Exodus 5:12

12 So the people went all over Egypt looking for straw.

Exodus 5:12 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 5:12

So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of
Egypt
That part of it where they dwelt:

to gather stubble instead of straw;
straw not being easy to come at, they were obliged to gather stubble that was left in the fields, after the corn was gathered in. Ben Melech observes, that the word signifies small straw, or small sticks of wood, and Kimchi ^F13, and if so, this must be to burn the bricks with in the furnaces.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Sepher Shorash, rad. (vvq) .

Exodus 5:12 In-Context

10 The slave drivers and the Israelite foremen went out and said to the Israelites, "The king has said that he will not supply you with any more straw.

11 He says that you must go and get it for yourselves wherever you can find it, but you must still make the same number of bricks."

12 So the people went all over Egypt looking for straw.

13 The slave drivers kept trying to force them to make the same number of bricks every day as they had made when they were given straw.

14 The Egyptian slave drivers beat the Israelite foremen, whom they had put in charge of the work. They demanded, "Why aren't you people making the same number of bricks that you made before?"