Pharaoh and his Army,Pharaoh was worried that the Hebrews were becoming too numerous and strong for him and his army to control and that if this continued to happen that eventually, they would join with other enemies of Egypt and challenge Pharaoh's army. To prevent this, he forced the Hebrews into labor hoping that it would break their spirit and make them easier to control/deal with. When this didn't work and their population continued to grow and thrive, he sought to prevent a future revolt by having the midwives kill all the baby boys born to Hebrew women. This also did not work because many of the Hebrew women delivered on their own without the help of a midwife. So to ensure that all the baby boys would be killed anyway, the Pharaoh ordered that they all be thrown into the river.

Approximately 2,750,000 male Hebrew babies were murdered over the 80 years of slavery.