Teben appears 17 times in the Hebrew Bible as the word for straw or chaff — the dried stalks of grain used for brick-making in Egypt, animal fodder, and as a symbol of what is ephemeral and worthless. Its most famous appearance is in the Exodus narrative where Pharaoh cruelly withholds teben from the Israelite slaves (Exodus 5), forcing them to gather their own straw while maintaining brick quotas — a defining moment of oppression.
The theology of teben operates on two levels. Historically, the withholding of straw in Exodus 5 illustrates Pharaoh's escalating cruelty and sets the stage for God's dramatic deliverance — the more Pharaoh oppresses, the more God's power is magnified in liberation. Symbolically, straw/chaff becomes throughout Scripture the image of what cannot endure God's judgment: Psalm 83:13 prays that God's enemies become like chaff; Isaiah 5:24 describes the wicked as straw consumed by fire; John the Baptist declares Jesus will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12). What has no root, no substance, cannot survive the divine wind.