Exodus 5:8, commentary and pictures

Pharaoh gave this order the same day Moses and Aaron asked only to let Israel go a three days' journey into the wilderness to feast and sacrifice to the Lord, lest He fall upon them with pestilence or sword. He professed not to know the Lord and to owe Him no obedience, accused Moses and Aaron of making the people rest from their burdens, and commanded the taskmasters and Hebrew officers to withhold straw as before yet still require the full former number of sun-dried bricks without any decrease, so that the people scattered to gather stubble, failed to meet the quota, and were beaten. On the false charge that they were idle, he treated their cry to go and sacrifice to their God as mere pretext and proof of idleness to justify harder labor, acting in proud defiance because he would not acknowledge God and delighted to display his power over those he controlled. By this confrontation the Lord purposed to make Pharaoh know His voice must be obeyed and to compel proud rulers to bow to Him as supreme, answering His oppressed people's prayers with mighty displays of power, while the increased affliction exposed that Israel expected deliverance without trial, had little faith, and was not yet willing to endure suffering until God wrought a glorious deliverance. To be required to make brick without straw is therefore to be pressed to keep up the same production without the means needed to do it, an impossible burden showing that adequate materials, support, facilities, and workers are necessary, whether in the desperate effort to advance the Nashville publishing work or in missionaries sent out and told to advance while denied means and help.

Pharaoh's Oppressive Decree

The decree was Pharaoh's same-day answer to the very modest request of Moses and Aaron to let Israel go only three days' journey into the desert or wilderness to hold a feast and sacrifice to the LORD God of Israel, lest He fall upon them with pestilence or with the sword. He haughtily refused, professed to be entirely ignorant of the LORD and under no obligation to obey His voice, accused Moses and Aaron of making the many people rest from their burdens, and commanded the same day the Egyptian taskmasters and their Hebrew officers responsible for the work to enforce the new rule, his heart becoming more unfeeling. No more straw was to be given for brickmaking as heretofore, but the people must go and gather scattered straw and stubble for themselves, while the same full tale of bricks they made heretofore was laid upon them without diminishing ought or any lessening.

The bricks were sun-dried earth mixed with straw, and having to search for stubble to replace it, the people could not meet the quota and were beaten. On the false charge that they were idle, Pharaoh treated their cry of Let us go and sacrifice to our God as a pretext and proof of idleness, and used that accusation to justify harsher labor. He kept Israel's brick quota unchanged while withholding the straw they had previously been given, demanding the same production target despite denying what was needed to meet it. He acted because he would not acknowledge God and bow to His authority, delighting to show his power as ruler over those he could control, in proud defiance.

The demand to lay the full tale of bricks without diminishing it was part of an attempt by the taskmasters to force Israel to labor on the Sabbath by increasing the amount of work required each week, with the conditions of labor made harder and more exacting again and again. The Sabbath institution was thereby brought prominently before the people of God while still in bondage, at the time of the exodus. Their deliverance from bondage brought them to a place where they might observe unmolested all the precepts of Jehovah, including God's appointed rest day.

Divine Purpose and Application

The confrontation was permitted so that Pharaoh would learn that the divine voice must be obeyed, that God is above all, and that proud rulers will be compelled to bow to His authority. Moses declared that the God whom Pharaoh pretended not to know would force him to yield to His claims and acknowledge Him as supreme ruler. That demand marked the time when God would answer the prayers of His oppressed people and bring them out of Egypt with mighty displays of power that would compel the Egyptians to acknowledge that the God of the Hebrews is above all gods.

The increased labor exposed that the Hebrews expected deliverance from bondage without any particular trial of faith or suffering on their part. Some even preferred to remain with the Egyptians, they were not yet prepared to be delivered, they had but little faith, and they were unwilling to patiently suffer and perseveringly endure affliction until God worked for them a glorious deliverance.

To make brick without straw is to be pressed to produce without the means needed, held to the same production target and former quota while denied the straw previously given and deprived of what is needed to meet it. It is an impossible burden, showing that adequate means, materials, support, facilities, and workers are necessary to make progress. The loss of resources is like Israel being denied straw for brickmaking while still held to its former quota.

That image fits the desperate effort to advance the work at Nashville without adequate resources. It fits workers striving to advance the Nashville publishing house despite difficult conditions and burdens beyond their control.

The same hardship falls on missionary work burdened by lack of means while still expected to advance. Missionaries sent to foreign fields without the facilities and means needed face a similarly unreasonable demand. New missionary work is perplexed by lack of support and by burdens imposed through others' decisions, and workers told to go but given no facilities or help illustrate the same hardship.

The demand illustrates shortsighted ambition that expects work without providing the means to do it. It applies to leaders who crowd or oppress fellow workers, including expecting to advance work without the workers and means needed to do it.