“The taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out, and they spoke to the people, saying: So said Pharaoh: I will not give you straw” (Exodus 5:10). “The taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out” – when he issued that decree, Moses went to Midyan and spent six months there, while Aaron resided in Egypt. It was then that Moses returned his wife and sons to Midyan. “You go and get yourselves straw where you can find it, as nothing will be diminished from your work.
The people scattered throughout the entire land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw” (Exodus 5:11–12). “You go and get yourselves straw.… The people scattered throughout the entire land of Egypt” – it was because Moses was in Midyan.35The Israelites and the cities they were building, Pitom and Raamses, were in Goshen. Why then did they scatter throughout the land? It was to search for Moses.
The Holy One blessed be He said to them: ‘Tomorrow I will bring plagues upon them, and they will say: Pharaoh is sinning and we are suffering?’ When Israel was going to bring straw for production, the Egyptian would see him in his field and would break his shins; therefore, “the people scattered.”36This was so the Egyptians would also be deserving of punishment. “The taskmasters pressed, saying: Complete your work, each day’s matter on its day, as when there was straw” (Exodus 5:13).
“The taskmasters pressed, saying” – these were the wicked Egyptians who were pressing them and saying to them: “Complete your work.” But the foremen were not pressing them, as they were upright, and they would see them in great distress and would not press them.