Israel enslaved https://www.goodsalt.com/details/stdas0500.html
Summary https://marksbiblejourney.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-book-of-exodus-chapter-1-israel.html
"After Israel died, time passed. Joseph and all his 11 brothers died as well. Their generation came and went like the blink of an eye. But the Israelites--the descendants of the 12 sons of Israel--were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land of Egypt was filled with them. A new king/Pharaoh now rules the land of Egypt. This king does not even know about Joseph as he has died already. This new king of Egypt saw the Israelites as a threat to Egypt, so he forced them into slavery and made them suffer with toiling forced labor. The king made the Israelites build two new supply cities for Egypt: Pithom and Rameses. Pharaoh hates the Israelites so much he tells the Hebrew midwives who help deliver the Israelite babies to kill the baby if it is a boy and to only let the girls live. The midwives feared God, however, and did not do what the Pharaoh told them. So, after some time, Pharaoh made a law for all his people: "You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live."
"After Israel died, time passed. Joseph and all his 11 brothers died as well. Their generation came and went like the blink of an eye. But the Israelites--the descendants of the 12 sons of Israel--were fruitful, increased rapidly, multiplied, and became extremely numerous so that the land of Egypt was filled with them. A new king/Pharaoh now rules the land of Egypt. This king does not even know about Joseph as he has died already. This new king of Egypt saw the Israelites as a threat to Egypt, so he forced them into slavery and made them suffer with toiling forced labor. The king made the Israelites build two new supply cities for Egypt: Pithom and Rameses. Pharaoh hates the Israelites so much he tells the Hebrew midwives who help deliver the Israelite babies to kill the baby if it is a boy and to only let the girls live. The midwives feared God, however, and did not do what the Pharaoh told them. So, after some time, Pharaoh made a law for all his people: "You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile, but let every daughter live."
Some key verses from the Amplified Bible (AMP) version..
- "but the Israelites were prolific and increased greatly; they multiplied and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them." v.7
- "Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph [nor the history of his accomplishments]. He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are too many and too mighty for us [they greatly outnumber us]. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they will not multiply and in the event of war, join our enemies, and fight against us and escape from the land.” So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with hard labor." v.8-11
- "Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah (beauty) and the other named Puah (splendor), “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God [with profound reverence] and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded, but they let the boy babies live." v.15-17
- "So God was good to the midwives, and the people [of Israel] multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God [with profound reverence], He established families and households for them. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born [to the Hebrews] must be thrown into the Nile, but every daughter you shall keep alive.” v.20-22
My personal observations and reflections...
- SONS OF ISRAEL. Exodus 1 arranged and mentioned the sons of Jacob/Israel not according to age (oldest to youngest), but according to who their mother was.. Benjamin was mentioned after Zebulun because he was Rachel's son, despite being the youngest son. "Dan and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher", were sons of the concubines (Rachel and Leah's maidservant) Bilhah and Zilpah, that's why they were mentioned last.
All the sons of Jacob died, but the Israelites (Jacob's descendants) flourished and thrived in the land of Goshen, Egypt. God was obviously with them and upon them; they increased greatly, multiplied and became extremely strong, that the land was filled with them. God said to Abraham/Isaac/Jacob "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore." (Genesis 22:17/Genesis 15:5/Genesis 26:4)-- and it was coming true.
*Bible Footnotes: Exodus 1:7 "In general, sons (children, descendants) of Israel or Israel or Israelites refers to all the people (males and females) of the various tribes descended from the twelve sons (Gen 35:23-26) of Jacob (later renamed Israel by God). In verses concerning things such as warfare or circumcision sons of Israel or Israel or Israelites usually refers only to the males. Tribes of ancient people were identified by the name of their founding ancestor. Therefore, this same general rule applies when referring to individual tribal groups, e.g. sons of Reuben, Reuben, Reubenites and so throughout."
- NEW PHARAOH THREATENED. Hundreds of years have passed, and a new king seated in Egypt had no idea at all about Joseph, and his history of accomplishments in Egypt during the 7 year severe famine (several hundred years ago). How could that happen? Maybe there were people (Egyptians) who wanted that part of the history erased, somehow? I just don't understand why, but perhaps God allowed that to happen as part of His sovereign plan to take the Israelites out of Egypt back to the promise land of Canaan. The time of Exodus!
Exodus 1:8 "The identity of this pharaoh is uncertain. Some scholars think he was Ahmose I (1570-1546 b.c.), founder of the 18th dynasty of Egypt’s New Kingdom or Ahmose’s successor, Amenhotep I (1546-1525 b.c.). Others believe that this Pharaoh was one of the first of the Hyksos rulers; the Hyksos were foreign invaders."
- OPPRESSION, HARD LABOR. In an attempt to weaken and burden the bodies of the Israelites, the Pharaoh thought of oppressing them with hard labor. This is so they won't multiply anymore, and "in the event of war, join our enemies, and fight against us and escape from the land." (v.10) This Pharaoh seems to see the benefit of Israelites' strength and manpower, so he wanted them to be under their slavery, and not out of the land of Egypt. But the irony was, the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more that they multiplied and expanded!The Egyptians were dreaded and exasperated. This was totally out of their hands, because the favor and hand of God was obviously present upon the Israelites. Though the Egyptians were harsh and severe, God was good and faithful to the Israelites even if they don't seem to see or feel it because of their sufferings.
The Israelites at this point "lives bitter with hard labor in mortar, brick, and all kinds of field work" (v.14) But God was in the work of delivering and restoring them.
* Study Guide Commentary from David Guzik:
"At the time, the Egyptians feared invasion from the Hittites of the north. If the Hebrews among them joined with the Hittites, it posed a significant threat to their security.
a. The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew: This was God’s purpose for Israel’s time in Egypt. Egypt served as a mother’s womb for Israel, a place where they rapidly grew from a large clan to a mighty nation.
i. The nation could not grow this way in Canaan, because it was practically impossible to avoid intermarriage with the pagan and wicked inhabitants of Canaan. Egypt was so racially biased and had such an entrenched system of racial separation that Israel could grow there over several centuries without being assimilated.
ii. This growth in the face of affliction has consistently been the story of God’s people, throughout all ages – the more they are afflicted, the more they grow. As the ancient Christian writer Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
iii. Suffering and persecution are like a great wave that comes upon a ship and looks as if it will destroy it; but the ship catches the wave and just uses it to speed along."
- KILL THEM BABIES. The Pharaoh is now desperate! He ordered the Hebrew midwives to do some kind of abortion, by killing the sons of Israelites. If it was a daughter, it shall live. However, the midwives feared God more than the Pharaoh, and they let the baby boys live. The midwives seems to have thought of a lie or an excuse to say to the king when they were questioned. Lying was wrong (so is killing), but when we look at it all in the big picture of God's plan, it is still God who allowed all the baby boys to live. So God was still good to the midwives-- they are the best example of this verse, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28
* Study Guide Commentary from David Guzik:
i. We may see the command of Pharaoh as consistent with Satan’s plan of Jew-hatred through the centuries, as an attack against God’s Messiah and ultimate plan for Israel in His plan of redemption. Satan knew that the Messiah – the Seed of the Woman, the One who would crush his head (Genesis 3:15) – would come from the children of Israel. Therefore he tried to destroy the whole nation in one generation by ordering all the male children killed."
- THROW INTO THE NILE RIVER. Things just got worse, and the Pharaoh ordered for all the helpless, Hebrew baby boys to be thrown into the river. Since it was a king's order, it shall be done no matter the cost. Imagining all the violence and hatred and fear during that time makes me sad:( I guess this was also a picture or foreshadowing of when the baby Jesus was born, the king also ordered for all the baby boys to be killed.
"Matthew 2:16-18 (ESV), Herod Kills the Children
Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
* Study Guide Commentary from David Guzik:
"b. They made their lives bitter with hard bondage: Because God’s purpose was to bless Israel, and fulfill His role for them in His eternal plan, no amount of affliction could defeat His purpose. The Egyptians tried their best through cruel slavery; but it did not work. The principle of Isaiah 54:17 proved true: No weapon formed against you shall prosper. The wickedness of the Egyptians could hurt the children of Israel, but could never defeat God’s plan for them.
i. Pharaoh thought it best to not kill them; but he did want them to be slaves.
ii. In the midst of their cruel and harsh service, life must have seemed hopeless to the children of Israel, and the idea that God was working out His plan must have seemed very far away – yet it was true nonetheless.
b. Saved the male children alive: They acted on the same principle as did the persecuted apostles in Acts 4:19, when Peter asked the civil authorities: Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
i. Though generally we are called to obey the government and honor civic rulers (Romans 13:1-5), we are never called to put government in the place of God. Therefore if the government tells us to do something against God’s will, we are to obey God first.
e. Every son who is born you shall cast into the river: Seeing that his plan did not work, Pharaoh made a far more radical command, that all male children should be killed – apparently even Egyptian boys (Pharaoh commanded all his people).
i. The method Pharaoh commanded for the death of the male children of Israel became the divine provision for training the deliverer of Israel."
Read the Bible:
Reference and credits to https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-Exd/Exd-1.cfm ©2013 David Guzik
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