: hence during the process of emancipation all slavery is rendered more cruel and despicable.17 But this is only the prophecy of ultimate freedom, and will soon obtain its fulfilment in the songs of ransomed Israel. The heroic good are not responsible for this additional cruelty, but it is a tribute to the energy of their effort; and instead of discouraging those who are called to endure it, it should inspire them with hope, as the darkest part of night is that just preceded by the dawn. All tyrants are impatient of the interference of others.
II. That tyrants generally employ others to carry their messages and to execute their purposes of cruelty. Probably Pharaoh seldom saw the enslaved Israelites, or the burdens they were made to bear, and the cruelty to which they were subjected. He only knew the treasure-cities they were building, and the way in which they enriched his royal coffers. He simply gave his orders to the taskmasters and they executed them. He had little or no personal oversight over his slaves.
1. Tyrants are generally too indolent and indifferent to take a personal oversight of their slaves. Pharaoh would prefer lounging about in his royal palace to the trouble of a personal inspection of his slaves. The walk to them would be too much for him. Besides, he would not risk the consequences of such a visit. The condition of Israel was so sad, their work so hard, their scourging so brutal, and their bondage so severe, that even his heart, stone-like as it was, might feel regret at their woe. The human heart in the worst of wretches, and in the greatest tyrants, will assert its natural feeling of pity, even though it be unwelcome to those within whom it is awakened. The remembrance of Israel’s wrongs might haunt him in the day time, and disturb his slumbers by horrid dreams at night. He would, therefore, keep at a distance from his slaves, that he might not hear their cries, and that he might live on almost unconscious of their woes. There are few men who can visit the wrongs and woe they occasion; they prefer to live at a distance from it. True, there are some hardy sinners who can stand unmoved surrounded by the victims of their tyranny.
2. Tyrants generally prefer the excitement of pleasing amusement. Pharaoh in the Egyptian Palace, and, as the centre of an Oriental court, would not be wanting in amusements and occupations congenial to his passionate desires. He would much more prefer the pleasantry and magnificent entertainment of his royal surroundings than visiting his slaves. Hence he employed others who should exercise a direct supervision over them. Tyrants like to make others responsible for the injuries they inflict.
III. That tyrants generally demand work under conditions that render it almost impossible. Pharaoh commanded that henceforth the Israelites should make bricks without the regular provision of straw. The officials were forbidden to find it for them: hence they were scattered about the country to obtain it for themselves. This occupied much of their time, and yet the same amount of work was required from them. So tyrants are unjust and inconsiderate in their demands. They are unreasonable. There are many of this kind in the world to-day. There are some in the commercial world; they expect their servants to make bricks without straw, to make money without capital. There are some in the Church: they expect Ministers to make bricks without straw, to fill the chapel when no one will help him, to save souls when no one prays for him. There are lots of people in the world who expect those under them to do the impossible, and this is the essential spirit and demand of tyranny. Only a despot will require of a man more than he can happily and reasonably render.
IV. That Tyrants bring grief upon the lives of others without the slightest regret, and are utterly destitute of human feeling. Who can imagine the condition of Israel at this time? Their slavery throughout has been one of calamity and woe, but never has it been more severe than now. This is the supreme moment of the tyrant’s rage. The burden of Israel’s work is unbearable. Their lives are full of grief. All public spirit is crushed out of them. And this is always the result of despotic rule; it brings misery upon a nation; it crushes the energy out of a people; it makes them incapable of noble impulse, or of heroic action. The saddest pictures of past history are those connected with the records of tyranny.18 The tear and voice of sorrow cannot move the heart of a despot, he is accustomed to their wail.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
THE TASKMASTERS OF THE PEOPLE
Exo_5:10.
I. As coming out from the presence of a cruel monarch The taskmasters and officers were, no doubt, some of them chosen from the Israelites, as they would be more likely to find out any plot that might be contrived for their freedom, and they would have more influence with their brethren in the event of a rebellion. They had been in companionship with Pharaoh. They would be no better for this. Men are always morally the worse for spending an hour with a tyrant. They almost unconsciously imbibe his spirit. They become familiar with his vocabulary.
II. As uttering from Pharaoh a cruel message. When you see a man coming out from companionship with a tyrant, you may expect that he will soon speak a message of cruelty. When tyrants are together, their counsel generally has reference to the oppression of the weak.
III. As imposing from Pharaoh a cruel task. Israel was to make bricks without straw. Tyranny is very inventive. It is never at a loss for a method whereby to augment the woe of those whose slavery it has achieved.
“I will not give you straw.” Cold comfort! Things commonly go backward with the saints before they go forward, as the corn groweth downward ere it grow upward. Hold out, faith and patience; deliverance is at next door. When things are worst, they will mend. (Trapp.)
The cruel commands of despotic monarchs are quickly obeyed by their instruments.
Instruments must do and say what persecuting powers command.
Some messengers may deliver glad tidings to God’s people with gladness, others with regret.
A sad message:—
1. Sent by a tyrant.
2. Sent through his servants.
3. Sent to the people of God.
4. Sent under permission of Providence.
MEANS NECESSARY TO WORK
Exo_5:1.
I. That man cannot accomplish work without means. Israel not make bricks without straw. Neither can men undertake any work without the means necessary to its accomplishment. A man cannot write a book without intellect. He cannot build a church without money. He cannot save souls without intimate communion with God. He cannot gather riches without industry. He cannot influence social without moral purity. Men cannot make bricks without straw. The great folly is that they try. They are men trying the impossible. They are of weak intellect, yet they want literary fame; they are of feeble sympathies, yet they long for the honours of emancipation; they are animated by a dream, they pursue a phantom.
II. That one man has often the power to intercept the means by which another man works. Pharaoh had the power to take away the straw from the Israelites, which afore-time had been given to them to make their bricks. So, one man has the power to intercept the methods by which the intellect, the genius, the activities, of another are accustomed to work. We can take away the straw by which our brother has been accustomed to make his bricks. And many, animated by envy, covetousness, and despotism, render those around them almost incapable of toil. Hence many bright visions are dispelled, many long-indulged expectations are disappointed, and many hours are beclouded with sorrow, through the interference of such overt tyranny.
III. That when men are robbed of their means of work they are thrown into great straits. The Israelites were scattered all through the land of Egypt, to seek stubble instead of straw, whereby to fulfil their toil. Men must work. They are not to be entirely stopped by hindrances, but they are greatly impeded by them. They are rendered unhappy. They know not where to supply the place of that they have lost. Their amount of work is greatly diminished. One man has the ability to render the task of another difficult.
IV. Any man who intercepts the work of another takes a fearful responsibility upon himself. The man who takes away the straw whereby another man works is involving himself in terrible responsibility. The poorest workman can make a brick if he cannot build a house. Do not impede his labour; if you do, God will measure out to you a just retribution. Many men who are now dead would have left the world a far richer legacy of thought and labour, if the straw had not been taken from them in the day of their effort. Woe to the Pharaoh who gave orders for its removal, and who sent these great minds to gather stubble in the broad universe, anywhere where they could meet with more kindly shelter and aid.
THE CHURCH CAST UPON HER OWN RESOURCES
Exo_5:12.
I. That the Church is often cast upon her own resources. There are times when men withdraw the aid they have long given to the Church. They issue orders that no more straw is to be placed at her disposal. Men of the world do not give the Church her due. She is thrown back upon her own resources, upon her own originality, suggestiveness, and, supremely, upon her God. She has to go into the wide world to seek aid in the performance of her holy toil. She has to make use of the meanest agencies, even of stubble, now that her straw is withheld. These are times of dark depression.
II. That when human aid is thus withdrawn, men expect from the church the same amount of work that she accomplished before. Pharaoh expected from the Israelites the same amount of work daily after the straw was withheld, as before. So, notwithstanding that the Church has to go in search of new agencies, and awaken new instrumentalities, yet in the time of her depression men unreasonably expect that she will achieve the same amount of toil. Let our business men give the Church the straw, the wealth, the consecrated talent she needs, and ought to have from them, and she will soon double her diligence and duty.
III. That when the Church does not accomplish her work as fully and speedily under these difficult circumstances, she is persecuted and slandered by the world. Exo_5:14. Thus the Church, in the most trying moments of her history, is misunderstood, misrepresented, slandered, and persecuted by those to whom she has rendered unnumbered and incalculable service.19
Cruel commands of persecuting powers are obeyed by afflicted souls.
Dispersion from fellow workers is a hard burden on them, from whom work is exacted.
It is a contradictory thing to drive men from work, and yet expect daily labours.
Such hard undertakings are the servants of God sometimes called to bear.
Exo_5:13-14. Reasons why men do not perform their work.
Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to-day, as heretofore?
I. Some men say that they do not work because they cannot see any to do. They say that no one will employ them to make bricks. When men make this excuse we seldom believe them. In a country like this, where every kind of industry is carried on, no honest, intelligent, and diligent worker need be without employment. This excuse is generally the plea of the idle vagrant, rather than the statement of real fact. It may occasionally and for a time be made with truth.
II. Some men do not work because they are physically incapacitated. They are unable to make bricks. They may have been born with the defective use of their bodily limbs, hence they are not able to enter upon the industrious pursuits of a busy life. Such cases are numerous. They are deserving of special asylums for their benefit. They should always excite our sympathy, and the best aid we can render.
III. Some men do not work because they are indolent. They will not make bricks. They say there are no bricks to be made. They are idle. Such men are a curse to themselves, to their families, and to the nation at large. The law ought to have power to make them work, and earn honestly their daily bread. They are the cause of half the woe that comes upon our country.
IV. Some men do not work as they would because they are prevented from doing so by the injustice of others. These Israelites did not make as many bricks as they otherwise would have done had Pharaoh supplied them with straw, as was his duty. There are multitudes of good workmen kept from the full and complete performance of their daily work by the injustice and tyranny of their superiors or even by their comrades. Not even kings ought to have the power to prevent the easy and happy workmanship of their subjects. What a vast amount of profitable labour would be lost to Egypt through this conduct on the part of Pharaoh. That nation, as a rule, will be the strongest and happiest in which there is the greatest facility for good and joyous work.
In the absence of help, cruel taskmasters are hasty to call for work.
Full work is called for by wicked exactors, where means of doing it are withheld.
Daily work is commanded by oppressors when they deny daily bread.
Hard blows as well as harsh words cruel powers inflict upon God’s harmless ones.
Tender officers are made to smart by superiors, because they dare not oppress others under them.
Unreasonable demands are the best reasons which oppressors give for their cruelty.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY THE
REV. WM. ADAMSON
Exo_5:10-14.
(16)—Tyrants!—Such is the policy of statesmen in these days. The King of Dahomey has been allowed year after year to indulge in the most horrid and repulsive acts of tyrannic cruelty on the plea that if you give a man rope he is sure to hang himself. Similarly the Emoeior of Abyssinia was permitted to practise the most perfidious persecutions, until the honour of England was touched. The lion remained quiet whilst the hyena destroyed other animals, and only aroused himself when the wild beast’s foot touched his mane. A similar policy of non-intervention led to increased despotism on the part of King Bomba, and to the aggravated tyranny on the part of Spain over the inhabitants of Cuba. So odious have been the cruelties perpetrated by the Spaniards, that heaven is rejected by the natives as a place likely to contain Spaniards.
“The natural bond
Of brotherhood is severed as the flax
That falls asunder at the touch of fire.”
—Cowper.
Exo_5:10-14.
(17)—National Liberty!—Numerons and bright are the laurel wreaths with which poetry has decked the names of such patriots as Wallace, Tell, Kossuth, Cavour, and Garibaldi. Yet, after all, men may be patriots, men may achieve their country’s freedom, and yet themselves be slaves. Some have been still themselves bonds, men to their own passions, bondsmen to sin—
“Who then is free? the wise who well maintains
An empire o’er himself.”
—Horace.
No word has been more prostituted. The theme of every factious demagogue, the watchword of every traitor, liberty becomes a name which the honest and well disposed almost tremble to hear. As though lawlessness Were freedom, and submission to good government slavery. The slave of his every passion will proclaim himself the worshipper of liberty. The man who would sweep away religion from a State makes a boast of seeking its freedom. So that, in a sense in which it was not designed, we may use the lines of Edwards—
“Like Sicily’s mountain, whose fires never die,
Thy presence on earth is contest;
A beacon of wrath when it flames on high,
And a mighty fear when at rest.
Like thee it awakes from its terrible sleep,
And o’er the dark rock and green valley sweep.”
Exo_5:10-14.
(18)—Records of Tyranny Many are familiar with those recorded in the Bible from Pharaoh and Adonibezek to Herod and Nero. The records of secular history are even darker still The emperor Trajan was stalled in his day the best, so that the prayer was: “May you have the virtue and goodness of a Trajan.” Yet his chief pastime was in the arena of the gladiators. In his tortures of the Christians he called into requisition fire and poison, daggers and dungeons, wild beasts and serpents. Clemens Romanus he cast into the sea with an anchor round his neck, while Ignatius was cast to the famished lions in the amphitheatre. The Emperor Commodus took pleasure in cutting off the feet and putting out the eyes of such as be met in his rambles through the city. Dr. Leland writes that nothing could exceed the cruelty of the Spartans to their slaves. It was part of their policy to massacre them on stated occasions, in cold blood, by forming ambuscades in thickets and clefts of locks. They received a certain number of lashes annually to remind them of their condition—
“Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn.”
—Burns.
As witness the bloody pictures of Russian tyranny in regard to the Poles and Circassians with the cruel knout; or the more extended and aggravated cruelties of the Roman despotism upon the Vaudois of the Valleys of the Piedmont, as well as of Germany, Bohemia, France, Spain, and England. And that tyrants come at last to be indifferent to the sorrows and sufferings of their slaves appears from the account given by Arvine Of feminine cruelty in the West Indies. Educated in this country, she returned to her home at the age of fifteen to be married. After some years, she again paid a visit to her old friends in Ireland, who were appalled to listen to her sentiments upon slavery, and to her statements as to the way in which West India ladies treated their slaves. She confessed that she bad often snatched their baby from their bosom, run with it to a well, tied her shawl round its shoulders, and pretended to be drowning it As she told this she was convulsed with laughter. Domitian could not have practised more refined cruelty. Not that these are the only aspects of tyranny. As Byron asks—
“Thinkest thou there is no tyranny but that
Of blood and chains? The despotism of vice—
The weakness and the wickedness of luxury,
The negligence, the apathy, the evils
Of sensual sloth—produce ten thousand tyrants.”
Exo_5:10-14.
(19)—Church Work!—This is specially true of missionary enterprise. We sometimes hear complaints of the slow progress of missions, as though nothing had been done. These charges invariably come from men who have wilfully withheld the straw. And yet the wonder is that the tale of bricks has been so good. Judson began his Burmese mission in 1814, but the Americans who supported him then were by no means liberal in their supplies. Yet in 1870, a hundred thou, sand converts could be counted. If the progress was slow we see that it was also sure. It was none the worse for being progressive. Peter’s lengthened shadow did not fall on all the gathered sick at once in Jerusalem; even so is Christianity going through the earth—lengthening as she advances.
“Over the winter glaciers
I see the summer glow,
And through the wide-piled snowdrift,
The warm rosebuds glow.”
—Emerson.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v10 The People Complain to Pharaoh
The People Complain to Pharaoh
v. 10. And the taskmasters of the people went out and their officers, the Egyptian overseers and their Hebrew subordinates, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. The royal decree was to be carried out to the letter not a single straw was to be furnished. The Jewish scribes, or officers, had by this time become willing tools in the hands of the despots.
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v. 11. Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it; yet not aught of your work shall be diminished. There is an emphasis on the pronoun: Ye yourselves go, not others, as heretofore.
v. 12. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. They did not even have access to straw-stacks, but were obliged to go out into the harvested fields and collect the stubble.
v. 13. And the taskmasters hasted them, urged them forward vehemently, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, the amount of labor which had been allotted them day by day, for each day, as when there was straw, when the necessary material for binding the clay was furnished.
v. 14. And the officers of the children of Israel which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, as their own subordinates, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as heretofore? When the number of bricks allotted to any company of the Israelites was not forthcoming, because it was a physical impossibility both to provide the straw and to make the bricks, the Jewish officers were held responsible and were punished.
v. 15. Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? It was an attempt to protest against the tyrannical injustice of the measure.
v. 16. There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick; and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people, the sin is that of thy people. Their cry was an indirect complaint against the king himself, whom they did not dare to reproach outright.
v. 17. But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle; therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. He emphatically repeated his baseless charge, v. 8.
v. 18. Go, therefore, now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. The unjust order was not only not remanded, but repeated by Pharaoh’s own mouth, So that there could be no mistake about it.
v. 19. And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, literally, they were in bad, their position was now worse than it was before, after it was said, Ye shall not minish aught from your bricks of your daily task. The fact that the oppression of the children of Israel was increased in this manner was a last severe trial for them. God wanted to test their faith in the certainty of His promise regarding the deliverance which was near.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 12 Egyptians whose job was to force the Israelites to…
taskmasters
Egyptians whose job was to force the Israelites to do hard work. See how you translated this in Exodus 1:11.
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I will no longer give you any straw ... get straw wherever you can find it
The word "you" in these verses is plural and refers to the Israelite people. (See: Forms of You)
You yourselves must go
Here "yourselves" emphasizes that the Egyptians will no longer help them. (See: Reflexive Pronouns)
your workload will not be reduced
This can be stated in positive form. AT: "you must continue to make the same number of bricks as before"
translationWords
Pharaoh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v7 5:7 Straw is a binder to help clay and…
5:7 Straw is a binder to help clay and mud bricks retain their form while drying in the sun.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.