What is the meaning of Exodus 5:7? You shall no longer supply the people with straw • Pharaoh issues an abrupt order: “You shall no longer supply the people with straw” (Exodus 5:7). The straw had always been provided, so the sudden withdrawal signals deliberate oppression. • Oppression has been Pharaoh’s strategy from the start—“The Egyptians worked the Israelites ruthlessly” (Exodus 1:13–14)—yet here the pressure intensifies. • This tactic mirrors how the enemy of God’s people escalates pressure when obedience is on the horizon; as Jesus warned, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well” (John 15:20). • God is not caught off guard. He will use the injustice to display His power and faithfulness, much like Joseph later testified, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20). for making bricks • In Egypt, bricks were the backbone of monumental projects: “So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor, and they built for Pharaoh store cities” (Exodus 1:11). • Straw served as the reinforcing fiber that kept each brick from crumbling. Denying it forces Israel to work twice: first to gather straw, then to mold bricks. • The scene recalls Genesis 11:3, where rebellious humanity boasted, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly,” highlighting the contrast between human pride and God’s purposes. • Such grueling labor is never God’s design for His people. He calls them to “serv[e] the LORD with gladness” (Psalm 100:2), not to be crushed under unjust workloads. They must go and gather their own straw • Pharaoh demands, “They must go and gather their own straw,” while still requiring the same daily quota (Exodus 5:8). The command is calculated to break spirits and discredit Moses’ call for worship. • Taskmasters quickly enforce the decree—“Complete your work quota, just as when straw was provided” (Exodus 5:13)—showing how worldly power often piles on impossible expectations. • God’s people cry out, yet the Lord hears and remembers His covenant (Exodus 2:24–25). Affliction sets the stage for deliverance, echoing Psalm 34:19: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” • The contrast is sharp: Pharaoh burdens; Christ invites—“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). summary Exodus 5:7 marks Pharaoh’s calculated escalation of oppression: no more supplied straw, the same brick quota, and an impossible burden engineered to crush Israel’s spirit. Yet every withheld stalk of straw becomes a strand in God’s larger tapestry of redemption. The harder Pharaoh pushes, the nearer the day when God will split the sea and set His people free, proving once again that human tyranny can never thwart divine promise. |
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