Exodus 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, בצק 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, Exodus 8:3 and Deuteronomy 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, Deuteronomy 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, (Ruth 3:15.) might be of the like fashion, and have served extraordinarily for the same use: as were also the clothes (τα ιματια, 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.