And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
They made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. It has been adduced as a proof of the unhistorical character of the Pentateuch, that the author mentions brickmaking-a species of manufacture which, it is alleged, was common in Babylonia, but not in Egypt. This objection, however, is utterly groundless, as there is abundant evidence that bricks were in extensive use among the ancient Egyptians. Ruins of great brick buildings are found in all parts of the country. The use of crude brick baked in the sun, was universal in Upper and Lower Egypt both for public and private buildings-all but the temples themselves were of crude brick. The usual size of the bricks Isaiah 14:17, or 20 inches long, 8 3/4 to 6 1/2 inches wide, and 7 to 4 1/2 inches thick.
Mention is made of 'hard service in the field' - i:e., probably referring to the severe labour of irrigating the higher districts by working at the shadoof, cutting a number of channels for the water, and constructing ramparts to restrain the river, and prevent the moisture from stagnating upon its annual overflow.
Josephus says ('Antiquities,' b. 2:, ch. 9:, sec. 1) the Hebrews were set to build the pyramids; but this is not correct, at least in regard to the large pyramids, which are built of stone, not of brick (Wilkinson, in Rawlinson, 'Herodotus,' b. 2:, ch. 107). 'And in mortar' х bªchomer (H2563)], clay, loam, probably potter's clay; because pottery (Psalms 71:6) seems to have formed part of their hard service. But the chief employment was brickmaking. A vivid representation of the labourers engaged in this department is depicted on the tomb of Roschere. 'In this picture some of the labourers are seen transporting the clay in vessels some intermingling it with straw; others are taking the bricks out of the form and placing them in rows; still others, with a piece of wood upon their backs and ropes on each side, carry away the bricks already burned or dried; while "taskmasters" are beside them, some standing, others in a sitting posture, with their uplifted sticks in their hands' (Rosellini, quoted by Hengstenberg, 'Egypt and Books of Moses,' p. 80). This picture was found at Thebes; and though it is now generally agreed not to be a portrait of a Hebrew party, it yet gives a lively idea of their employment in brickmaking. A similar picture has been found (Brugsch, 'Histoire d'Egypte,' tom. 1:,
p. 106) on the sepulchral monument of Abd-el-Qurna, at Thebes, representing groups of war captives engaged in various occupations connected with building-dragging stones, making bricks, carrying loads, etc.; each band of workmen being under the care of an overseer, armed with a stick; and at the head of the picture stands this explanatory notice: 'Captives employed by the king in building the temple of Ammon.'
With regard to the clay used in this process, the bricks made of the mud dug from the wadys in the interior, or on the border of the desert, which is loamy and consistent, hold together, and remain firm as a stone, without straw; but those formed of the alluvial soil deposited on the banks of the river, require straw to make them cohere. Professor Onger, the celebrated Viennese paleontologist, has recently published some remarks on the bricks of the ancient Egyptians, especially those of the pyramid of Dashour, which was built about 3,400 years before our era. In one of them, being examined through the microscope, he discovered that the Nile mud, out of which it was made, contained not only a quantity of animal and vegetable matter, but also in these bricks a vast number of plants which at that time grew in Egypt. The chopped straw, clearly discernible in the body of the bricks, confirms the description of the manner of making the latter, such as we find in 'Herodotus,' and in this book.
Chabas ('Melanges Egyptologiques') has translated some papyri, which mention a foreign race, under the hieroglyphic title of APERIU, who were employed upon such works; and two of these belong to the reign of Rameses II. Upon principles of comparative philology, Chabas makes the hieroglyphic group APERI-U, a transcription of [`eebªriym] HIBERI-M, excepting only the final plural, which the Egyptians never imitated. In the first of these documents the scribe Kanisar makes a return to his superior, the scribe Bek-en Ptah, in these words: 'I have obeyed the command which my master gave me, to provide subsistence for the soldiers, and also for the Aperi-u who carry stone for the great Bekhen (all sorts of buildings) of King Rameses. I have given them rations every month, according to the excellent instructions of my master.' Two other papyri contain records of the same kind, relating to workmen labouring at Rameses. Thus, we find the Aperiu, Hebrews, employed under Egyptian officers, in severe labours, building cities and temples. If this reading of Chabas shall be accepted by Egyptologers, it must be placed among the most remarkable confirmations of the Bible from contemporary sources ('Bib. Sac.,' Oct. 1863, Art. Egyptology).