20130910 Tuesday, September 10 2013
Exodus 01: I Will There Make Of Thee A Great Nation

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them"

As Jacob was about to enter Egypt (see Genesis 47: Jacob's Israel In The Land Of Goshen), the LORD God (Who was and is Jesus Christ; see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) made a dual promise to Jacob - that his family would grow into a great multitude in Egypt, while Jacob himself, at the end of his mortal life (see Genesis 50: Jacob's Journey To The Afterlife), would be brought back to the land of Canaan where he was born (see Camped Out In Canaan). Ironically, while Jacob himself was born in what became known as the land of Israel, all of the Israelite patriarchs, with the single prophetic exception of Benjamin (see The Rachel Prophecies), were born in either Syria (see A Biography Of Jacob: The Jacobites Of Syria) or Egypt (see Genesis 48: The Adoption Of Ephraim and Manasseh).

"46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob [see Genesis 32: The Origin Of Israel].

And he said, Here am I.

46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: 46:4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes." (Genesis 46:2-4 KJV)

While the Israelites would then surely grow into a great multitude over the next four hundred years (a number that was prophesied to Abraham before Jacob / Israel himself was even born; see The Exodus Prophecy), they began as a famine-refugee family of only seventy adults and children.

"1:1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.

1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah [see Genesis 38: The First Jews], 1:3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 1:4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls [see What Does The Bible Really Say About Your Soul?]: for Joseph was in Egypt already." (Exodus 1:1-5 KJV)

Political circumstances for the Israelites changed over time. Joseph, the Israelite who became the Prime Minister of Egypt (see Genesis 45: Joseph's Revelation), died. The later Pharaohs apparently did not have the historical awareness of Israel's favorable entry into Egypt. But moreover, the Israelites became a legitimate security threat to Egypt because "the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." They were obviously docile, but sooner or later, as typical of human nature through the centuries, some politically-ambitious and/or disgruntled individual (colonels passed over for promotion have been one of history's favorite rebel leaders) or group among them would have led them into a revolution.

"1:6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.

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." (Exodus 1:6-7 KJV)

A later Pharaoh feared the "foreign" multitude in his kingdom: "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we." Although the Israelites had been native-born citizens of Egypt for centuries by then, they obviously remained as aliens to the Egyptian Egyptians (exactly as prophesied to Abraham as well; see Abraham's Seed: From The Nile To The Euphrates).

"1:8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

1:9 And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 1:10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land." (Exodus 1:8-10 KJV)

The Pharaoh began his attempt to control the security threat by restricting how the Israelites could make a living. Keep in mind that they entered Egypt as property-owning free men: "47:5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: 47:6 The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle." (Genesis 47:5-6 KJV). At the end however, they were reduced to slavery.

"1:11 Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.

And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

1:13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 1:14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour." (Exodus 1:11-14 KJV)

The Pharaoh's first attempt at genocide was hidden from public view. He ordered the midwives to kill all male Israelite newborns. Not only did the midwives refuse the order to commit murder (in effect, at-birth abortions), but the LORD further increased the Israelite multitude. It was at that time that Aaron, the older brother of Moses, was born.

"1:15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 1:16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

1:17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

1:18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?

1:19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.

1:20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 1:21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses." (Exodus 1:15-21 KJV)

The Pharaoh then ordered an all-out genocide - the entire population were to drown any newborn male Israelite that they found. As we will cover in our next study, it was during that order that Moses was born.

"1:22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive." (Exodus 1:22 KJV)

Fact Finder: Although four hundred years apart, did the Israelite sojourn in Egypt begin and end with an Israelite in the Pharaoh's palace?
See The Israelites Of The Pharaoh's Palace