And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
Pharaoh commanded. It was a natural consequence of the high displeasure created by this interview that he should put additional burdens on the oppressed Israelites.
Taskmasters - Egyptian overseers, appointed to exact labour of the Israelites.
Officers, х shotªriym (H7860)] - Hebrews placed over their brethren, under the taskmasters, precisely analogous to the Arab officers set over the Arab Fellahs-the poor labourers in modern Egypt-and acting as intermediate agents between the government and the people. It is their duty to see that the men perform the prescribed labour, and collect from them the taxes which the government imposes upon them. These Sheikh-el-Beleds, as they are called, are themselves often seen under the stick of the Kaimmakam, the Kashif, or the Mamoor, in the place of some individual of the common people, of whom he in turn afterward takes vengeance (Hengstenberg's 'Egypt and Books of Moses').