Pharaoh's Vindictive Response to Their Approach (Exodus 5:5-19).
a Pharaoh says, the people of the land are many and you make them rest from their burdens (Exodus 5:5).
b Pharaoh commands officers and taskmaster not to give straw to the people, they must gather straw for themselves (Exodus 5:6-7).
c But the tally of bricks produced must not diminish because they are idle in seeking to sacrifice to their God (Exodus 5:8).
d Heavier work is to be laid on the people so that they do not listen to lying words (Exodus 5:9).
e The officers and taskmasters of Egypt explain that Pharaoh has said, ‘Do not give them straw'. (Exodus 5:10).
f They are to get straw where they can but their tally must not be diminished (Exodus 5:11).
f The people scatter through the land to get stubble for use as straw (where they can), and the taskmasters say, ‘fulfil you daily quotas as when there was straw' (Exodus 5:13).
e The officers of the children of Israel are beaten and asked why they have not produced their quotas on the same level as before. They complain to Pharaoh that they are not given straw (Exodus 5:14-16 a).
d They complain to Pharaoh that they are expected to make bricks, and are beaten whereas the fault lies with his people (as a result of being made to work more heavily) (Exodus 5:15-16).
c He replies that they are idle which is why they seek to sacrifice to Yahweh (Exodus 5:17).
b They are therefore to go and work and no straw is to be given to them, although they must still deliver their quotas (Exodus 5:18).
a The officers of the children of Israel recognise their evil situation when they are told that they must fulfil their daily quotas (Exodus 5:19).
Note that in ‘a' it is Pharaoh's case that they are seeking a relatively easy time, while in the parallel it is the case of the officers of the children of Israel that their situation is evil. In ‘b' Pharaoh commands the Egyptian officers and taskmaster not to give straw to the people, they must gather straw for themselves, while in the parallel they are to go and work and no straw is to be given to them, although they must still deliver their quotas. In ‘c' Pharaoh insists that the tally of bricks must be maintained because they are idle, as revealed by their desire to go and offer sacrifices, while in the parallel he replies that they are idle which is why they seek to sacrifice to Yahweh. In ‘d' heavier work is to be laid on the people so that they do not listen to lying words, while in the parallel they are beaten because heavier work is laid on them by forcing them to make bricks and collect the straw for themselves, so that the fault lies with the Egyptians. In ‘e' the officers and taskmasters of Egypt explain to the children of Israel that Pharaoh has said, ‘Do not give them straw', while in the parallel the officers of the children of Israel are beaten and asked why they have not produced their quotas on the same level as before, at which they complain to Pharaoh that they are not given straw. In ‘f' they are told that they are to get straw where they can but their tally must not be diminished, while in the parallel the people scatter through the land to get stubble for use as straw where they can, and the taskmasters say, ‘fulfil you daily quotas as when there was straw' (they must not be diminished).
‘And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens.” '
“The people of the land.” An interesting term. It is clear that the children of Israel were now seen as permanent residents in Goshen, and possibly constituted the majority. They are said to be ‘many'. Had they been but a few permission might have been granted, but such permission here would result in almost total cessation of work on Pharaoh's projects.
Pharaoh's complaint is that Moses and Aaron are making the people rest from their burdens. In other words they are making cultic activity an excuse for not fulfilling their responsibilities.
‘And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their administrative scribes, saying, “You shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as you have done before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the recorded requirement of bricks which they made previously, you shall require of them. You shall not diminish any of it, for they are idle. That is why they cry, saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our god'.”
Pharaoh now demonstrated his view of the situation. Their request was not one made from genuine religious motives, but in order to dodge work. They must therefore be taught a lesson that they would not forget. He would not have had any real knowledge of their struggles to survive or of their hardships. He would simply have judged them by the standards of himself and his palace officials. It was a similar attitude to that of Catherine the Great of Russia, who when told of the shortage of bread in Russia so that the people were starving, said, ‘Let them eat cake'. She thought that they were just being pernickety. She had no idea of the sparse conditions under which they lived and that to them cake was something that was totally unheard of. In the same way this Pharaoh had his eyes closed to the real conditions under which the Israelites lived, and reacted accordingly. This whole attitude would tie in with someone like Amenophis IV whose whole sense of religion was concentrated on one god, and considered all other worship to be sacrilege. (But while he worshipped Aten he did not withdraw the worship of himself. His people worshipped Aten through him). On the other hand it could have been true of any Pharaoh who despised gods other than those of Egypt.
Straw was required to make the bricks, probably to act as a binding agent. This has been confirmed by the examination of Egyptian brickwork. The bricks were made of Nile mud mixed with the straw and were made in frames or moulds and then left to dry in the sun. But the people were now to be required to gather the straw themselves and yet maintain the level of production. (They do not, as suggested by some commentators, make bricks without straw at any stage). An interesting supporting comment is found in an Egyptian papyrus in which a man, who had to supervise or construct a building, said, "I am not provided with anything. There are no men for making bricks, and there is no straw in the district."
“The taskmasters -- the administrative scribes.” These are the "nogesim" and the "shoteray". Usually these are translated as "taskmasters" and "officers". However, from Egyptian pictures it is possible to determine the functions of these two officials. The first one was actually a driver or a presser, and this corresponds to the Egyptian word for "overseer", the one who supervised the men at work and oppressed them to his heart's content, even flogging them if he so desired. The other word is shoteray, and is derived from the word "shatar", which probably refers to writing and involves scribes. They had complete control over the construction, and of the bondsmen themselves, including their food and other particulars. They also had control over the supply of bricks and absenteeism. Some of the latter, if not all, were in this case Israelite officials appointed by the taskmasters (Exodus 5:15).
We must not be deceived by the fact that the people of Israel were slaves. In fact all Egyptians were slaves to Pharaoh as well. He was a god to them and his position had been firmly established in the time of the great famine (Genesis 47:20). Furthermore many foreign slaves would be employed in high places and hold powerful positions. But the majority of the people of Israel were not in that happy position, although some may well have been.
“The recorded requirement of bricks.” This literally involves the measuring of the bricks. The practical Egyptian did not count the bricks, but laid them in rows and measured them to assess the space they would fill in a building. Their facility with numbers was limited.
“For they are idle.” This was the common excuse for making unreasonable demands in order to obtain more work and larger production from slaves. Up to now the labour of the children of Israel had been harsh but bearable. We read elsewhere that they were able to cultivate their own plots of ground (Deuteronomy 11:10); to raise crops of cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic (Numbers 11:5); to catch fish (Numbers 11:5); and to attend public meetings (Exodus 4:30-31), although much might have been done by the womenfolk.
Now the pressure would come on them which would take them beyond the limit. In Pharaoh's view the reason that they were able to ask for time off was because they were not working full out. He would not take their desire to worship their God seriously. The well-to-do, who would shudder at the thought of doing such work themselves, and who live for enjoyment, have always very easily characterised working people who wanted some enjoyment for themselves as idle.
“Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may toil in it, and let them not regard lying words.”
In future the men were to be made to sweat even more, so that they would become really exhausted, and they were to be warned against accepting their leaders ‘lying tales' which he saw as just an excuse to avoid work, and as coming from troublemakers.
‘And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their administrative scribes, and they spoke to the people, saying, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, obtain yourselves straw wherever you can find it, for none of your required workload shall be diminished'.” So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.'
The people were informed of Pharaoh's decision, and they had to start looking for stubble to replace the straw which had previously been provided. All the straw in the fields had obviously been gathered in. Thus it was a matter of searching for stubble and then cutting it up to make it suitable for making bricks. And the extra time spent was not taken into account when deciding production levels
“Throughout all the land of Egypt.” It would seem possible that the decision affected not only the children of Israel but Habiru slaves throughout Egypt. Alternately the phrase might be a deliberate exaggeration to bring out how wide their search had to be and to emphasise the difficulties involved.
‘And the taskmasters pressed them hard saying, “Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.”
The Egyptian taskmasters had no pity, indeed it was their responsibility to ensure that the quotas were fulfilled lest they be punished. So they reacted by greater severity. There was to be no lessening of the number of bricks produced.
‘And the administration scribes of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten severely, and were asked, “Why have you not fulfilled your assignment both yesterday and today in making the same amount of bricks as previously?” '
Thus in the end the buck fell on the middlemen, the Israelite administrative scribes responsible for general management, and they were beaten severely because the quotas were not fulfilled and were asked why they had not fulfilled them in the way that they had previously.
‘Then the administrative scribes of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal with your servants in this way? There is no straw given to your servants, and they say to us, ‘Make brick', and behold your servants are beaten, but the fault is in your own people.” '
The managers professed that they could not believe that it was Pharaoh who had given the orders because they were so unreasonable, and they sought to blame the taskmasters, Pharaoh's ‘own people'. Instead of ‘the fault is in your own people' LXX and Syriac read ‘and you will be guilty of a wrong against your own people' but the Massoretic text fits better psychologically. It would not have been wise for them to accuse Pharaoh directly.
‘But he said, “You are idle, you are idle, that is why you say ‘Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.' Go therefore now and toil, for no straw will be given to you, yet you will deliver the expected quantity of bricks.” '
Pharaoh's reply was uncompromising. Notice the repetition. It expressed his animosity He stated that it was clear to him that they did not have enough to do or they would not have made the request to go and worship this Yahweh. Therefore they must carry on without being provided with straw and make sure they fulfilled their quota. ‘Go -- and toil.' he knew that what was being asked of them was difficult, but considered that they had deserved it.
‘And the administrative scribes of the children of Israel saw that they were in a dreadful position (literally ‘an evil') when it was said, “You shall not diminish anything from your bricks, your daily tasks”.'
Understandably the administrative scribes, the managers, felt let down. Moses and Aaron had taken on themselves (that was how they now saw it) to approach Pharaoh with their suggestion and now they, the managers, were paying for it. They called on Yahweh to judge, in view of the consequences, whether Moses and Aaron had been right to do what they did. It was a bitter request and heartfelt.