Exodus 1:11 - "Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens; and they built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses."

Just as today we have foremen who assign jobs and see that their instructions are carried out, the ancient rulers also had such foremen, and they were called taskmasters. However, whereas today we hardly expect the plant foreman to be a cruel person, whose job is in enforcing his orders by physical means, this is exactly what the ancient taskmaster embodied. In fact, the Egyptian taskmasters were…