Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 5:12
So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
12. to gather stubble ] which might be difficult to find, except immediately after the harvest.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Stubble instead of straw – Rather, for the straw: i. e. to be prepared as straw. This marks the season of the year, namely, early spring, after the barley or wheat harvest, toward the end of April. Their suffering must have been severe: at that season the pestilential sand-wind blows over Egypt some 50 days, hence, its name – Chamsin. (compare Gen 41:6 note).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
All the land of Egypt, i.e. all that part of it; which is a very usual synecdoche.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. So the people were scatteredItwas an immense grievance to the laborers individually, but therewould be no hindrance from the husbandmen whose fields they entered,as almost all the lands of Egypt were in the possession of the crown(Ge 47:20).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 m, and if so, this must be to burn the bricks with in the furnaces.
m Sepher Shorash, rad. .
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
: “to gather stubble for straw;” not “stubble for, in the sense of instead of straw,” for is not equivalent to but to gather the stubble left in the fields for the chopped straw required for the bricks.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
12. So the people were scattered abroad. This circumstance proves how bitterly they were afflicted, and what labor beyond their strength was imposed upon them. In order to make bricks, at least, they should have remained in a particular spot, but straw is not supplied to them for the purpose; they are obliged, therefore, to disperse here and there, and to gather stubble instead of straw in the distant parts of Egypt. They could not do both; it was then in fact just to procure a false pretext, which he might catch at as the ground of their condemnation: as now we often see the enemies of Christ inventing the most insupportable torments, by which the unhappy Church may be driven to deny the faith. For it was the design of Pharaoh to drive Moses and Aaron far away, that they might never agitate any more for the departure of the people; and if he had obtained this wish, he would doubtless have remitted some part of his abominable cruelty; but, because they did not cease, he wished to extort from the people by bitter sufferings, that they should send them away themselves, or refuse even to lend an ear to the commands of God. For although he must have been perfectly conscious that there was no reason to accuse the people of idleness, but that the tale of bricks was not delivered, because the poor wretches, who had been hardly able before to perform half their labor, were now incapable, by the utmost exertion, to bear their burdens, and therefore sees that they are altogether overwhelmed by them; yet still he reproaches them with reveling in idleness, in order that they may turn away from Moses, and renounce and abandon the hope presented to them from on high. And, because he can only torment them more by killing them outright, he commands their officers to be beaten, that by their punishment the whole people might be in greater dread. Finally, those whom he saw standing too firmly, he determined to drive at last to despair. He is deaf to every excuse of the officers; for when he had once made up his mind to crush the people until he had destroyed in them all recollection of God, there is no more feeling or pity in him than in a stone.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) Stubble instead of straw.Heb., stubble for the straw. Reaping in Egypt was effected by cutting off the ears only from the stalks, and thus a very tall stubble was left in the fields. This appears not to have been valued by the cultivators, and whoever wished was allowed to collect it. After collecting it, and bringing it to the brick-fields in bundles, they would have to chop it small before it would be fit for use.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. To gather stubble instead of straw Literally, for the straw . The Egyptians cut the grain first below the ear, leaving a long stubble, which was chopped into straw . The Israelites were now scattered over all the grain fields to gather stubble for themselves .
The cut on the next page shows an Egyptian field, with the stubble standing in a portion of it as the reapers have left it, and gives another view of the scribes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jas 5:8
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 5:12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.
Ver. 12. So the people were scattered. ] So are most people now-a-days busied about trash and trifles, neglecting the one thing necessary. In the enthronisation of the Pope before he puts on his triple crown, a wad of straw is set on fire before him, and one appointed to say, Sic transit gloria round, the glory of this world is but a blaze of straw or stubble, soon extinct. They that highly esteem it rejoice in a thing of nought, feed upon ashes, &c. Amo 6:13
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
stubble. Hebrew. gash = reeds. Shown in Egyptian pictures on the monuments.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
stubble: Exo 15:7, Isa 5:24, Isa 47:14, Joe 2:5, Nah 1:10, Oba 1:18, 1Co 3:12