Raamses is named both as a store-city built by the Israelites under forced labor and as the place from which they set out on their journey from Egypt. The location links the oppression that transformed Egypt into a place of bondage with the mass departure that begins Israel’s wilderness journey.

Store-City and Forced Labor

After a new king who did not know Joseph feared the growing Israelite population, Egypt’s rulers imposed taskmasters and forced the people into harsh service. They built Pharaoh’s store-cities, Pithom and Raamses. The narrative sets the construction within a policy of affliction, while noting that the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.

Departure from Egypt

After the death of Egypt’s firstborn, Pharaoh ordered Moses and Aaron to take the Israelites away. The people left in haste, carrying unleavened dough, and the narrative gives their route as a journey from Raamses to Succoth. About six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children, went out with a mixed multitude and extensive flocks and herds; the account also marks the departure as the end of four hundred and thirty years in Egypt.

Place in the Narrative

Raamses thus appears at two ends of Israel’s Egyptian experience: first as a site of state-directed labor, then as the starting point of the exodus. The juxtaposition makes the city’s name part of the narrative’s geography of bondage and release, without supplying further detail about its location or later history.