Exodus 01

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:30:48utc

A. Toward Sinai ch. 1-18.

1. Israel's Presence in Egypt 1:1-5

These verses give the historical background, indicating that Jacob and his sons arrived in Egypt previous to the events that are narrated in this book. Thus, Moses establishes a link with the book of Genesis where we find a similar and more detailed list of the people who went down to Egypt from Canaan.[ 1 ] The number "seventy" is the total of Jacob's sons and their families, including Joseph. The Septuagint gives a number of 75, probably including Joseph's three grandsons and two great-grandsons.

We have noted before that Jacob's offspring who settled in Goshen never showed any inclination to leave Egypt and return to Canaan. No reason for this is given. When Jacob died, his body was returned to Canaan to be buried in the cave of Machpelah. It is our understanding that the sons may have been buried in Sechem, although there is no record of this other than Stephen's remark in Acts.[ 2 ] When Joseph died, it seems that conditions had changed to the point that it had become impossible for the people to leave, so his body had to be placed in a coffin awaiting the time that God would come to their aid.[ 3 ]

Initially, life in Egypt was too good to leave and go back to the uncertainty of a nomadic existence in Canaan. Goshen felt like home. When conditions worsened, leaving Goshen was no longer an option. God's hand was in all of this, but few people would have recognized that fact.

It is hard to be away from home. It is even harder to have no home. Home is part of a man's security in life. It is impossible to consciously live a nomadic existence if God is not completely and exclusively the surety of one's life.

The story of Israel in Egypt and on their way through the desert to Canaan is full of illustrations of our spiritual pilgrimage. The writer of Hebrews grasped this so well when he emphasized that living in tents is the only way to live on earth. We read in Hebrews: "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country; a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."[ 4 ] And from another part of Hebrews we learn that Canaan was only a picture of the real rest, not the reality itself. We read: "God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience."[ 5 ]

The emphasis in vs. 7 is on the prolific increase of the people of Israel. Theirs was a population explosion which started with seventy people and grew in a little more than one century to probably two million people or more. Several commentaries point out that this prodigious increase was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham in Genesis,[ 6 ] repeated to Isaac [ 7 ] and finally renewed to Jacob. [ 8 ]

2. Tribulation of Israel in Egypt 1:8-22

Walter Kaiser, in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, divides this section into two parts which he calls "The first pogrom" (vs. 8-14) and "The second pogrom." (vs. 15-22). It does not seem to me that there were two distinct pogroms, but rather an increase of the oppression to the point of extermination. We are not specifically told at what point during Israel's sojourn in Egypt this oppression started. We do get the impression that the events that are described in ch. 1 and 2 all took place during the reign of one Pharaoh.

It is difficult to determine who this king was and whether he was one of the Semite shepherd kings (Hyksos) or a Pharaoh who deposed the Hyksos and brought the land back under Egyptian rule. If we try to explain the sympathetic attitude of previous Pharaohs toward Joseph and his extended family in terms of racial affinity, such as would exist if the Pharaoh at that time was himself a Semite Hyksos, we could conclude more easily that the fear of the Pharaoh "who did not know Joseph" was built on racial prejudice.

We should not interpret the fact that the new king who came to power "did not know Joseph" as if his majesty was ignorant about history. He must have known who those Israelites were and where they came from and how they came there. "Did not know" in this context means "did not agree." Adam Clarke says: "The verb jada, which we translate 'to know' often signifies 'to acknowledge' or 'to approve.' "

When this Pharaoh ascended the throne, he faced a situation that had grown historically over the centuries. No man makes history single-handedly. We were all born into a world that existed long before we did and we were all handed down conditions and situations over the forming of which we had no control. No single human being has the insight and wisdom that are necessary to know how to act. Without supernatural guidance, man will never find his bearings. Since history is the stage on which the cosmic struggle between God and Satan is acted out, we receive our guidance either from God or from the devil. Those who think they can live without guidance are fools. Pharaoh received his guidance from the powers of darkness.

The amazing fact that shows through the measure he takes is that he was governed by fear. The basis for the oppression is fear. We often fail to realize that most brutality and show of force is based on fear. A dog barks and bites when it is afraid. Men do the same. Behind the human fear of death, is the fear of Satan himself. James puts it correctly when he says: "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that; and shudder."[ 9 ] The Egyptians mistreated the Israelites because they were afraid of them.

In Pharaoh's opinion there were two things to consider: the economy and the security of the country. Probably Egypt had known a period of prosperity which, they recognized, was due to the presence of the Israelites. If the mentality of Israel then was anything like the Jewish spirit of later centuries, the Israelites must have shown themselves superior in intelligence and zeal. Pharaoh feared the Jews because of their financial acumen in the same way that Hitler did. That is why we see this strange paradox that Pharaoh hated the Israelites, but he didn't want them to leave either. Israel's presence was a threat to the security of Egypt, but Israel's absence would mean the economic collapse of the country.

So the king consulted with his advisors, and they decided to "deal shrewdly" with the Israelites, that is, they wanted to outwit them. Having said this, they did exactly the opposite. Use of force is seldom an indication of wisdom.

We are told that the king consulted his people. Pharaoh probably wanted to appeal to a general anti-Semitic sentiment among the Egyptians to carry out his plan for the extermination of the Israelites.

Under Joseph's administration, the Pharaoh became more powerful than his predecessors; people were obliged to relinquish their land and livestock in exchange for food. At least some of this power seems to have eroded at the point in history in which Exodus starts, or, it could be that this Pharaoh favored a more democratic form of government. The powers of darkness are just as active in a democracy as in an absolute dictatorship. Majority rule is not necessarily more righteous. Hence, the Lord's warning to Israel: "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong."[ 10 ]

We should not forget that the real issue was, of course, not Israel's position in Egypt but a demonic effort to hinder God's revelation in this world and to make the coming of the Messiah impossible.

Although, initially, Pharaoh may have had most of the people of Egypt behind him, maybe some simply because of indifference and others because of anti-Semitism, when the plagues started to take effect, he became more and more isolated.[ 11 ]

The first phase of the persecution consisted of slave labor. Probably all the males of Israel were forced to work. The men were required to make bricks and to build cities. So the two cities of Pithom and Rameses came into existence. There is no complete agreement among the experts (!) as to the location of these cities. Kaiser, in the Expositor's Bible Commentary, thinks there is enough archeological evidence to identify the cities with Tell er-Retabeh and Quatir, both situated in Goshen.

We are given no details of the policy that was instituted to reduce the population growth through slave labor. It could be that the men were confined to barracks for extended periods of time and thus were separated from their wives. Whatever the practical arrangements, the policy had the opposite result. The population increased in proportion to the persecution. Persecution does often have the opposite result from the goal it is intended to produce. This principle would make the blood of the martyrs the seed of the church in later centuries.

There seems to have been a gradual increase of hardship. It started with slave labor, which is a denial of human rights and a denial of the dignity of the individual. This was followed by torture and other forms of cruelty which probably took the form of beatings in connection with the demands of labor. We have sufficient examples of this kind of treatment in modern history to be able to imagine what life must have been for the people of Israel. The Israelites may have been afraid of their Egyptian masters; however, ironically, the Egyptians' of their slaves grew in proportion to their own cruelty. The devil does not allow peace in the hearts of those who serve him. God used the beatings to strengthen His people. We find illustrations of this phenomenon also in modern history. The purest expression of the Gospel is found in places where Christians are persecuted.

The word "ruthless" occurs several times in connection with the way the Egyptians treated the Israelites. They were not being treated as fellow human beings.

The Pulpit Commentary remarks here that the Egyptians used stone for their grand edifices, temples, palaces, and treasuries and that brick and mortar were used mainly in inferior buildings. Regarding the phrase "All manner of labor in the field" (KJV) we quote: "The Israelitish colony was originally employed to a large extent in tending the royal flocks and herds (Gen. xlvii. 6). At a later date many of them were engaged in agricultural operations (Deut. xi. 10). These, in Egypt, are in some respect light, e.g. preparing the land and ploughing; ... but in other respect exceedingly heavy. There is no country where care and labor are so constantly needed during the whole of the year. The inundation necessitates extreme watchfulness, to save cattle, to prevent the houses and the farmyards from being inundated, and the embankments from being washed away. The cultivation is continuous throughout the whole of the year; and success depends upon a system of irrigation that requires constant labor and unremitting attention. If the 'labor in the field' included, as Josephus supposed, ... the cutting of canals, their lives would indeed have been 'made bitter.' There is no such exhausting toil as that of working under the hot Egyptian sun, with the feet in water, in an open cutting, where there can be no shade and scarcely a breath of air, from sunrise to sunset, as forced laborers are generally required to do." The Commentary further asserts that during the construction of the Suez Canal 20,000 out of 150,000 laborers perished.

If The Pulpit Commentary's assessment is correct, Pharaoh was in fact operating Nazi or Communist style labor camps, which were, for all practical purposes, death camps.

When forced labor fails to produce the desired result of limitation of population growth the king resorts to other measures. The first is a secret plot to murder male infants at birth and the second is an open order to the whole Egyptian population to kill all the little baby boys.

In verses 15-21, we read that instructions are given to the midwives who assist the Hebrew women during labor and birth. The names of two Hebrew midwives are mentioned: Shiphrah and Puah. Those women are honored by the fact that they are recorded in God's hall of fame for what they did for Israel. They are called "Hebrew midwives," but they were probably Egyptian women who assisted the Hebrew women at birth, or rather they must have been the overseers of the clinics that provided this kind of service. It would be hard to believe that only two women would serve several hundred thousand Hebrew women.

Evidently, Pharaoh's instructions were given secretly. He had not come to the point yet where he wants to be accused of infanticide. It would be comparatively easy for a midwife to kill a baby at the moment it was born, without giving proof of murder. It would arouse suspicion, though, when it became known that only boys would be born dead. The midwives flatly refused to comply because of their fear of God. We may presume that their own lives were at stake; since if the king learned that the women refused cooperation they would, most likely, have been executed. If it were true that these two women were at the head of a larger clinic, they probably never passed on the word to those who actually assisted the Israelite women at birth. When they were called by the king to give account of the failure of the order to be carried out, they protested that they were rarely called in by the Hebrew women. In answer to the king's questions, they reported that the Hebrew women were less delicate than their Egyptian counterparts; they delivered their babies without assistance. The implication is that the Israelites were less civilized than the Egyptians; a point that would go over well with the king.

We get the impression that a period of several years is described in these verses. After all, if all male infants were killed at birth, it would take a while before the statistics would show this. Also we read in vs. 21, "And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own." One does not get a family in just a few months. We are not told how much time passed between the giving of the king's secret order and his calling the midwives to account, but it must have been at least five years or more.

Now it is obvious that Siphrah and Pua were not the only two women in Egypt who would have families of their own. There must have been something unusual in this fact that singled out their families as coming to them from the Lord. Again we are not told what the general situation in Egypt was, so we cannot compare. It could be that Egypt was into family planning and that most families were small, or that venereal diseases were so rampant that many Egyptian women were sterile. Siphrah's and Pua's families must have stood out as healthy and solid among a decaying culture. Children are a blessing of the Lord- especially if they come to know the Lord personally. The Psalmist says: "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him."[ 12 ]

When the secret plan to curb population growth through the maternity clinics fails, Pharaoh throws away every pretense to secrecy. We read in vs. 22: "Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: 'Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.' " Everybody in Egypt is called upon to become a murderer. We do not know how many people obeyed this order and brought guilt upon themselves. It does not take a large number of criminals to make a nation guilty. When Hitler came to power, the Nazi's were, comparatively, a small minority. The majority of Germans during World War II were guilty through inertia.

Even if relatively few children died among the Israelites as a result of this pogrom, the emotional stress must have become unbearable for the people. Every pregnant woman would pray fervently that her baby would be a girl.

There is more behind Pharaoh's command than meets the eye. The Nile was Egypt's sacred river, and the land owed its life to its inundations. Throwing Hebrew children into the river, therefore, was a religious act. By appealing to the nation the way he did, Pharaoh appealed to their piety. One could not withhold sacrifices to the river and remain a good Egyptian. Pharaoh's command brought out the demonic influences that were prevalent in Egypt. Only "the murderer from the beginning,"[ 13 ] as Jesus calls Satan, would come up with a scheme like this. Egypt was in the grip of demons. That is why God tells Moses in ch. 12:12: "I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD."

At the same time, by overstepping the boundaries, Satan brings judgment upon himself and the nation. He is not the victor in this holocaust.

[ 1 ] See Gen. 46:8-27

[ 2 ] See Acts 7:16

[ 3 ] See Gen. 50:24-26

[ 4 ] Heb. 11:13-16

[ 5 ] Heb. 4:7-11

[ 6 ] Gen. 17:2-6; 22:17

[ 7 ] Gen. 26:4

[ 8 ] Gen. 28:3,14;35:11; 48:4.

[ 9 ] James 2:19

[ 10 ] ch. 23:2

[ 11 ] See ch. 9:20; 10:7; 11:3

[ 12 ] Psalm 127:3

[ 13 ] John 8:44