How were the Israelites treated in Ancient Egypt?

Answer 1

A biblical answer is that the Egyptians became increasingly harsh in their treatment of the Israelites, increasing the workload and reducing their food allowances. When the Egyptians feared because the Israelites were beginning to outnumber the Egyptians, the Pharoah ordered the slaughter of the Hebrew babies. In this story, life was hard and cruel.

Looking outside The Bible, the Egyptian records for the period the Israelites were said to have been in Egypt, contain no mention of large numbers of slaves, nor of a sudden exodus of slaves. For the Egyptians, life went on as normal throughout the late Bronze Age, both in Egypt itself and in its Palestinian colonies. In fact, Israel Finkelstein says that more than ninety per cent of scholars agree that there was no Exodus from Egypt. Thus the Israelite nation was never enslaved in Egypt.

Answer 2

According to the Bible, Hebrews were treated as slaves in ancient Egypt. They were being treated like that because Pharoah was scared there were too many of them and they would try to take over. So he had all boys under two killed and everyone else became slaves. However, there are no artifacts or records in Egypt that they were ever in Egypt, let alone in the vast numbers the Bible said.

Answer 3

If the question inquires regarding the Israelites' slavery... the Egyptians' were afraid of them.

"Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.

"Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

"'Look,' he said to his people, 'the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with themor they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.'

"So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelitesand worked them ruthlessly." (Ex.1:6-13 NIV)

It's always been this way with nations and governments. Governments oppress the people in order to keep them at bay [to 'control the masses' as the philosophy goes] to retain their power as long as possible [ideally, forever].

Fear is the great motivator in the world.

Answer 4

The Israelites (Hebrews) at first enjoyed a prosperous period in Egypt (Genesis 47:27), since the Egyptians were grateful to Joseph (a leading Israelite) for having enabled them to survive a famine (Genesis ch.41).Later, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians (Exodus ch.1), with backbreaking labor and cruel decrees (ibid). By the time of the Exodus, many of the Israelites had given up hope (Exodus ch.6).

• Link: Why were the Israelites enslaved?
  

Is there evidence of the Exodus narrative?

The Ipuwer papyrus describes Egypt's experiencing the Plagues: "Pestilence is throughout the land....the river is blood, death is not scarce...there is no food...neither fruit nor herbs can be found...barley has perished...all is ruin...the statues are burned" (Professor John van Seters, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology no. 50). The plagues were also described by ancient historians, including Herodotus and Diodorus. The Exodus is mentioned by Strabo, Berosus, Artapanus, Numenius, Justin, and Tacitus.

• Link: Evidence of the Exodus
  

But in any case, few nations are content to record embarrassing setbacks honestly. Even today, British and American textbooks describe the American Revolution in very different ways.

An example of the above principle:

The destruction of Sennacherib's army at the walls of Jerusalem was denied by secular theorists, because the Assyrians made no mention of it. But then it was found that Berosus and Herodotus both state that Sennacherib's military campaign in Judea ended in plague and defeat. It should not surprise us that the Assyrians themselves didn't record their own losses.

• Link: Reliability of the Hebrew record
  

It is only the Hebrew Bible, because of its Divine origin, that exposes the faults of its own people and even magnifies them.

In no other religious text can one find such openness. None of the Israelites were immune to strong criticism: Abraham (Genesis 16:5), Reuben (Gen.ch.35), Simeon and Levi (Gen.ch.34 and 49), Judah (Gen.ch.38), Joseph's brothers (Gen.ch.37), Moses (Numbers ch.20), Aaron (Exodus 32:2-4), Samson (Judges 14:1-3), Eli's sons (1 Samuel 2:12), Samuel's sons (1 Samuel 8:1-3), Saul (1 Samuel ch.15), David (2 Samuel ch.11-12), Solomon (1 Kings ch.11), and many others.

Link: The Plagues in Egypt

Link: Moses was a real person

Answer 5

They were cruelly enslaved with back-breaking labor (Exodus ch.1).

Answer 6

For several decades, they were treated splendidly. Later, Exodus ch.1 relates how the Egyptians enslaved them under backbreaking labor and enacted decrees to kill their male babies.

Answer 7

They were treated harshly, subjected to all manner of crushing labor under taskmasters and beaten, their infants drowned (Exodus ch.1-2); and they were separated from their wives (Haggadah).