Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 5:14
And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, [and] demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as heretofore?
14. task ] prescribed portion (or amount): cf. Pro 30:8 (RVm.), Exo 31:15. Not as in v. 13, or as in ‘ task masters’ ( v. 6).
yesterday and to-day ] i.e., by Heb. idiom, recently. So heretofore is lit. ‘yesterday and the third day’; cf., in the Hebrews , vv7, 8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 14. And the officers – were beaten] Probably bastinadoed; for this is the common punishment in Egypt to the present day for minor offences. The manner of it is this: the culprit lies on his belly, his legs being turned up behind erect, and the executioner gives him so many blows on the soles of the feet with a stick. This is a very severe punishment, the sufferer not being able to walk for many weeks after, and some are lamed by it through the whole of their lives.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them,…. This makes it clear, not only that the taskmasters and officers were different persons, but that the one were Egyptians appointed by Pharaoh, and the other were Israelites, of the better sort of them, who were set over the poorer sort by the taskmasters, to look after them, and take an account of their work, and the tale of their bricks, and give it in to the taskmasters; now these
were beaten by the taskmasters, either with a cane, stick, or cudgel, or with whips and scourges, because there was a deficiency in their accounts, and the full tale of bricks was not given in:
[and] demanded, wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick, both yesterday and today, as heretofore? the first day they were deficient they took no notice of it, did not call them to an account for it, but this being the case the second day, they not only expostulated with them about it, but beat them for it, which was hard usage. They had no need to ask them the reason of it, which they knew very well, and must be sensible that the men could not do the same work, and be obliged to spend part of their time in going about for straw or stubble; or the same number of men make the same tale of bricks, when some of them were employed to get straw for the rest, and to beat those officers for a deficiency through such means was cruel.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
As the Israelites could not do the work appointed them, their overlookers were beaten by the Egyptian bailiffs; and when they complained to the king of this treatment, they were repulsed with harshness, and told “ Ye are idle, idle; therefore ye say, Let us go and sacrifice to Jehovah.” : “ and thy people sin; ” i.e., not “thy people (the Israelites) must be sinners,” which might be the meaning of according to Gen 43:9, but “thy (Egyptian) people sin.” “ Thy people ” must be understood as applying to the Egyptians, on account of the antithesis to “thy servants,” which not only refers to the Israelitish overlookers, but includes all the Israelites, especially in the first clause. is an unusual feminine form, for (vid., Gen 33:11); and is construed as a feminine, as in Jdg 18:7 and Jer 8:5.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(14) The officers . . . were beaten.This is the usual practice in the East. When any requisition is made on a town or a village, or any body of persons, the procuring of it is left to the head men, who are alone responsible to the Government, and are punished in case they fail to exact the full amount.
And demanded.Rather, and asked, or (as Kalisch renders it) with the words.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Rom 14:10
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 5:14 And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, [and] demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?
Ver. 14. Were beaten. ] It is the misery of those that are trusted with authority that their inferiors’ faults are beaten upon their backs.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children = sons.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Reciprocal: Exo 2:11 – burdens Exo 5:6 – taskmasters Exo 5:11 – not ought Lev 25:43 – rule Num 20:15 – vexed us Isa 3:15 – ye beat