Kneadingtroughs - (Compare the margin and Deuteronomy 28:5). The troughs were probably small wooden bowls in which the cakes when baked were preserved for use. The Hebrews used their outer garment, or mantle, in the same way as the Bedouins at present, who make a bag of the voluminous folds of their burnous. See Ruth 3:15; 2 Kings 4:39.

The people took their dough before it was leavened, etc. - There was no time now to make any regular preparation for their departure, such was the universal hurry and confusion. The Israelites could carry but little of their household utensils with them; but some, such as they kneaded their bread and kept their meal in, they were obliged to carry with them. The kneading troughs of the Arabs are comparatively small wooden bowls, which, after kneading their bread in, serve them as dishes out of which they eat their victuals. And as to these being bound up in their clothes, no more may be intended than their wrapping them up in their long, loose garments, or in what is still used among the Arabs, and called hykes, which is a long kind of blanket, something resembling a highland plaid, in which they often carry their provision, wrap themselves by day, and sleep at night. Dr. Shaw has been particular in his description of this almost entire wardrobe of an Arab. He says they are of different sizes and of different qualities, but generally about six yards in length, and five or six feet broad. He supposes that what we call Ruth's veil, Ruth 3:15, was a hyke, and that the same is to be understood of the clothes of the Israelites mentioned in this verse. See his Travels, p. 224, 4th edition.

And the people took their dough before it was leavened,.... They had that evening mixed their flour with water, and made it into dough, but had put no leaven into it; and the Egyptians being so very earnest to have them gone, they stayed not to put any leaven into it:

but their kneadingtroughs, or rather "their dough":

being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders; for it is not likely that their troughs should be wrapped up in the skirts of their garments; but their dough might, if their clothes were like the hykes of the Arabs now, as Dr. Shaw (z) thinks they were, and which are pretty much like the plaids of the Scotch, and which are large enough for such a purpose; as even the veil which Ruth wore held six measures of barley, Ruth 3:15 and so these clothes of theirs, like the Arabs' hykes, and the Scotch plaids, might be so made, that large lumps of dough being bound up in them might be thrown over their shoulders, and so carried by them when they journeyed.

(z) Travels, p. 224, 225. Edit. 2.

This urgency of the Egyptians compelled the Israelites to take the dough, which they were probably about to bake for their journey, before it was leavened, and also their kneading-troughs bound up in their clothes (cloths) upon their shoulders. שׂמלה, ἱμάτιον, was a large square piece of stuff or cloth, worn above the under-clothes, and could be easily used for tying up different things together. The Israelites had intended to leaven the dough, therefore, as the command to eat unleavened bread for seven days had not been given to them yet. But under the pressure of necessity they were obliged to content themselves with unleavened bread, or, as it is called in Deuteronomy 16:3, "the bread of affliction," during the first days of their journey. But as the troubles connected with their departure from Egypt were merely the introduction to the new life of liberty and grace, so according to the counsel of God the bread of affliction was to become a holy food to Israel; the days of their exodus being exalted by the Lord into a seven days' feast, in which the people of Jehovah were to commemorate to all ages their deliverance from the oppression of Egypt. The long-continued eating of unleavened bread, on account of the pressure of circumstances, formed the historical preparation for the seven days' feast of Mazzoth, which was instituted afterwards. Hence this circumstance is mentioned both here and in Exodus 12:39. On Exodus 12:35, Exodus 12:36, see Exodus 3:21-22.

And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.

12:34 Their kneading - troughs - Or rather, their lumps of paste unleavened.

kneadingtroughs: or, dough

34. people took . their kneading-troughs-Having lived so long in Egypt, they must have been in the habit of using the utensils common in that country. The Egyptian kneading-trough was a bowl of wicker or rush work, and it admitted of being hastily wrapped up with the dough in it and slung over the shoulder in their hykes or loose upper garments.

12:29-36 The Egyptians had been for three days and nights kept in anxiety and horror by the darkness; now their rest is broken by a far more terrible calamity. The plague struck their first-born, the joy and hope of their families. They had slain the Hebrews' children, now God slew theirs. It reached from the throne to the dungeon: prince and peasant stand upon the same level before God's judgments. The destroying angel entered every dwelling unmarked with blood, as the messenger of woe. He did his dreadful errand, leaving not a house in which there was not one dead. Imagine then the cry that rang through the land of Egypt, the long, loud shriek of agony that burst from every dwelling. It will be thus in that dreadful hour when the Son of man shall visit sinners with the last judgment. God's sons, his first-born, were now released. Men had better come to God's terms at first, for he will never come to theirs. Now Pharaoh's pride is abased, and he yields. God's word will stand; we get nothing by disputing, or delaying to submit. In this terror the Egyptians would purchase the favour and the speedy departure of Israel. Thus the Lord took care that their hard-earned wages should be paid, and the people provided for their journey.