Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 12:34
And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
34. The people had not time to leaven their dough, but took it with them before it was leavened. The notice, taken in conjunction with the one in v. 39, is evidently intended as an explanation of the origin of the Maoth -feast: cf. Deu 16:3; and p. 91, above.
their kneading – bowls,] See on Exo 8:3.
in their clothes ] rather, in their mantles. The simlh was the large square outer garment, made of woollen cloth, which served as a covering by night (ch. Exo 22:26 f.), and was also often used for carrying things in (Jdg 8:25, Rth 3:15). See Dress 3 b in DB. (i. 625).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Kneadingtroughs – (Compare the margin and Deu 28:5). The troughs were probably small wooden bowls in which the cakes when baked were preserved for use. The Hebrews used their outer garment, or mantle, in the same way as the Bedouins at present, who make a bag of the voluminous folds of their burnous. See Rth 3:15; 2Ki 4:39.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 34. The people took their dough before it was leavened, c.] There was no time now to make any regular preparation for their departure, such was the universal hurry and confusion. The Israelites could carry but little of their household utensils with them but some, such as they kneaded their bread and kept their meal in, they were obliged to carry with them. The kneading troughs of the Arabs are comparatively small wooden bowls, which, after kneading their bread in, serve them as dishes out of which they eat their victuals. And as to these being bound up in their clothes, no more may be intended than their wrapping them up in their long, loose garments, or in what is still used among the Arabs, and called hykes, which is a long kind of blanket, something resembling a highland plaid, in which they often carry their provision, wrap themselves by day, and sleep at night. Dr. Shaw has been particular in his description of this almost entire wardrobe of an Arab. He says they are of different sizes and of different qualities, but generally about six yards in length, and five or six feet broad. He supposes that what we call Ruth’s veil, Ru 3:15, was a hyke, and that the same is to be understood of the clothes of the Israelites mentioned in this verse. See his Travels, p. 224, 4to edition.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Their kneading-troughs; or, as others rightly render it, their dough lumps, or food, or lumps of paste unleavened.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
34. people took . . . theirkneading-troughsHaving lived so long in Egypt, they must havebeen in the habit of using the utensils common in that country. TheEgyptian kneading-trough was a bowl of wicker or rush work, and itadmitted of being hastily wrapped up with the dough in it and slungover the shoulder in their hykes or loose upper garments.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the people took their dough before it was leavened,…. They had that evening mixed their flour with water, and made it into dough, but had put no leaven into it; and the Egyptians being so very earnest to have them gone, they stayed not to put any leaven into it:
[but] their kneadingtroughs, or rather “their dough”,
being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders; for it is not likely that their troughs should be wrapped up in the skirts of their garments; but their dough might, if their clothes were like the hykes of the Arabs now, as Dr. Shaw z thinks they were, and which are pretty much like the plaids of the Scotch, and which are large enough for such a purpose; as even the veil which Ruth wore held six measures of barley, Ru 3:15 and so these clothes of theirs, like the Arabs’ hykes, and the Scotch plaids, might be so made, that large lumps of dough being bound up in them might be thrown over their shoulders, and so carried by them when they journeyed.
z Travels, p. 224, 225. Edit. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(34) Kneadingtroughs.Light, portable wooden bowls, such as are now used by the Arabs.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
34. Their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes The kneading troughs of the Egyptians were of wood, (see illustration under chap . 8:3,) and so, perhaps, were those of the Israelites; but more probably they were mere leather bags, such as are now used by the Bedouins . By “clothes” is here meant the simlah, a square, shawl-like outer garment, like a Scotch plaid, used to wrap up small movables . From this and the thirty-ninth verse it will be seen that the unleavened bread had an historical as well as a symbolical meaning. There was not the usual time for dough to rise, even had it been leavened.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Exo 12:34. The people took their dough before it was leavened Or, more properly, not yet leavened, or which had not yet been leavened; i.e. their dough unleavened, according to the immediate order of God; the vessels in which they were used to knead their dough being hastily bound up in their garments, and cast over their shoulders. The word which we render dough, batzek, according to Parkhurst, means meal moistened with water; paste, or dough unleavened. This dough, we are told, was carried away by the Israelites in their kneading-troughs on their shoulders. Now an honest thoughtful countryman, who knows how cumbersome our kneading-troughs are, and how much less important than many other utensils, may be led to wonder at this, and find a difficulty in accounting for it. But his wonder perhaps may cease, when he comes to understand, that the vessels which the Arabs of that country make use of for kneading the unleavened cakes that they prepare for those who travel in this very desert, are only small wooden bowls; and that they seem to use no other in their own tents for that purpose or any other: these bowls being used by them for kneading their bread, and afterwards for serving up their provisions when cooked: for then it will appear, that nothing could be more convenient than kneading-troughs of this sort for the Israelites in their journey. I am, however, a little doubtful, whether these were the things which Moses meant by the word which our version renders kneading-troughs; since it seems to me, that the Israelites had made a provision of corn sufficient for their consumption for about a month, and that they were preparing to bake all this at once: now, their own little bowls, in which they were accustomed daily to knead the bread they wanted for a single day, could not contain all this dough; nor could they well carry a number of these things, procured from the Egyptians for the present occasion, with them. That they had furnished themselves with corn sufficient for a month, appears from their not wanting bread till they came into the wilderness of Sin. That the Eastern people commonly bake their bread every day as they want it, appears from the history of the patriarch Abraham: and that they were preparing to bake bread sufficient for this journey at once, seems most probable from the universal hurry they were in, and from the much greater conveniences for baking in Egypt than in the wilderness; which are such, that, though Dr. Shaw’s attendants sometimes baked in the desert, he thought fit, notwithstanding, to carry biscuit with him; and Thevenot mentions his doing the same. The Israelites then could not well carry such a quantity of dough in those wooden bowls, which they used for kneading their bread in common. And what is still a further proof, Dr. Pococke tells us, in his account of the diet and utensils of the inhabitants of Egypt, that the Arabs actually carry their dough in something else; for, after having spoken of their copper dishes put one within another, and of their wooden bowls, in which they make their bread, and which complete the kitchen-furniture of an Arab, even where he is settled; he gives us a description of a round leather coverlid, which they lay upon the ground, and which serves them to eat off. It has, says he, hooks round it, by which it is drawn together with a chain, which has a hook fastened to it to hang it up by. This, he observes, is drawn together; and that sometimes they carry in it their meal, made into dough; in this manner they bring it full of bread; and when the repast is over, carry it away at once, with all that is left. Whether this utensil is rather to be understood by the word translated kneading-troughs, than the Arab wooden bowl, is left with the reader to determine. I would only remark, that there is nothing in the other three passages, in which the word occurs, to contradict this explanation. These passages are, Exo 8:3 and Deu 5:17 in the two last of which places it is translated store. Observations.
In their clothes upon their shoulders These clothes were slight thin garments, resembling those which the Arabs at this day wear, and which they call hykes. “These hykes,” says Dr. Shaw, “are of various sizes, and of different qualities and fineness. The usual size of them is six yards long, and five or six broad, serving the Kabyle and Arab for a complete dress in the day: and, as they sleep in their raiments, as the Israelites did of old, Deu 24:13 it serves likewise for their bed and covering by night. It is a loose but troublesome garment, being frequently disconcerted and falling upon the ground: so that the person who wears it, is continually obliged to tuck it up, and fold it anew about his body. This shews the great use there is of a girdle, whenever they are concerned in any active employment; and, in consequence thereof, the force of the Scripture injunction, alluding thereunto, of having our loins girded, in order to set about it. The method of wearing these garments, with the use they are at other times put to, in serving for coverlids to their beds, might induce us to take the finer sorts of them, at least such as are worn by the ladies and persons of distinction, to be the peplus of the ancients. Ruth’s veil, which held six measures of barley, (Rth 3:15.) might be of the like fashion, and have served extraordinarily for the same use: as were also the clothes ( , the upper garments) of the Israelites, mentioned in this verse, wherein they folded up their kneading-troughs; as the Moors, Arabs, and Kabyles do, to this day, things of the like burden and incumbrance in their hykes. It is very probable likewise, that the loose folding garment, the toga of the Romans, was of this kind: for, if the drapery of their statues is to instruct us, this is actually no other than the dress of the Arabs, when they appear in their hykes. The plaid of the Highlanders in Scotland is the very same.” Travels, p. 225.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Some men have been very fond of caviling at this, as if the Israelites robbed the Egyptians. But read that scripture, Psa 105:37 compare Exo 1:11-14 . And then judge righteous judgment.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 12:34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
Ver. 34. Took their dough, &c., upon their shoulders. ] Not upon their camels, which, saith Aben Erza, were laden with the precious things borrowed of the Egyptians. Rab. Solomon saith, it was to show their cheerfulness in obeying the command of God. See a better reason afterwards, in Exo 12:39 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
kneading troughs, or, dough, Exo 8:3, Probably like the kneading-troughs of the Arabs; comparatively small wooden bowls, which also serve them for dishes. Their being bound up in their clothes may mean no more than their being wrapped up in their hykes, or long, loose, garments. See Shaw’s Travels, p. 224, 4to. edit.
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 12:34. The people took their dough Perhaps the Hebrew word here used had better be rendered flour, as it is 2Sa 13:8; for if they had time to make it into paste, it seems they would also have had time to leaven it. Their kneading-troughs The word thus rendered is translated store, Deu 28:5; Deu 28:17. And as kneading-troughs are not things which travellers are wont to carry with them, it seems more natural to understand it of their flour, grain, or dough.