Bible Dictionaries
Brick

Holman Bible Dictionary

is a building material of clay, molded into rectangular shaped blocks while moist and hardened by the sun or fire, used to construct walls or pavement.

The task of brick making was hard labor. It involved digging and moving heavy clay. Clay required softening with water which was done by treading clay pits. After molding the bricks of approximately 2 by 4 by 8 inches, they were dried in the sun or in kilns, (ovens) for fire-hardened bricks. The tower of Babel (Genesis 11:3 ), made of bricks, had mortar of slime, a tar-like substance. Later, because of famine, Joseph moved his family to Egypt (Genesis 46:6 ). The twelve families multiplied greatly in 430 years. A new Pharaoh who “knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:6-8 ) enslaved the Jews. They built storehouse cities of brick in Pithom and Ramses. Egyptian bricks were sometimes mixed with straw. When Moses confronted Pharaoh for Israel's freedom, the angered Pharaoh increased his demands of the slaves. They must produce their same brick quotas and gather their own straw. Both straw-made bricks and bricks of pure clay have been found at Pithom and Ramses. When David conquered the Ammorites, he required they make bricks (2 Samuel 12:31 ). Isaiah (Isaiah 65:3 ) condemned Israel for their pagan-like practice of offering incense on altars of brick.

Lawson Hatfield