Exodus 1
Exodus 1:1-6:
Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. |
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The enumeration of Jacobs family is to stress that, though no clear chronological data are given, what follows is the direct continuation of the Genesis story.
"Seventy" may be used as a round number, or as a sacred figure. It may also be obtained exactly by excluding Jacob's daughter Dinah from the total. The Greek text of Genesis 46 adds the five children of Ephraim and Manasseh, thus making the "seventy five' of Acts 7: 14. The theological point is the difference between the small numbers who entered Egypt and the large numbers who left.
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Exodus 1:7:
"And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." |
God granted great fruitfulness to the Hebrew wives and the nation grew dramatically. The statement that "the land was filled with them" must be understood of Goshen. There is no evidence linking the Israelites with other parts of Egypt.
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Exodus 1:8:
Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. |
He had no recognition of past history. The new king never knew Joseph and felt no indebtedness to him or his descendants. This is
interesting to note since at one time Joseph was so well known that he was a hero and his body could not even be taken from the land. It is important for all generations to know their history...and an accurate history. Not one rewritten to move some political notion as so often happens today. The essence of Christian faith is not certainty, but trust. |
By the end of the Genesis narrative, the Israelites had achieved most-favored immigrant status in the land of Egypt. The Egyptians had welcomed the Hebrew foreigners from Canaan because they were family to Joseph who, even as a non-Egyptian, had risen to second-in-command next to Pharaoh (Genesis 41:37-45). But then came the great disruption: Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph (Exodus 1:8). Israel's status quickly deteriorated from welcomed guests (Genesis 45:16-20) to feared aliens and oppressed slaves. The text reveals again the interaction of politics, ethnic difference and religion as a volatile cauldron for human interaction with potential both for great good and great evil.
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When Joseph was God's instrument of rescue for Egypt, his name and family received the honor and gratitude of the nation for generations to come. However, when a pharaoh who had little interest in ancient history rose top power, things changed dramatically. He was not concerned with what had happened hundreds of years before; what was past was past. All he saw was the major presence of foreigners in his land--a presence that could be an internal threat to the nation.
Exodus 1:9-22::
9 And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; 10 come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. 13 So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. 15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; 16 and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?” 19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.” 20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. 21 And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. 22 So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.” |
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“The greatest thing any one can do for God or for man is to pray. It is not the only thing. But it is the chief thing.”
-SD Gordon
-SD Gordon