Exodus 5:10, commentary and pictures

Pharaoh's command was brought out to the people by his taskmasters together with the Hebrew officers, that no straw would any longer be supplied for brickmaking and the people must gather it for themselves. The full quota of bricks was still demanded though the material was withheld, imposing an unreasonable and impossible burden that deepened slavery and hardship. To make bricks without straw is to be ordered to carry necessary work forward while denied the facilities, help and means to do it, struggling under severe conditions beyond one's control. Work cannot be advanced without the resources it requires, so sending laborers and missionaries out without needed money, facilities and support, as handicapped the work begun in Australia and in new missionary fields, is to require bricks without straw. It also pictures the shortsighted ambition that expects results without providing support and the wrong done when the strong press or undervalue fellow workers, a lack felt in educational and publishing work when books must be produced and workers paid without money and means, sometimes because funds have been withheld through mismanagement and misuse.

Setting and Plain Meaning

The command belongs to the mission of Moses and Aaron to Egypt, coming after they had told the elders of Israel of God's dealings with Moses and had shown the signs God had given him. The taskmasters of the people went out with their officers to carry Pharaoh's order to the people, declaring that no straw would any longer be furnished for brickmaking and that the people must gather it for themselves. The supply of straw was cut off while the required tale of bricks was left unchanged, imposing an unreasonable burden that intensified their bondage and hardship.

Requiring Work Without Resources

The phrase making bricks without straw describes workers struggling to carry forward necessary work under severe, difficult conditions beyond their control. It pictures being told to go forward but given no facilities, help, or means, while still being expected to complete the work though denied what is needed to do it. Withholding the straw made the required brickmaking impossible to carry out as ordered, showing that work cannot be advanced without the resources it needs. That condition applied to the shortage of money and facilities that handicapped the work in Australia despite directions to begin it, as a new missionary field facing advancing work under a shortage of means.

Sending missionaries to do their work without the needed facilities and means is like requiring bricks without straw. The same image pictures having much to accomplish while lacking the means to do it, as when there is so much work to do and so little money available. Demanding brickmaking while withholding straw also pictures shortsighted ambition that expects work without providing necessary support, and the injustice done when the strong press or undervalue fellow workers.

Being expected to carry out work without the materials and means needed applies to the need for adequate resources to support educational and publishing work. Being required to produce bricks without straw applies to being expected to produce books and pay workers without the money or support needed for the work. The loss of the straw needed to make brick came because resources needed to advance the work had been withheld through mismanagement and misuse of funds in America, yet the work was not to stop, and money was borrowed to carry it forward.