Exodus 1:13-14 “And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage…”
Only Women Bleed? So says Lita Ford, but the truth is somewhat different. The hard labor to which Israel was put may explain part of the disparity between the numbers of men and women who came out of Egypt. The nature of men’s work tends to shorten their lives significantly. Robert Sheaffer wrote, “As for contemporary American society: women live an average of seven years longer than men…Twenty-four out of the twenty-five jobs ranked ‘worst’ in terms of pay and working conditions by the Jobs Related Almanac have one thing in common: they are all 95%-100% male. Of those killed in work-related accidents, 94% are men…”* If that is true for modern America with OSHA rules and modern safety equipment, it must be doubly true for slaves constructing bronze age megaliths.
Fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath. Nor your wives. The work imposed by the Egyptian taskmasters was not designed to produce anything useful or to build wealth. It was primarily intended to break the Hebrews. Every biblical genocide ordered by God was prompted by ubiquitous injustice, and the plagues of Egypt were no exception. The same principle works in families. Tyranny will break family bonds as surely as it breaks those within and between nations.
(See also Numbers 3:39, 3:43, and Ephesians 5:22-6:9.)
*Robert Sheaffer. “Feminism, the Noble Lie.” The Domain of the Patriarchy. http://www.debunker.com/texts/noblelie.html.
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women live an average of seven years longer than men
I think medical care relating to childbirth is the main culprit here. Back in the day, when women would frequently die during childbirth, the life expectancies were more equal or even in men’s favour, in spite of the dangerous work the men had to do.