Exodus 5:7 - "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves."

Exodus 5:16 - "No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us; ‘Make bricks!’ "

We take bricks so much for granted in our modern world - we live in brick houses, we have brick patios and barbecue pits - that we seldom stop to think about them. In fact, I would seriously wonder if many of you would be really aware of the impact that is implicit in our text. The Pharaoh needed bricks, no doubt about that, with all the building projects he had going on. And, as slaves, the Hebrews had to make those bricks. But, suddenly, their supply of straw was cut off, and they couldn’t continue to make their bricks until they got more straw. Well, so what? What’s the big deal with straw?

Well, you see, straw was necessary in brick-making to keep the bricks from cracking. It is often thought that the hardship imposed on the Hebrews was the fact that they had to make the bricks without straw. Not at all! That could be done, and done successfully, but the Egyptians knew that the best bricks had straw in them, and so the real hardships lay in making the Hebrews find their own straw, without decreasing their quota of bricks.

The soil in the Bible lands is excellent for brick-making, being heavily clay impregnated. The bricks were made from this clay and water, were kneaded by treading them with the feet, and were then molded into oblong or square units. They were then either sun-dried or kiln-fired.

Quite often rulers had their insignia or initials or some other royal mark stamped into the bricks made in their own lands. Still today, it is not unusual for a farmer to be working in his fields and unearth an ancient brick marked with the sign of a pharaoh or of a Babylonian or Assyrian monarch.

Often, both the Egyptians and the Babylonians painted their bricks for decorative purposes. In the ruins of ancient Babylon has been found a wide street used for parades. The street was lined with walls carrying the images of sixty lions, thirty on each side. These lions were molded in clay bricks and then painted. Then they were oven-fired until they were hard and the paint was shiny. These glazed bricks are just as beautiful today and the colors are as bright and fresh as when Nebuchanezzer had them built over 2,000 years ago!

Brick-making today may be somewhat more prosaic than that. But when you appreciate the warmth of your home next winter, or have fun on your patio or cooking on your barbecue, think about the men who made those bricks for you. Their task is much easier than it was for the Hebrews sweating away in the brickyards of the Pharaoh.