Exodus 1:11
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
A new king rose over Egypt who did not know Joseph, and he kept Israel in the land because they were able, understanding and skilled workmen of great service and value to the kingdom whose labor he was unwilling to lose, yet he feared them as a growing people who were more and mightier than his own and who might join Egypt's enemies in war and leave the land. To control them, reduce their numbers and break their independent spirit, he turned them into slaves, ranking them with the slave class who had sold their flocks, herds, lands and themselves, and he set taskmasters over them to afflict, burden and oppress them with harsh labor.
Under those taskmasters they built treasure cities for Pharaoh, the royal store cities Pithom and Raamses, and their forced labor was also used for Egypt's palaces and temples. The affliction did not diminish them; instead they continued to multiply, and the more they were afflicted the more they multiplied and grew, which grieved the Egyptians.
Angered by that failure, the king and his rulers imposed a fixed daily amount of work to subdue them with hard labor and crush out their independent spirit, making their lives bitter with rigorous bondage in mortar and in brick and in all manner of field service, even compelling their women to work in the fields as slaves. When hard labor still failed to check their growth, they hardened their hearts to go further and command the killing of the male children.
This history of Israel in Egypt is an experience that God's people living in the last days are to consider and learn from.