Brick

How Nave’s arranged it

• Used in building: BabelGenesis 11:3
• Cities in EgyptExodus 1:11Exodus 1:14
• HousesIsaiah 9:10
• AltarsIsaiah 65:3
• Made by IsraelitesExodus 5:7–192 Samuel 12:31Jeremiah 43:9Nahum 3:14

The passages, in Bible order (9)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 9 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 11:3

   And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 11:31 voice

   “Let us make brick - It appears they were obliged to make use of brick, as there was an utter scarcity of stones in that district; and on the same account they were obliged to use slime, that is, bitumen, (Vulg). ασφαλτος, (Septuagint) for mortar: so it appears they had neither common stone nor lime-stone; hence they had brick for stone, and asphaltus or bitumen instead of mortar.

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2. Exodus 1:11

   So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 1:112 voices

   “Pithom (Greek, Patumos), lay on the eastern Pelusiac branch of the Nile, about twelve Roman miles from Heliopolis; and Raamses, called by the Septuagint Heroopolis, lay between the same branch of the Nile and the Bitter Lakes.

   “Taskmasters - The Egyptian “Chiefs of tributes.” They were men of rank, superintendents of the public works, such as are often represented on Egyptian monuments, and carefully distinguished from the subordinate overseers. The Israelites were employed in forced labor, probably in detachments, but they were not reduced to slavery, properly speaking, nor treated as captives of war. Amosis had special need of such laborers, as proved by the inscriptions. Treasure cities - “Magazines,” depots of ammunition and provisions 1Ki 9:19; 2Ch 8:4; 2Ch 32:

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3. Exodus 1:14

   and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 1:142 voices

   “I have already lived through many paschs, which was the fruit of a long life. But now I desire a purer pasch: to depart from this Egypt, the heavy and dark Egypt of this life, and to be freed from the clay and bricks that held us in bondage and to pass over to the land of promise.

   “They made their lives bitter - So that they became weary of life, through the severity of their servitude. With hard bondage - בעבדה קשה baabodah kashah, with grievous servitude. This was the general character of their life in Egypt; it was a life of the most painful servitude, oppressive enough in itself, but made much more so by the cruel manner of their treatment while performing their tasks.

   Everything gathered on Exodus 1:14→

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4. Exodus 5:7–19

   “You shall no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks. They must go and gather their own straw.

   ›Commentary on Exodus 5:7–192 voices

   “Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick--The making of bricks appears to have been a government monopoly as the ancient bricks are nearly all stamped with the name of a king, and they were formed, as they are still in Lower Egypt, of clay mixed with chopped straw and dried or hardened in the sun.

   “Some of the most ancient buildings in Egypt were constructed of bricks not burned, but dried in the sun; they were made of clay, or more commonly of mud, mixed with straw chopped into small pieces. An immense quantity of straw must have been wanted for the works on which the Israelites were engaged, and their labors must have been more than doubled by this requisition.

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5. 2 Samuel 12:31

   David brought out the people who were there and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and axes, and he made them work at the brick kilns. He did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all his troops returned to Jerusalem.

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 12:312 voices

   “And therefore it is probable, David exercised this cruelty whilst his heart was hardened, and impenitent; and when he was bereaved of that good spirit of God, which would have taught him more mercy.

   “For the saw as an implement of torture compare Heb 11:37. Harrows of iron - Or rather thrashing-machines (Isa 28:27; Isa 41:15, etc.). Axes - The word so rendered occurs only here and in 1Ch 20:3. It evidently means some cutting instrument.

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6. Isaiah 9:10

   “The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with finished stone; the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 9:102 voices

   “The bricks - “The eastern bricks,” says Sir John Chardin, (see Harmer’s Observ. I., p. 176), “are only clay well moistened with water, and mixed with straw, and dried in the sun.” So that their walls are commonly no better than our mud walls; see Maundrell, p. 124. That straw was a necessary part in the composition of this sort of bricks, to make the parts of the clay adhere together, appears from Exodus 5. These bricks are properly opposed to hewn stone, so greatly superior in beauty and durableness.

   “Self-confident unwillingness to see the judgments of God (Isa 26:11). hewn stones-- (1Ki 5:17). sycamores--growing abundantly on the low lands of Judea, and though useful for building on account of their antiseptic property (which induced the Egyptians to use them for the cases of their mummies), not very valuable.

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7. Isaiah 65:3

   to a people who continually provoke Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens and burning incense on altars of brick,

   ›Commentary on Isaiah 65:32 voices

   “God was continually inviting them, and they continually offending Him (De 32:21). to my face--They made no attempt to hide their sin (Isa 3:9). Compare "before Me" (Ex 20:3). in gardens--(See on Isa 1:29; Le 17:5). altars of brick--Hebrew, "bricks." God had commanded His altars to be of unhewn stone (Ex 20:25).

   “A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face,.... They committed their sins openly, without any fear of the divine Being, and in defiance of him, not at all awed by his omniscience and omnipresence; they committed them in the open streets, and even in the temple, the place of the divine residence; and these they did constantly, which provoked him to anger and wrath against them; particularly the following sins: that sacrificeth in gardens; to idols, as the Targum, placed there, as they were under every green tree; or in groves, where idols were worshipped.

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8. Jeremiah 43:9

   “In the sight of the Jews, pick up some large stones and bury them in the clay of the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace at Tahpanhes.

   ›Commentary on Jeremiah 43:92 voices

   “Brickkiln - Possibly, a pavement of brick. Jeremiah was to take a few large stones, such, nevertheless, as he could carry in his hand, and build with them, in the propylaea before the royal palace, something that would serve to represent the dais upon which the seat of kings was usually placed. By hiding them in the clay is meant plastering them over with mortar.

   “The foundation of Egypt's desolation was laid in those brick-kilns, in that clay. This he must do, not in the sight of the Egyptians (they knew not Jeremiah's character), but in the sight of the men of Judah to whom he was sent, that, since he could not prevent their going into Egypt, he might bring them to repent of their going.

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9. Nahum 3:14

   Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!

   ›Commentary on Nahum 3:142 voices

   “Draw . . . waters--so as not to be without water for drinking, in the event of being cut off by the besiegers from the fountains. make strong the brick-kiln--or "repair" [MAURER]; so as to have a supply of bricks formed of kiln-burnt clay, to repair breaches in the ramparts, or to build new fortifications inside when the outer ones are taken by the foe.

   “Draw thee waters for the siege - The Tigris ran near to Nineveh, and here they are exhorted to lay in plenty of fresh water, lest the siege should last long, and lest the enemy should cut off this supply. Go into clay, and tread the mortar - This refers to the manner of forming bricks anciently in those countries; they digged up the clay, kneaded it properly by treading, mixed it with straw or coarse grass, moulded the bricks, and dried them in the sun.

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