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"And the children of Israel were fruitfull, and increased aboundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them. "
- Exodus 1:7, 1611 King James Bible, see link below.
First off.... How Long has it been since Joseph was buried in that coffin in Egypt at the end of Genesis? According to the prophecy to Abraham in Genesis 15 : 13, his descendants would be 'afflicted' in a foreign land for 400 years.
When you dig into Exodus you don't get an actual check of the dates until chapter 12 verse 40, where it states a period of 430 years. Is there a contradiction? No. For the first part of their stay, the people were voluntary 'guests' of Joseph who was effectively ruling the place for the Pharaoh. Sometime after that the relationship soured.
Had soured a lot.
1 - 5 Summary and Analysis.
Verse one uses the second name of Jacob... Israel, first. Then it mentions his other name, and said each man came with his household. Remember, Jacob had other kids, including a daughter named Dinah (see Genesis 34 for her and the end of Genesis 38 for the rest), who came south with him. "Seventy" souls in all.
Verses two through four name the Twelve that are named in order of birth without naming Joseph, who was already in Egypt: "Reuben, Simeon, Leui, and Iudah, Issachar, Zebulun and Beniamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher." (1611 KJV spellings)
6
Joseph and the brothers die, and it specifies....
"we kol" (and all) "dor" (generation) "hu" (that).
7 Analysis:
The words used include: "paru" ('were fruitful' (only use of that combination in OT)), and "sharats" (swarm / teem / abound / etc (used in Genesis 1 : 20 to refer to the life in the oceans, and elsewhere)), and "rabah" (increase / multiply / become many), and "atsam" (numerous / strong / mighty) "meod meod" (very / much / greatly (word is repeated in the Hebrew for emphasis)) - "male / mala" (to fill / be full) "erets" (the land / territory / country / etc) 'with them'.
A number of commentators, including The Bible Project (see link below), highlight how brutal the Pharaoh was toward the Children of Israel. Well, yeah, the king probably was, but think about it. The text states later that there was over 600,000 men in Goshen. A number that if formed into an army, already in the heart of the kingdom, with most of the military being deployed to the borders to protect from outside threats, could pose a serious threat to the throne.
8
"way" (and) "qum" (arose / stood / establish) "melek" (king) "chadash" (new) over "misrayim" (Egypt), who did not "yada" (know / understand) Joseph.
Discussion: As of the opening section, we don't know how long it has been since Joseph "shuffled off the mortal coil". But the section that emphasizes how they 'were fruitful and multiplied' indicates that it has been several generations. Also, we don't know how long this part is before the birth of Moses. We're dealing with a span of over four centuries in a dozen verses.
Also, in not knowing or understanding his own ancient history, the king did not know or understand the God of the Hebrews. Which is something that comes to a sharp point in a couple of chapters.
9
He said to his "am" (people / kinsfolk (implying the royal court)), "hinneh" (behold / see / etc), "am" (people...) of the "ben" (sons) of "Yisrael" (Israel) "rab" (many / much / great) "atsum" (mighty / numerous / powerful) "min / minne nu" ('than us' (the word has a lot of meanings!)
a royal tangent
The pronoun here, and in verse 15, could be either male or female. Also used is the neutral term "melek" (the king). This raises the possibility that this new king may have actually been a queen. Hatshepsut was part of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the daughter of Thutmose I, the half sister, and wife, of Thutmose II, and regent for stepson Thutmose III for about twenty years until he was old enough to rule as Pharaoh. The interesting part comes that when Thutmose the Second died, and the new king, Thutmose the Third was only a couple of years old, Hatshepsut decided that she wasn't just co-regent for the child king, that she was Pharaoh in her own right as she was the daughter of a previous ruler, and that since the law said only a male could be king, she declared herself a man, and became Pharaoh. And anybody that disagreed with her, didn't disagree for long!
That is total speculation, but it does add an interesting flavor to the history. We'll look at another possible wrinkle in the next chapter.
end tangent
10
"yahab" (come) 'let us' "chakam" (act / deal wisely (first use of word form in OT)) with "low" ('him' (as an entity)) "pen" (otherwise) "rabah" (to increase / to multiply / to become many), and "hayah" (happen / come to pass) when "qara" (against / chance / 'cause to come') "milchamah" (war / conflict), 'him to our' "sane" (hostile / enemy) "lacham" (fight / wage war) 'against us', and "alah" (go up / cast) "min" (out / from) "erets" (land / country).
11
The Egyptians set "mis sim" ('masters of forced labor') to "anah" (afflict / oppress (same word used in Genesis 15 :13)) with "siblah" (load / burden (with 'suffering')). And they "banah" (build / construct) "iyr" (city / cities) "miskenoth" (storage cities / treasure cities) for Pharaoh.....
The verse specifies two city names. The first is "Pitom" (Pithom). The exact location is unknown, but two likely locations are Tell El Retabeh (just outside the northeastern Nile Delta) and Tell el-Maskhuta (just south of the other location). Both are archaeological sites although neither has had a reliable ancient name identified in the ruins. Other sites are proposed including one which is over sixty miles south west of Cairo.
The city of Rameses, "Pi-Ramesses" is the known location of a 'new' capital city used during the Nineteenth Dynasty in Egypt named (or renamed) for Ramsesses II.
Another possible location of one of these is the ruins of Ain Shams which is near what remains of Heliopolis, the city of the temple complex dedicated to Ra, the sun god which is also closer to the ancient capital at Memphis.
12
the more they "anah" (oppressed / afflicted) them, the more they "rabah" (multiplied / etc) and "parats" (increased / spread (includes idea of 'bursting out'). And they were in "quts" (dread / distress / abhorred (the image is Hunter Thompson's phrase... "fear and loathing")) the Sons of Israel.
Again with the idea that these events are occurring over a significant period of time. It would take several years for the rulers to notice that there were more slaves than there had been 'back in the day'.
13
The key word in the verse is the last one. "perek" (harshness / severity / rigor (implies intentional cruelty)). It is also used as the last word in verse 14. And an interesting recurrence is found in the Law in Leviticus 25 beginning at 43 through 53, that perhaps recalls this period from before the Exodus.
14
This verse is the first indication of the sort of manual labor the Jews were performing for the Egyptians. It also uses the term "abodah" (bondage (meaning slavery)) "qasheh" (difficult / harsh), then it lists "chomer" (clay / mortar / cement) and "lebenah" (brick (the word has not been seen since Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel)), and in other service in "sadeh" (fields), and the verse specifies that this service was enforced with cruelty.
Time has passed, probably several years, but we don't know how much.
15
The king of Egypt, to the "yalledot / yalad" ('to bring forth children' (used here as midwife)) "Ibri" (Hebrew / Hebrew woman) the name of one...
"Shiphrah" (cleared), and "Puah" ('to glitter' / brilliant), these are the only occurrences of these former of those words in the OT. It is odd that the names of two slave women would have been preserved.
The verse does not use the title of Pharaoh here. Which could indicate that it was Hatshepsut acting as regent.
16 Summary:
The king tells them to kill Hebrew male babies but the girls can live.
17 - 18 Summary:
but "yare" (feared / revered) the midwives "'Elohim" and they didn't do it.
The king called them in and questioned them.
19 Paraphrase:
They answered that the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women and give birth before they get there.
20
"way" (and) "yatab" (pleased / do good) "'Elohim" with the midwives, and "rabah" (increased / etc) "am" (the people), and they grew "atsam" (mighty / strong) "meod" (much / very...).
21
Because feared the midwives God... "asah" (make / accomplish (same word is used in Genesis 1 : 7 for part of the creation)) for them "bayith" (house / dwelling).
22 Summary:
"way" (and) "tsavah" (commanded) Pharaoh "kol" (all) "am" (people), "amar" (saying), "kal" (all / every) "ben" (son) "yillod" (born / child), "yeor" (river / Nile) "shalak" (throw / hurl / cast), "kal" (every) "bath" (daughter) "chayah" (live / alive).
The Hebrew text does not specify "Hebrew" male children. That is implied but it is not directly stated and has been added by many English translations.
End Chapter 1
Selected Resources:
All links will open in a new tab/window, all were working as of original date of posting:
Interlinear English / Hebrew: Chapter 1 https://biblehub.com/interlinear/exodus/1.htm
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1611_Exodus-Chapter-1/
NOTE: The Bible Study Lesson presented above is posted as a reference document to begin a conversation of the topic. And that's it. Please accept it at such.
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