The Book of Jasher, a fascinating and controversial text referenced in the Bible itself (Joshua 10:13 and (2 Samuel 1:1)8), 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 1:1)1). 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.
Sacred-texts Apocrypha Index Previous Next Book of Jasher, Chapter 65 1 And it came to pass after these things, that all the counsellors of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and all the elders of Egypt assembled and came before the king and bowed down to the ground, and they sat before him. 2 And the counsellors and elders of Egypt spoke unto the king, saying, 3 Behold the people of the children of Israel is greater and mightier than we are, and thou knowest all the evil which they did to us in the road when we returned from battle. 4 And thou hast also seen their strong power, for this power is unto them from their fathers, for but a few men stood up against a people numerous as the sand, and smote them at the edge of the sword, and of themselves not one has fallen, so that if they had been numerous they would then have utterly destroyed them. 5 Now therefore give us counsel what to do with them, until we gradually destroy them from amongst us, lest they become too numerous for us in the land. 6 For if the children of Israel should increase in the land, they will become an obstacle to us, and if any war should happen to take place, they with their great strength will join our enemy against us, and fight against us, destroy us from the land and go away from it. 7 So the king answered the elders of Egypt and said unto them, This is the plan advised against Israel, from which we will not depart, 8 Behold in the land are Pithom and Rameses, cities unfortified against battle, it behooves you and us to build them, and to fortify them. 9 Now therefore go you also and act cunningly toward them, and proclaim a voice in Egypt and in Goshen at the command of the king, saying, 10 All ye men of Egypt, Goshen, Pathros and all their inhabitants! the king has commanded us to build Pithom and Rameses, and to fortify them for battle; who amongst you of all Egypt, of the children of Israel and of all the inhabitants of the cities, are willing to build with us, shall each have his wages given to him daily at the king's order; so go you first and do cunningly, and gather yourselves and come to Pithom and Rameses to build. 11 And whilst you are building, cause a proclamation of this kind to be made throughout Egypt every day at the command of the king. 12 And when some of the children of Israel shall come to build with you, you shall give them their wages daily for a few days. 13 And after they shall have built with you for their daily hire, drag yourselves away from them daily one by one in secret, and then you shall rise up and become their task-masters and officers, and you shall leave them afterward to build without wages, and should they refuse, then force them with all your might to build. 14 And if you do this it will be well with us to strengthen our land against the children of Israel, for on account of the fatigue of the building and the work, the children of Israel will decrease, because you will deprive them from their wives day by day. 15 And all the elders of Egypt heard the counsel of the king, and the counsel seemed good in their eyes and in the eyes of the servants of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all Egypt, and they did according to the word of the king. 16 And all the servants went away from the king, and they caused a proclamation to be made in all Egypt, in Tachpanches and in Goshen, and in all the cities which surrounded Egypt, saying, 17 You have seen what the children of Esau and Ishmael did to us, who came to war against us and wished to destroy us. 18 Now therefore the king commanded us to fortify the land, to build the cities Pithom and Rameses, and to fortify them for battle, if they should again come against us. 19 Whosoever of you from all Egypt and from the children of Israel will come to build with us, he shall have his daily wages given by the king, as his command is unto us. 20 And when Egypt and all the children of Israel heard all that the servants of Pharaoh had spoken, there came from the Egyptians, and the children of Israel to build with the servants of Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses, but none of the children of Levi came with their brethren to build. 21 And all the servants of Pharaoh and his princes came at first with deceit to build with all Israel as daily hired laborers, and they gave to Israel their daily hire at the beginning. 22 And the servants of Pharaoh built with all Israel, and were employed in that work with Israel for a month. 23 And at the end of the month, all the servants of Pharaoh began to withdraw secretly from the people of Israel daily. 24 And Israel went on with the work at that time, but they then received their daily hire, because some of the men of Egypt were yet carrying on the work with Israel at that time; therefore the Egyptians gave Israel their hire in those days, in order that they, the Egyptians their fellow-workmen, might also take the pay for their labor. 25 And at the end of a year and four months all the Egyptians had withdrawn from the children of Israel, so that the children of Israel were left alone engaged in the work. 26 And after all the Egyptians had withdrawn from the children of Israel they returned and became oppressors and officers over them, and some of them stood over the children of Israel as task masters, to receive from them all that they gave them for the pay of their labor. 27 And the Egyptians did in this manner to the children of Israel day by day, in order to afflict in their work. 28 And all the children of Israel were alone engaged in the labor, and the Egyptians refrained from giving any pay to the children of Israel from that time forward. 29 And when some of the men of Israel refused to work on account of the wages not being given to them, then the exactors and the servants of Pharaoh oppressed them and smote them with heavy blows, and made them return by force, to labor with their brethren; thus did all the Egyptians unto the children of Israel all the days. 30 And all the children of Israel were greatly afraid of the Egyptians in this matter, and all the children of Israel returned and worked alone without pay. 31 And the children of Israel built Pithom and Rameses, and all the children of Israel did the work, some making bricks, and some building, and the children of Israel built and fortified all the land of Egypt and its walls, and the children of Israel were engaged in work for many years, until the time came when the Lord remembered them and brought them out of Egypt. 32 But the children of Levi were not employed in the work with their brethren of Israel, from the beginning unto the day of their going forth from Egypt. 33 For all the children of Levi knew that the Egyptians had spoken all these words with deceit to the Israelites, therefore the children of Levi refrained from approaching to the work with their brethren. 34 And the Egyptians did not direct their attention to make the children of Levi work afterward, since they had not been with their brethren at the beginning, therefore the Egyptians left them alone. 35 And the hands of the men of Egypt were directed with continued severity against the children of Israel in that work, and the Egyptians made the children of Israel work with rigor. 36 And the Egyptians embittered the lives of the children of Israel with hard work, in mortar and bricks, and also in all manner of work in the field. 37 And the children of Israel called Melol the king of Egypt "Meror, king of Egypt," because in his days the Egyptians had embittered their lives with all manner of work. 38 And all the work wherein the Egyptians made the children of Israel labor, they exacted with rigor, in order to afflict the children of Israel, but the more they afflicted them, the more they increased and grew, and the Egyptians were grieved because of the children of Israel. 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