The Book of Jasher, a fascinating and controversial text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18), offers a compelling narrative.
Chapter 65 plunges us right into the heart of Pharoah's court. The scene opens with the counselors and elders of Egypt gathering before the king. They're worried, and for good reason. "Behold, the people of the children of Israel is greater and mightier than we are," they say, according to the Book of Jasher. They remember past skirmishes, where a few Israelites routed much larger Egyptian forces. They fear the Israelites will become too numerous and, in the event of war, side with Egypt’s enemies, potentially even driving the Egyptians out of their own land!
What's a Pharoah to do? Well, according to this account, he proposes a cunning plan, a strategy of slow, insidious oppression. He suggests they embark on a building project, constructing and fortifying the cities of Pithom and Rameses (mentioned also in Exodus 1:11). The plan? Lure the Israelites in with the promise of paid labor, then slowly, subtly, turn the tables.
The Pharoah instructs his advisors to proclaim throughout Egypt and Goshen – the region where the Israelites resided – that the king is seeking laborers for this grand construction project. Egyptians and Israelites alike are invited, with the promise of daily wages. It's a classic bait-and-switch.
At first, everyone's paid fairly. Egyptians and Israelites work side-by-side. But then, the Egyptians begin to withdraw, one by one, in secret. After a month, they start disappearing, as the Book of Jasher tells us. Then the Egyptians return not as fellow workers, but as taskmasters, as oppressors. The wages stop. The work intensifies.
If any Israelite refuses to work without pay, they are beaten and forced back into labor. This is how freedom erodes, isn't it? Not with a sudden cataclysm, but with a gradual tightening of the screws.
And what was the goal of all this deception? To weaken the Israelites, to diminish their numbers. The Pharoah believed that the back-breaking labor would take a toll, even to the point of preventing them from being with their wives and having children. A chilling strategy of demographic warfare.
The plan works, at least for a time. The Israelites build Pithom and Rameses, fortifying the land of Egypt. They make bricks, they build walls. For years, they toil under this oppressive regime, until, as the Book of Jasher poignantly states, "the time came when the Lord remembered them and brought them out of Egypt."
Interestingly, the Book of Jasher notes that the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, never participated in this forced labor. They saw through the Egyptians' deception from the beginning and refused to cooperate. As a result, the Egyptians left them alone. We can see here an early example of how maintaining one’s integrity, even in the face of immense pressure, can provide a form of protection.
The text also tells us that the Egyptians grew increasingly harsh, embittering the lives of the Israelites with hard labor in mortar, bricks, and fields. The Israelites, in a darkly humorous twist, even renamed the Egyptian king Melol to Meror, meaning "bitter," because of the bitterness they experienced during his reign.
But here's the thing: despite the Egyptians' efforts to diminish them, the Israelites continued to increase and grow stronger. As Exodus 1:12 also tells us, "the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the Israelites." Oppression, paradoxically, often fuels resilience.
What can we take away from this chapter of the Book of Jasher? It's a stark reminder of the insidious nature of oppression, how it can creep in disguised as opportunity. It shows us the importance of vigilance, of questioning authority, and of standing in solidarity with those who are vulnerable. And it also offers a glimmer of hope: that even in the darkest of times, resilience can flourish, and liberation, eventually, will come.