Exodus 1

The children of Jacob (vs. 1-7)—Moses begins his second book by listing Jacob’s 12 sons. Over time, they all died, of course, “but the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them” (v. 7).

Slavery (vs. 8-14)—But “there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (v. 8). The expansion of the Israelites was of significant concern to the Egyptians. Egyptian historians estimate that the population of the country, not counting the Jews, was maybe 1 million. Given the figures cited in the book of Numbers, by the time of Moses, Israel may have numbered more than 2 million, Frankly, that number is a bit of a problem and the Hebrew language in the text might indicate something else. But I’ll discuss that when we get to Numbers. But, at the moment, we’ll accept that figure. If it’s accurate, then one can certainly understand why there would be consternation among the Egyptians. So, Jacob’s descendents were enslaved, “and they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses” (v. 11). But the affliction didn’t stop the growth of Israel. “The more they [Egypt] afflicted them, the more they [Israel] multiplied and grew” (v. 12). So Pharaoh worked them harder (v. 13), and “made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field” (v. 14). Slavery is never fun; it was very common in the ancient world and can actually be a rather efficient form of labor in agricultural societies. Or at least a cheap form of labor. Slavery, of course, has only been abolished within the last 200 years, but actually still exists in some of the more primitive areas of the world. But it’s mostly sex slavery now, and not agricultural, or building of cities as Egypt forced upon the Jews.

Pharaoh’s population control measure (vs. 15-23)—In order to cut down on the growth of Hebrew numbers, Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill all male-born babies. “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive” (v. 17). Pharaoh called their hand on it (v. 18), but the women responded that “the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them” (v. 19). This is disingenuous at best, but “God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty” (v. 20). God probably wasn’t pleased with the midwives’ less than honest explanation, but keep in mind that no word of the Bible had yet been written so Jehovah tolerated actions and sins that He would not accept today. And again, God was able to use this to further accomplish His purposes. The Lord never approves of sin, but in His infinite wisdom, can take whatever man does and direct it as He wills. Sometimes, as we shall see a few chapters later in Exodus, men directly try to thwart God’s plans, but that will not, and cannot, happen. God will accomplish what He sets out to do, regardless of any opposition He might encounter. Men simply cannot defeat Jehovah.