Exodus 1:11

11. Taskmasters Chiefs of tribute . The words are noteworthy, since they are found designating the same officers both in Hebrew and Egyptian . The Hebrew word שׂר , Sar, is an exact transcription of the Egyptian title applied in the Theban monuments to the officer appointed by the kings of the eighteenth dynasty to superintend captives employed in making bricks . This rank is there denoted by a long staff and by the giraffe symbol . These “taskmasters” were men of rank, carefully distinguished in the monuments from the subordinate overseers, as they are by the sacred writer . Exodus 5:6. The Hebrews were not reduced to slavery, since they still had their houses, flocks, and herds; but were employed in forced labours on the public works . By this oppression the king hoped to break the spirit of the people, and also their physical power .

Built… treasure-cities Magazines or depots for provisions and ammunition . The monuments represent captives in great numbers employed in such work . Pithom and

Raamses These are Egyptian names, and are often found upon the monuments. Pithom, Brugsch makes the Egyptian Pa-Tum, House of Tum, the sun-god of Heliopolis; while Rameses or Raamses means Son of Ra, or the Sun, and was the name of many Egyptian kings. These cities were about twenty-four miles apart, in the Wady Tumeylat, on the line of the canal that once connected the Nile with the Red Sea. Like the name Pharaoh, (Ph-Ra, the Sun,) both of these names set forth the sun-worship of the Egyptians, and the reigning king was regarded as the representative of Ra, the Sun, upon the earth.