Pharaoh's harsh decree turns the Israelites' plea for freedom into an instrument of even deeper oppression. In a cynical twist, he commands the people to go out, mocking their original request to journey into the wilderness to serve God. Now, they must go out only to serve the king of Egypt [קאסוטו]. The government abruptly strips away its responsibility to provide raw materials, placing an impossible double burden on the slaves. This marks a sudden shift in their working conditions; whereas the royal administration previously supplied everything, the heavy task of sourcing materials now falls entirely on the workers [ביאור יש״ר].
The commentators explore exactly how the Israelites are supposed to obtain the necessary straw. One approach suggests they must physically gather it themselves, moving with intense speed and agility to meet their demands [רש״י, משכיל לדוד]. Another perspective argues that they are expected to purchase the straw from the Egyptians using their own money, as they simply cannot afford to waste precious time searching [העמק דבר, הכתב והקבלה]. Regardless of the method, they are forced to find it wherever possible, whether near or far [אבן עזרא, ביאור יש״ר], scouring the streets and local markets [העמק דבר]. The entire burden of supply rests squarely on their shoulders [קאסוטו].
The true cruelty of the decree is revealed in the demand that the daily brick quota remains completely unchanged. This requirement is absolute, meaning the workload is not reduced now, nor will it be lessened at any point in the future [אבן עזרא, רשב״ם, אוהב גר, רש״ר הירש]. This raises a logical question: why is the unchanged quota presented as the very reason they must go out and secure the straw? An unchanged workload would seemingly leave them with no extra time to search. The commentators explain that this strict condition is exactly why they must act with such frantic speed or spend their own money. They have absolutely no time to lose on long searches because their daily output must match the days when materials were delivered directly to them [מזרחי, שפתי חכמים, הכתב והקבלה, ביאור יש״ר]. Furthermore, this strict demand prevents the slaves from assuming that gathering materials would replace part of their building duties. Pharaoh makes it clear that they must complete the exact same amount of labor in significantly less time [אור החיים, קאסוטו]. It also eliminates any attempt to cheat the system by producing bricks without straw or shrinking the size of the bricks [אלשיך].