“[Hashem] saw our affliction, that is the withdrawal from family life.” 

The Egyptians decreed that the men would spend the nights in the fields while the women would sleep in the city.  They insisted on this so there wouldn’t be any wasted time in traveling to their job site. The daily quota of work imposed on the Jews necessitated their working late.  Even when they finished, the Egyptians did not permit them to go to sleep.  Instead, they ordered the Jews to do other work such as cut down trees.  Every night they found other types of labor for the Jews.  The Egyptians’ intention was to prevent the Jewish People from having a normal family life.  However, the Jewish women were righteous, kind-hearted women, and took good care of their husbands.  They prepared warm food for them and gave them much needed encouragement with their kind words.  They assured them that they would not always be slaves.  The women reminded the men of Hashem’s promise and demonstrated great faith in Hashem.  They were rewarded for this by Hashem Who provided them with fish when they drew water from the wells.  The women then prepared the healthy fish for the men and secretly brought it to them, together with warm water to wash off the dirt of their day’s work.  The women became pregnant as a result of these secret visits.  They gave birth in the fields under the apple trees.  Hashem rewarded them further by giving them an easy labor since they delivered their babies without a midwife’s help.  Hashem sent angels to look after the babies’ welfare, better than any person.  Each baby was given two small stones — from one stone they could nurse milk and from the other one, honey. Furthermore, another miracle occurred to protect these babies — the ground opened and swallowed them.  All of these miracles were necessary because the Jewish women had no choice but to leave their babies after giving birth.  If the Egyptians had found the babies, they would have killed them.  Even when the Egyptians suspected that the babies were hidden in the ground and started to dig for them, they miraculously were unharmed. The Egyptians would then leave, thinking they had killed the babies.  These children slowly grew up and each one returned to his parents’ home because they were safe from the Egyptians in the city.  The Egyptians would not publicly kill them in the city and in fact were only too happy to have these grown children join in the slave labor to build the Egyptian cities.  (Me’am Lo’ez) 

“We cried out to Hashem, the God of our fathers, and Hashem heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression.”

The Midrash brings down three reasons why the Jewish People were enslaved for 210 years instead of 400 years as was mentioned in the Brit Bein Habetarim.

1. The nights made up the difference in time.  Generally, people only work during the day.  Since the Jews worked day and night, the 210 years were considered as 400 years. 

2. The Jewish People increased in size at a supernatural rate.  As a result, their population grew to a number that normally would have taken 400 years to achieve but instead only took 210 years. 

3. The extremely harsh conditions of their enslavement made up the difference in the number of years they were enslaved. 

“Hashem saw our affliction” refers to the nights they were forced to work. 

“Hashem saw our toil” refers to the children — their supernatural growth in numbers. 

“Hashem saw our oppression” refers to the extremely harsh conditions of their enslavement. 

These three situations led to “Hashem brought us out of Egypt.”  ( Hazon Ovadiah)

“Our toil refers to the children.” 

Then Pharaoh decreed that the Jewish baby boys should be thrown in the Nile, 10,000 babies became his victims!  Some commentators say 600,000. Rabbi Yannai said that 3½ years before Moshe’s birth, this evil decree was in force. After Moshe’s birth, the decree was abolished. Many Jews were placed in the walls of the buildings and their cries for help were not heeded.  The Egyptians also cast many Jewish babies into the fires. At first the Jewish slaves did not realize that all their suffering was the result of Pharaoh’s decree.  They thought individual Egyptians were to blame and they even complained to the authorities who told them to bring witnesses.  Finally, though, the truth was revealed to them. Hashem demonstrated great mercy to many of the babies who were cast in the Nile. They did not drown but were washed ashore in the desert.  Hashem provided them with two “stones”  — one stone provided them with sustenance, milk and honey, while the second stone provided them with oils to clean and moisturize themselves.  These babies were nurtured and cherished in this special manner, perhaps even better than the care they would have received in their parents’ homes.   (Me’am Lo’ez) 

“Our oppression refers to the pressure used upon them.”

“Oppression” refers to difficult labor such as plowing planting, digging wells, etc. The greatest oppression imposed on the Jewish People was when the Egyptians forced the men to do the women’s work and vice versa.  The Jews were also compelled to work continuously, day and night.  For example, the men were ordered to cook, knead  the dough and wash the clothes and the pots.  The women were ordered to plough the fields, cut down trees and help in the building projects. To add to the Jewish People’s misery was the fact that the ground in Egypt was very difficult to work.  After they completed making bricks, the bricks would crumble and as a result, the Jews had to remake them.  All their hard work was for nothing.  For this reason, the Jewish People could not rest — there wasn’t time!   (Me’am Lo’ez)