Exodus 1 Study Notes

1:1-7 These verses summarize Gn 37-50, which describe in full how Jacob’s family arrived in Egypt, the welcome they received, and the deaths of Jacob and Joseph. The list of sons (vv. 2-4) does not follow chronological order. It begins with Leah’s six sons, then Rachel’s younger son, Benjamin. Rachel’s older son, Joseph, had come to Egypt first, before Jacob and the rest. The names continue with the two sons of Rachel’s maid and finally the two sons of Leah’s maid. Without mentioning the mothers, the arrangement of the list reflects family tensions.

1:5 Two other Scripture passages also say that the number who went to Egypt was seventy (Gn 46:27; Dt 10:22). The Septuagint (at Gn 46:27 and Ex 1:5 but not Dt 10:22), two Qumran manuscripts of Ex, and Ac 7:14 all mention seventy-five. The Septuagint of Gn 46:20 lists five sons and grandsons of Ephraim and Manasseh. These go unmentioned in the Hebrew text and therefore account for the different totals.

1:7 Verses 7, 12, and 20 use several terms to talk about the multiplication of the Israelites. These terms also appear repeatedly in God’s creation and flood mandates (Gn 1:20-22,28; 9:1,7) and in promises he made to the patriarchs (Gn 17:2,6,20; 18:18; 26:4,24; 28:14; 35:11). Any Egyptian king who feared and opposed the growth of the Israelite population was opposing the purposes of the Lord.

1:8-22 These unsuccessful attempts to deal shrewdly with the Israelites seem to escalate in desperation and decline in shrewdness. The king of Egypt never reexamined his assumptions; he only tried new methods.

1:8 One plausible explanation of Egyptian and Israelite connections contends that Joseph came to Egypt when the native Egyptian Twelfth Dynasty ruled in the Middle Kingdom era. Years later, Semitic resident aliens known as “Hyksos” took over much of Egypt until the time of Kamose, who reasserted Egyptian rule. The new king is not named in Exodus, nor is any other Egyptian king, but perhaps he was a Hyksos ruler without concern for the rights granted to the Israelites by an earlier regime. Another suggestion is that the “new king” was Ahmose, who followed his brother Kamose as ruler, reigned about twenty-five years, completed the restoration of Egyptian rule, and founded Dynasty Eighteen and the New Kingdom era, a period when Egypt exerted a powerful presence in the ancient Near East. Any Eighteenth Dynasty king might have been wary of the Israelites if he associated them with resident aliens such as the ousted Hyksos. So when it says this king did not know about Joseph, it means he felt no obligation to honor an agreement entered into by the previous administration.

1:9 This is the first time the Israelite people are called a “people.” They came to Egypt as an extended family, but now Pharaoh compared their numbers with his own. This exaggeration indicates Pharaoh’s eagerness to convince his courtiers that they must take decisive action.

1:10 Pharaoh’s concerns are ironic in view of the Lord’s later statement that if the Israelites faced war on the way to Canaan, they would flee back to Egypt for safety (13:17).

1:11 Pithom is probably Tel el-Retaba. Rameses is probably Qantir or Avaris. Both were located in the eastern Nile delta near the Wadi Tumilat. These were supply cities probably in the sense that they stood ready to supply arms, food, and fortifications for troops called up in the event of an invasion from the northeast (1Kg 9:15-19).

1:12 The Moabites shared with the Egyptians this dread of the Israelites when they saw how numerous they were (Nm 22:3). Pharaoh’s scheme resulted in more Israelites and more fear among the Egyptians, not less of both as he had intended.

1:13-14 Five forms of the same Hebrew word are translated here with forms of “work” or “labor.” (A different word for labor is in v. 11.) The repetition drives home what the Egyptians were doing and also prepares for making a comparison, since the same word can refer to service in worship. The Lord would give the Israelites new work of a different sort (3:12; 4:23; 7:16,26; 8:1). Elsewhere forms of the word translated bitter describe situations of severe hardship and loss (Ru 1:13,20; 1Sm 30:6; 2Kg 4:27; Is 22:4).

1:15 In this book that takes a profound interest in identities, ironically the king is nameless, but the midwives who honored God are named. Verse 15 begins with the introduction to the king’s speech, but then it is as if the king could not speak until the midwives were identified. The delay is more obvious in Hebrew since v. 16 starts over with the same statement the king . . . said that starts v. 15.

1:16 Observe them as they deliver is literally “look at the stones,” meaning check the genitals. The orders are clear; the midwives must kill Israelite sons and let the daughters live.

1:17 By letting the boys live, the midwives showed that they feared God rather than Pharaoh (Ps 96; 112; Pr 1:7; 3:7; Ac 4:19; 5:29).

1:18-21 True or not, the midwives’ excuse about the superior ability of Hebrew women must have been believable since Pharaoh did not pursue the matter further.

1:22 When Pharaoh commanded all his people, his desperate desire to kill Israelites came out into the open.