=Sec.29. The Oppression of the Hebrews= (Exod. 1:6-12, 22)
And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the
children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and
multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with
them.
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he
said unto his people, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are
more and mightier than we: come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they
multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war,
they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and
get them up out of the land."
Therefore, they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their
burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.
But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more
they spread abroad. And they were grieved because of the children of
Israel.
And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, "Every son that is born ye
shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive."
=Sec.30. The Birth and Adoption of Moses= (Exod. 2:1-10)
[Illustration: _Copyright 1904 by Underwood and Underwood_
THE SIXTY-FIVE-FOOT PORTRAIT STATUES OF RAMSES II]
And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter
of Levi. And the woman bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a
goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer
hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime
and with pitch: and she put the child therein, and laid it in the flags
by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would
be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the
river; and her maidens walked along by the river side; and she saw the
ark among the flags, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. And she opened
it, and saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept.
And she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews'
children."
Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call thee a
nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?"