Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
They did set over them taskmasters ..., х saareey (H8269) miciym (H4522)] - masters of tribute service, service masters; or [taking mac (H4522) in the concrete, for a levy of men, as 1 Kings 5:13; 1 Kings 9:15], it may be masters of labourers. It has been the practice of Eastern despots from time immemorial, particularly in Egypt, to draft workmen in gangs of tens and hundreds to labour in public works, marshalled under the inspection of overseers armed with sticks to bastinado the lazy or disorderly; and this policy has been adopted chiefly with a view to prevent insurrection and turbulence. They proceeded to such measures very gradually. Having first obliged the Israelites, it is thought, to pay a ruinous rent, and involved them in difficulties, the new government of Ramses, in pursuance of its oppressive policy, degraded multitudes of the lower classes among the Hebrews to the condition of serfs-employing them exactly as the fellahs or labouring people are in the present day (driven in companies or bands), in digging canals, or rearing the public works, with taskmasters who anciently had sticks-now whips-to punish the indolent or spur on the too languid (cf. Psalms 129:1-3; Jeremiah 11:2; Jeremiah 22:21; Ezekiel 23:3; Hos. 11:17). All public or royal buildings in ancient Egypt were built by captives; and on some of these works was placed an inscription that no free citizen had been engaged in the servile employment, and they built-literally, they made them build for Pharaoh.
Treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. The is first called, in the Septuagint, peithoo; by Herodotus (b. 2:, ch. 158), patoumos; and (dropping Pi, the Egyptian article) the Thoum (Thom) of the itinerary of Antoninus, whose site appears to be marked by the ruined town opposite Tel el Wadee, six miles east of the mouth of the canal, on the eastern bank of the Nile, about 12 Roman miles from Heliopolis (Wilkinson, in Rawlinson's 'Herodotus'). The second city, Raamses, differing only in a single diacritical point from the common form Rameses (Exodus 12:37; Numbers 23:3; Numbers 23:5), is called by the Septuagint Ramessee. It was probably the capital city of a district which from it obtained its name (Genesis 47:11).
Dr. Robinson ('Biblical Researches,' 1:, 79) supposes it to have been situated between the Bitter Lakes and the Valley of the Seven Wells, not far from Heroopolis, on the west of the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, in the Wady Tumilat, through which anciently ran the canal connecting the Nile with the Gulf of Suez.
Jablonsky says that the name Rameses is composed of two Coptic words, Rem (romi), man, and Shos, shepherd. The name Remshos would thus correspond to the Greek [boukolia], 'the land of herdsmen' - i:e., Goshen, with which "the land of Rameses," in our version (Genesis 47:11), as well as in the Septuagint is identified, and of which the city mentioned in this verse is supposed to be the capital. Most writers, however, prefer considering Raamses a new city founded by Rameses II, and which he called by his own name, conformably to the custom of giving the name of the reigning sovereign to cities, fortresses, temples, etc., built by his authority.
There are numerous instances of this belonging to the era of Rameses II, who, in consequence of his frequent wars with Asiatic tribes erected cities and forts along the border of the Delta on every side. 'The Papyrus Anastasi III contains a brilliant description of this city, as surpassing Thebes in its public buildings; and from the whole account, as given in this and another papyrus, Chabas, infers the existence of an important city founded by Rameses II, in the eastern part of the Delta, where the Bible places the city of Rameses' ('Bib. Sac.,' Oct., 1865, Art. Egyptology).
These two cities are generally considered to have occupied the sites, Pithom of Abassieh, and Raamses of Abu-Keischeid-so that these were frontier cities on the side of Arabia. Osburn ('Monumental History,' 2:, p. 413, and Egypt, her Testimony,' pp. 59-61, 106) identities Pithom with the modern Damietta, situated at the embouchure of the Phathmetic branch of the Nile, and Raamses, with the mound of ruins which still bears the name, 'situated on the western border of the Delta, about midway between the Canopic branch of the Nile and the ancient canal of Alexandria the remains of which are visible. The completion and fortification of these two cities were the first works to which Rameses (Sesostris) directed the forced labours of the enslaved Israelites. His object in doing so was strategetical. He was enabled by this means to entrench in fortified camps a strong military force on both the borders of the Delta, thereby commanding perfectly the whole district, Pithom being at the eastern end of the valley of Goshen, and Raamses at the western, so that a barrier was provided against future invasions.'
They are called "treasure cities" х mickªnowt (H4543), by transposition, for miknªcowt (H4370), magazines, stores] - i:e., the cities were receptacles, such as were common in Egypt for the storing of agricultural produce, either for export or perhaps chiefly for supplying provisions for the coast guard, large military detachments being stationed along the border. Whence the Septuagint calls them [poleis ochuras], strong fortified cities (2 Chronicles 11:12); and Osborn says that Pithom means 'the lock,' or 'safeguard,' because it served as a defense to the frontier, and also as a place of refuge, to which the Egyptians resident on the eastward might betake themselves in case of an invasion from Canaan (cf. Jeremiah 35:10-11; 'Mon. Hist.,' 2:, p.
413). [The Septuagint has 'they built,' teen te Peithoo kai Ramessee kai Hoon, hee estin Heelioupolis, and On, which is Heliopolis.]