Straw

Straw (Hebrew: teben) was the dried stalks of grain after threshing and was essential in ancient brick-making — mixed with clay to bind and prevent cracking as the bricks dried in the sun. The forced labor of the Israelites in Egypt included gathering straw for this purpose, and Pharaoh's cruel order to withhold straw while maintaining the same brick quota intensified their oppression and provides the narrative context for the exodus (Ex. 5:7–18). This detail is consistent with Egyptian construction practice known from archaeological evidence.

Straw also served as fodder for livestock (Isa. 11:7; 25:10; 65:25; Gen. 24:25, 32), and its combustibility made it a natural metaphor for the worthless and transient. Isaiah's messianic vision of peace envisions the lion eating straw like an ox (Isa. 11:7; 65:25), the reversal of predatory nature, as a sign of universal shalom. Paul's image of building with straw, wood, and stubble on the foundation of Christ (1 Cor. 3:12) uses the material's combustibility to represent works of no lasting value.