Egyptian Slaves

They worked out in the hot Egyptian sun all day (often in temperatures over

100°), driven to optimum production by their taskmasters. They had no hats

to protect their heads and wore nothing but a brief kilt or apron on their

bodies. . . . A wealthy Egyptian father talked with his son about the condition

of their bricklayers. He observed that their “kidneys suffer because

they are out in the sun . . . with no clothes on.” Their hands are “torn to

ribbons by the cruel work.” And they have to “knead all sorts of muck.”

Certainly no one stood by to give the workers a drink every few minutes.

It does not take much imagination to conclude that the severe “rigor”

imposed on the Hebrews resulted in many of them dying of dehydration,

heat prostration, heatstroke and the like.

Howard F. Vos, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs: How the People
of the Bible Really Lived (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), p. 61.