Exodus 5:14
And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore? And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?
The Egyptian taskmasters set over Israel held Hebrew officers under them responsible for overseeing the work and compelling the people to perform their usual amount of labor. Pharaoh greatly increased that labor by requiring the people to find their own straw while keeping the brick quota unchanged, so that scattered to gather stubble they could not fulfill it, and the officers were beaten and demanded to answer why the task had not been done yesterday and today as heretofore. Thinking their oppression came from the taskmasters rather than the king, the officers carried their grievance to Pharaoh, but he hardened his heart against their distress and mocked them, while their beating exposed that Israel expected deliverance without trial of faith and was unwilling to patiently endure affliction until God should work it. The verse thus stands as the great example of the cruelty and injustice of demanding work while withholding what is needed to do it. To send missionaries and workers out, to press for books and enlarged work, or to demand results through shortsighted ambition without providing adequate facilities, means, help, and money repeats that same impossible burden.
Beating of Hebrew Officers
The taskmasters set over Israel were Egyptians, while the officers under them were Hebrews who had oversight of the work, directed the people, and were responsible for compelling them to perform their usual amount of labor. Pharaoh greatly increased the labor by the unjust requirement that the people find their own straw while the brick quota stayed unchanged. The people were therefore scattered abroad throughout Egypt gathering scattered straw and stubble from the fields, and they could not perform their usual amount. Though the Egyptian taskmasters still hastened them to fulfill their daily tasks as when straw was given, the full amount was not accomplished.
The Hebrew officers were then called to account and cruelly beaten and demanded to answer why the brick task had not been fulfilled yesterday and today as heretofore, being held responsible between the taskmasters who hastened the work and the suffering people. This beating for failure to meet the imposed quota after the means to do it were withheld shows slavery made more cruel by a more unfeeling heart. The officers thought their oppression came from the taskmasters and not from the king himself, so they took their grievances about cruel treatment to Pharaoh, but his heart was hardened against their distress and he derided and mocked their complaints with hatred against them. Their suffering exposed that Israel expected deliverance from bondage without any particular trial of faith or suffering on their part, having but little faith and being unwilling to patiently suffer and perseveringly endure affliction until God should work for them a glorious deliverance, and so they were not prepared to be delivered.
Working Without Needed Means
The verse shows the cruelty and injustice of demanding work while withholding what is needed to do it, for the officers were beaten because the people could not meet the brick quota after straw was withheld. To send missionaries to foreign fields without adequate facilities and means imposes the same impossible burden. To send workers out to labor while providing neither the facilities nor the help they need repeats the hardship of holding workers responsible for demands they cannot meet. Shortsighted ambition that demands results without giving workers needed support or regard for one another repeats that same injustice.
Being held responsible for work made harder by the decisions of others is the burden illustrated when the same amount of work was still demanded and the officers were beaten when the quota was not met. The brickmaking setting is an image of hardship caused by severe demands joined with lack of resources. The phrase about making bricks without straw describes workers making desperate efforts to meet demands despite lacking the resources they need.
The work in Australia could not be enlarged without the means and facilities needed to begin and continue it, for workers cannot make bricks without straw. The work at Cooranbong lacked the basic facilities and funds needed to carry it on, so workers could not produce the needed publications and outreach materials, like being pressed to meet a brick quota after straw was withheld. Demanding the production of books without providing the money needed to pay the workers who make them repeats the situation of punishing the officers when the people could not meet the quota after being denied straw.