Exodus 5:7

_YE SHALL NO MORE GIVE THE PEOPLE STRAW TO MAKE BRICK, AS HERETOFORE: LET THEM GO AND GATHER STRAW FOR THEMSELVES._ Ye shall no more give the people straw. 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 many of them still dwelt in Goshen, and held property in flocks and herds, others were compelled in rotation to serve in the brick fields, pressed in alternating groups, just as the fellaheen, or peasants, are marched by press-gangs in the same country still. GO ... GATHER STRAW ... The enraged despot did not issue orders to do an impracticable thing. The Egyptian reapers in the grain-harvest were accustomed merely to cut...

1-9 God will own his people, though poor and despised, and will find a time to plead their cause. Pharaoh treated all he had heard with contempt. He had no knowledge of Jehovah, no fear of him, no love to him, and therefore refused to obey him. Thus Pharaoh's pride, ambition, covetousness, and political knowledge, hardened him to his own destruction. What Moses and Aaron ask is very reasonable, only to go three days' journey into the desert, and that on a good errand. We will sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Pharaoh was very unreasonable, in saying that the people were idle, and therefore talked of going to sacrifice. He thus misrepresents them, that he might have a pretence to add to their burdens. To this day we find many who are more disposed to find fault with their neighbours, for spending in the service of God a few hours spared from their wordly business, than to blame others, wh...

Verse Exodus 5:7. _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 t...

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....

EXPOSITION EXODUS 5:6-2 Rulers are not always content simply to refuse inconvenient demands. Sometimes they set to work with much ingenuity and worldly wisdom to prevent their repetition. This is especially the case where they entertain a fear of their petitioners. The Spartans removed Helots, who had earned their freedom, by the Crypteia. The massacre of St. Bartholomew was caused by the Huguenot demand for freedom of worship and the difficulty of repressing it. The Pharaoh now is not content to let things take their course, but devises a plan by which he hopes to crush altogether the aspirations of the Hebrew people, and secure himself against the recurrence of any such appeal as that which had been made to him by Moses and Aaron. The Israelites had recently been employed chiefly in brickmaking. They had had to dig the clay and temper it, to mix it with

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...

3. MOSES AND AARON IN EGYPT Chapter S 4:29-5:23 Before the Elders and Before Pharaoh _ 1. Before the elders of Israel (Exodus 4:29)_ 2. Before Pharaoh, and his answer (Exodus 5:1) 3. The increased oppression (Exodus 5:5) 4. Israel ‘s complaint and Moses' prayer (Exodus 5:20) The people were willing and believed. Notice they believed after the signs were done. Faith was followed by worship. It is almost a constitutional thing with the Jew to see first and then believe. Compare with John 20:26 . Then the messengers of

EXODUS 5:1 TO EXODUS 6:1 (Exodus 5:1 f. and Exodus 5:4 E, the rest J). PHARAOH'S FIRST REFUSAL to let Israel go, and his increase of their burdens. The bulk of the story is taken from J, but part of the opening shows that E told it too. One spoke of the God of Israel, the other of the God of the Hebrews: both related the demand for leave of absence in order to worship. Observe in J the primitive dread of an approach of the Divine Being unless an acceptable offering be at hand (Exodus 5:3, _cf._ Num

STRAW. _Tebn_, an Egyptian word for chaff, or chopped straw; not our Eng. stubble....

STRAW TO MAKE BRICK— The straw was mixed with clay and mud: "The composition of bricks in Egypt," Dr. Shaw tells us, "was only a mixture of clay, mud, and _straw,_ slightly blended and kneaded together, and afterwards baked in the sun. _Paleis cohaerent lateres,_ (_the sides of the bricks cohere to the straw,_) 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 burnt, or made in kilns." Travels, p. 136. REFLECTIONS.—They who have no fear of God, will have little compassion for man. _Observe,_ 1. Moses and Aaron entreat Pharaoh for three days' respite, lest God be angry for the neglect of his service. _Note;_ We have need to fear the visitations of the Lord, when we are found disusing his ordinances. 2. Pharaoh will not part with them for an hour; nay, reproache...