Exodus 1:11

Taskmasters. Literally, “superintendents of [forced and unpaid] labor.” Pharaoh hoped that oppressive treatment would break the physical strength of the Israelites and retard their remarkable increase in numbers. He expected, furthermore, to crush their spirit of independence and self-respect. Finally, he would be able to carry out his vast construction projects without laying a burden on his own people.

Treasure cities. Since the land of Goshen was situated in the eastern Delta, Pharaoh set the Israelites to work on temples and other government buildings in the eastern border region. In ancient times national wealth was often stored in temples, presumably under the guardianship of the gods.

Pithom. This name has been explained as a Hebrew rendering of the Egyptian Per-Atum, “House of [the sun-god] Atum.” Some scholars have identified it with the present Tell el-Maskhuta in the Wadi Tumilat, about 12 mi. west of Lake Timsah in the eastern Delta region, where Naville uncovered great storehouses for grain, in 1883. Finding that this city had been built by Ramses II, to whom the name of the second city seems to refer, Naville believed him to be the Pharaoh of the oppression. In this view Naville has had many followers. Others have identified Tell el-Maskhuta with the Biblical Succoth (ch. 12:37), whence the Israelites departed from Egypt, inasmuch as inscriptions reveal that the Egyptian name of the place had been Tjeku. Until more definite evidence comes to light, however, the location of Pithom remains uncertain.

And Raamses. This city was identified by Flinders Petrie with Tell el-Retabeh in the Wadi Tumilat, 8 mi. to the west of Tell el-Maskhuta. Other scholars, however, would identify “Raamses” with Tanis, the Biblical Zoan (Num. 13:22), formerly called Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos. Long after their expulsion from Egypt, Ramses II enlarged and beautified it, and named it after himself.

Ramses II, however, cannot have been the Pharaoh of the oppression. Biblical chronology of the period from the Exodus to the monarchy of Israel requires at least a 15th-century date for the Exodus (see 1 Kings 6:1), which therefore took place two centuries earlier than the reign of Ramses II. The name of the store city here called “Raamses” is to be understood as the modernization of an older name. Another illustration of this practice occurs in Gen. 47:11, where the land of Goshen is called “the land of Raineses.” No one will advocate that the entry of Jacob into Egypt took place under the reign of Ramses II; therefore, the old name of the region called “Raineses” in Gen. 47:11 appears to have been dropped in favor of a more modern one (see on Gen. 47:11). The ancient city of Laish, also, is called Dan in Gen. 14:14 (see on that text), although it received this name many centuries after both Abraham and Moses were dead. The most reasonable explanation for these and other texts in which modern city names are applied in the narrative to earlier times is to assume that later copyists exchanged older, obsolete names for more modern ones, in an attempt to clarify the narratives for later generations.