Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves.
Their request is humble and reasonable: only three days to journey into the desert and sacrifice to their God, a common practice among nations. They give Pharaoh the warning that neglecting God's worship will bring judgment upon Israel, and he will lose his laborers. Yet he denies them and falsely charges them with idleness, slandering the servants of God as idle and their words as vain, so he might increase their burdens.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 5:3-9
Whether the straw bound the clay together, fueled the furnaces, or kept the bricks from cracking too fast, I cannot say with certainty; but it served some necessary purpose in their making. What matters is that it had always been supplied to them by proper officers, and now Pharaoh forbids it utterly, forcing them to waste their time gathering stubble from the fields themselves.
AI summary
Brick-making was Egypt's monopoly, stamped with the pharaoh's name, formed of clay and chopped straw dried in the sun. The Israelites were conscripted to this drudgery in rotating shifts like the fellaheen still are. When Pharaoh withdrew the straw supply, he knew what he was doing: the reapers left the stalks standing, so there was straw to be gathered, but gathering it would consume the hours they had for making bricks.
AI summary