Exodus 1, Oppression in Egypt

The book of Genesis ends with the descendants of Israel residing in Egypt.  This is to be a temporary stay; the descendants are to one day return to Canaan.  We continue that story here.

Exodus 1: 1-5, Sons of Israel
These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:  Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;  Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;  Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.  The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. 

We have a brief review of the end of Genesis.

Exodus 1: 6-11, The Israelites multiply

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,  but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.

Echoing Genesis 1 (see Genesis 1:26-28), we have a "fruitful" family becoming a large tribe, until the land teems with them.

Exodus 1: 8-11, A new king is worried
Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.  "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us.  Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country."  

    

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

A new king is afraid. Fear breeds disaster, eventually. This king will act rashly and eventually his descendant, another Pharaoh, will be foolish and self-destructive.

Dr. Carmen Imes see here also echoes of Genesis 11, of the arrogance of the builders of the Tower of Babel.  And "Joseph" is the same word as "added to".  

This passage assumes the reader has read Genesis.

There are some similar Hebrew words, miskenot vs miskan, "store cities" for the Pharaoh cult vs. a later "tabernacle" for YHWH. 

Exodus 1: 12-14, Despite oppression, the Israelites continue to multiply!
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds or work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

The king's oppression is not successful; the Israelites continue to grow and multiply.

Exodus 1: 15-17, "Kill the boys!"

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live."

    

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 

Imes notes a collection of feminine endings in Hebrew, emphasizing the action of women.  She also points out that although this king is never named, the midwives are.  Naming denotes significance. (Here's a Bible trivia question for you:  "Name the two Hebrew midwives of Moses' day"!)

Exodus 1: 18-21,  New orders from Pharaoh
Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live? 
    

The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."  So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the mid-wives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 

    

The midwives claim that the pregnant women deliver too quickly for the midwives to intervene!

Are there only two midwives for such a large populous? Note the delivery stool; they probably gave birth squatting on a stool.

The two midwives will be part of a group of five women that quietly, actively, resist the king.

Exodus 1: 22,  New orders from Pharaoh

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."

Note the degree of savagery in verses 15 and 22.

Why kill the boys?  This is presumably to prevent the Israelites from having an army?

What was the root of Pharaoh's fear? The Hebrews were large enough to be a security threat.  If their monotheism was prevalent, this would have been contrary to the Egyptian religion.  And maybe there was always a concern that they might return to Canaan and take away a large slave labor force.