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The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:10-14
A blind obedience to the commands of tyrants not laudable. The Egyptian taskmasters seem to have carried out their monarch's orders to the full, if not with inward satisfaction, at any rate without visible repugnance. T…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:10-15
Bricks without straw. Tyrants seldom lack subordinates, as cruel as themselves, to execute their hateful mandates. Not only are these subordinates generally ready to curry favour with their lord by executing his orders…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:11
Get you straw where ye can find it. Straw was not valued in Egypt. Reaping was effected either by gathering the ears, or by cutting the stalks of the corn at a short distance below the heads; and the straw was then left…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:12
The people were mattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt. The expression used is hyperbolical, and not to be understood literally. A tolerably wide dispersion over the central and eastern portions of the Delta i…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:14
Vicarious suffering. Vicarious suffering is a blessed thing only when undergone voluntarily. In all other cases it is unjust, oppressive, cruel At the English court under the early Stuarts there was a boy who had to rec…
Matthew Henry on Exodus 5:15-23
It was a great strait that the head-workmen were in, when they must either abuse those that were under them or be abused by those that were over them; yet, it should seem, rather than they would tyrannize, they would be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:15-20
Unheeded expostulation. Pharaoh's treatment of the officers of the children of Israel, when they appeared before him to expostulate with him on his cruelty, betrays his consciousness of the injustice of his cause. I. AN…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:15-19
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:15-19
Smarting under the sense of injustice, the Israelite officers "came and cried to Pharaoh" (Exodus 5:15), supposing that he could not have intended such manifest unfairness and cruelty. They were conscious to themselves…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:15
Came and cried. The shrill "cry" of Orientals when making complaint has often been noticed by travellers, and is probably here alluded to. To Pharaoh. See the "Introductory paragraph" at the beginning of the chapter, wh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:15-18
A wicked man's persistence in wrong-doing. Pharaoh when he first gave the order to withhold straw (Exodus 5:7), may not have known the amount of misery he was causing. He may have meant no more than to give the people f…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:16
They say to us. Or, "they keep saying to us." The participle is used, which implies continuance or repetition. The fruit is in thine own people. Literally, "Thine own people is in fault," or "sins."
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:16
Sufferings, even at the hand of lawful authorities, not always deserved. "Thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people." Punishment often visits the wrong back. Kings commit injuries or follies, and the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:17
Ye are idle, etc. Compare Exodus 5:8. Pharaoh is evidently pleased with his "happy thought." It seems to him clever, witty, humorous, to tax overworked people with idleness; and equally clever to say to religious people…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:18
Go therefore now and work—i.e. "Off with you to the brickfields at once, and get to your own special work of superintendence, which you are neglecting so long as you remain here. It is useless to remain. I reject both o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:19
The officers … did see that they were in evil case. See the "Introductory paragraph" to this section, and comp. Exodus 5:21. HOMILETICS
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:19-21
Thoughtless smiters of a brother in adversity. This whole chapter particularly abounds in illustrations of human ignorance and error. We have seen in what dense darkness was the mind of Pharaoh; and under what utter mis…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:20-23
Murmuring and faith. The Israelites were naturally sorely disappointed at the issue of the interview with Pharaoh; and with the unreasonableness so often seen in those whose expectations have received a check, they turn…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:20
Who stood in the way. Rather, "who waited to meet them." It was not accident, but design, that had brought the two brothers to the spot. They were as anxious as the officers to know what course Pharaoh would take—whethe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:20-21
EXPOSITION Exodus 5:20, Exodus 5:21 On quitting the presence of Pharaoh, the officers of the Israelites, burning with the sense of the injustice done them, and deeply apprehensive with respect to their own future, found…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:21
They said unto them. The officers were too full of their wrongs to wait until questioned. They took the word, and, without relating the result of their interview, implied it. The Lord look upon you, and judge, they said…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:21
The servants of God liable to reproach from friends no less than enemies, Moses and Aaron had borne the reproaches and scoffs of Pharaoh (Exodus 5:4-8) without flinching. It was natural that an enemy should revile them.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:22-23
EXPOSITION Exodus 5:22, Exodus 5:23 The two brothers made no reply to the words of the officers. Perhaps their hearts were too full for speech; perhaps they knew not what to say. Whatever faith they had, it did no doubt…
The Pulpit Commentary on Exodus 5:22
Moses returned unto the Lord. We are not to understand that Moses had forsaken God and now "returned" to him but simply that in his trouble he had recourse to God, took his sorrow to the Throne of Grace, and poured it o…