Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 5:16
There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants [are] beaten; but the fault [is] in thine own people.
16. they say ] viz. the Egyptian ‘taskmasters.’
but the fault is in thine own people ] The text cannot be right: not only is the Heb. ungrammatical, but the fault was not in the people, but in the king. It is better, adding one letter, to read with LXX. Pesh. Di. B. ‘and thou sinnest against thine own people,’ i.e. committest a wrong against thine own subjects, the Hebrews.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. The fault is in thine own people.] chatath, the SIN, is in thy own people. 1st. Because they require impossibilities; and 2dly, because they punish us for not doing what cannot be performed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. The Egyptian task-masters, who, by sending us abroad to gather straw, hinder us from doing the work which they require; and so they are both unjust and unreasonable. They charge the task-masters, not the king, either in civility and duty, casting his fault upon the instruments; or because they did not know, or at best not believe, that this was the kings act. Others, Thy people, i.e. the Egyptians, make themselves guilty, and will bring the vengeance of God upon them for their cruelty.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
There is no straw given unto thy servants,…. As used to be, which they supposed Pharaoh knew nothing of, and by which it appears that the order given by Pharaoh, Ex 5:6 was not given in the hearing of the officers, only to the taskmasters, and by them to be made known to the officers, though indeed both are there mentioned, and both represent this to the people, Ex 5:10
and they say to us, make brick, though they had no straw to make or burn it with:
and, behold, thy servants are beaten; because the same number of bricks is not made as heretofore, but the fault is in thine own people; the taskmasters, who sent the people abroad to get straw or stubble themselves, and therefore could not make the same bricks as before; or “thy people sin” n, the guilt is theirs: or by thy people are meant the Israelites, whom they call Pharaoh’s people to gain favour with him; and then the sense is, either “sin” is imputed “to thy people” o, the blame is laid upon them, or punishment is inflicted on them without cause, sin being often put for punishment; they are wrongfully charged with a fault, and wrongfully punished.
n “et peccat populus tuns”, Montanus, Drusius, Cartwright. o So Vatablus, Piscator, and some in Munster, Pagninus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) The fault is in thine own people.Heb., thy people is in fault. There can be no reasonable doubt that this clause is antithetical to the preceding one, and means that, though the Hebrews are punished, the people really in fault are the Egyptians.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 5:16 There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants [are] beaten; but the fault [is] in thine own people.
Ver. 16. But the fault is in thine own people. ] Effugiunt corvi, vexat censura columbas. As a man is friended, so is his matter ended. And where the hedge is low, a man may lightly make large leaps. Or, as the Frenchman saith, Qui son chien vult tuer, la rage luy met sus, He that hath a mind to kill a dog, gives out that he is mad. It was fault enough in God’s Israel, that they would not be miserable.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Reciprocal: Ecc 4:1 – and considered Eze 16:4 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 5:16. The fault is in thine own people That is, in the Egyptian task- masters; who, by sending us abroad to gather straw, hinder us from doing the work which they require; and so are both unjust and unreasonable. For if they had given us straw we should have fulfilled our tasks.