Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

sword."
The king's anger was kindled. "Moses and Aaron, why do you
take the people from their work?" he said. "Get back to your labor."
Already the kingdom had suffered loss through the interference of
these strangers. At the thought of this he added, "Look, the people of
the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!"
To some extent, during their slavery the Israelites had lost the
knowledge of God's law, and they had generally disregarded the
Sabbath. The demands of their taskmasters made keeping it seem
impossible, but Moses had shown his people that obedience to God
was the condition of their deliverance. The efforts made to restore
Sabbath observance had come to the notice of their oppressors. (See
Appendix, Note 1.)
The king, thoroughly upset, suspected the Israelites of a plot to
revolt from his service. He would make sure that no time was left to
them for dangerous scheming. He immediately took steps to make
their service harder and crush their independent spirit. The most
common building material was sun-dried brick, and great numbers
of the slaves were involved with making bricks. Because they mixed
cut straw with the clay to hold it together, large quantities of straw
were required. The king now ordered that no more straw be
supplied; the workers must find it for themselves, but the same
amount of bricks must be made.
The Egyptian taskmasters appointed Hebrew officers to
215