Bricks Without Straw — Andrew Forrest

Exodus 5:6-21

6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?” 15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

The grand theme of Exodus is the formation of the children of Israel into a nation. This is why—as we will see—that the book continues for twenty- five chapters after the miracle at the Red Sea. Israel is free from Egypt, yes, but the people are not yet a nation. It will turn out that you can get the people out of Egypt, but you still have to get the Egypt out of the people. One of the themes to follow is how the experience of the exodus and the wilderness wanderings shapes the people into who the Lord needs them to be.

I don’t want to be too hard on the Israelites here, since they are in a poor position that has just been made worse by Pharaoh’s malevolence, but it is worth pointing out how quickly they despair of God’s deliverance as soon as they face opposition.

To be honest, I’m often the same way—the slightest difficultly, and I lose heart.

So, let’s remind ourselves today of the words of Jesus:

“In this world, you will have trouble;
But, have no fear: I have overcome the world.”

Keep going.

P.S. Note that in v.23 Moses refers to the Israelites as “your people,” not as “our people” or “my people.” Remember that one of the purposes of the exodus is to shape Moses into the leader the Lord needs him to be, and he’s not yet there.