BRICK. [The bricks mentioned in the Bible are of two sorts. ,. Brick formed of a whitish chalky clay, compacted with straw and dried in the sun (MZ$, from to be white. Sept.
arXivOos.] It is this sort which is chiefly men tioned in the Scriptures; and the making of such formed the chief labour of the Israelites when bondsmen in Egypt (Exod. i. 13, 14). This last fact constitutes the principal subject of Scriptural interest connected with bricks ; and leads us to regard with peculiar interest the mural paintings of that country, which have lately been brought to light, in which scenes of brick-making are depicted.
' The use of crude brick, baked in the sun, was universal in Upper and Lower Egypt, both for public and private buildings ; and the brick-field gave abundant occupation to numerous labourers throughout the country. These simple materials were found to be particularly suited to the climate. and the ease, rapidity, and cheapness with which they were made, afforded additional recommendations. Inclosures of gardens or granaries, sacred circuits encompassing the courts of temples, walls of forti fications and towns, dwelling-houses and tombs, in short, all but the temples themselves were of crude brick ; and so great was the demand, that the Egyptian government, observing the profit which would accrue from a monopoly of them, undertook to supply the public at a moderate price, thus preventing all unauthorized persons from engaging in the manufacture. And in order the more effectually to obtain this end, the seal of the king, or of some privileged person, was stamped upon the bricks at the time they were made. This fact, though not positively mentioned by any ancient author, is inferred from finding bricks so marked both in public and private buildings ; some having the ovals of a king, and some the name and titles of a priest, or other influential person : and it is probable that those which bear no characters belonged to individuals who had obtained a licence or permission from the government, to fabricate them for their own consumption. The employ ment of numerous captives who worked as slaves, enabled the government to sell the bricks at a lower price than those who had recourse solely to free labour ; so that, without the necessity of a pro hibition, they speedily became an exclusive manu facture ; and we find that, independent of native labourers, a great many foreigners were constantly engaged in the brick-fields at Thebes and other parts of Egypt. The Jews, of course, were not
excluded from this drudgery; and, like the cap tives detained in the Thebaid, they were con demned to the same labour in Lower Egypt. They erected granaries, treasure-cities, and other public buildings, for the Egyptian monarch : the materials used in their construction were the work of their hands ; and the constant employment of brick-makers may be accounted for by the exten sive supply required and kept by the government for sale' (Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ii. pp. 97, 98) Captive foreigners being thus found engaged in brick-making, some have jumped to the conclusion that these captive foreigners were Jews, and that the scenes represented were those of their actual operations in Egypt. Sir J. G. Wilkinson satisfac torily disposes of this inference by the following remark : 'To meet with Hebrews in the sculptures cannot reasonably be expected, since the remains in that part of Egypt where they lived have not been preserved ; but it is curious to discover other foreign captives occupied in the same manner, and overlooked by similar 'task-masters,' and perform ing the very same labours as the Israelites described in the Bible; and no one can look at the paintings of Thebes, representing brick-makers, without a feeling of the highest interest It is scarcely fair to argue that, because the Jews made bricks, and the persons here introduced are so engaged, they must necessarily be Jews ; since the Egyp tians and their captives are constantly required to perform the same task; and the great quantity made at all times may be justly inferred from the number of buildings which still remain, con structed of these materials : but it is worthy of remark that more bricks bearing the name of Thothmes III. (who is supposed to have been the king at the time of the Exode) haze been discovered than at any other period, owing to the many prison ers of Asiatic nations employed by him, indepen dent of his Hebrew captives.