Slaves in Egypt Exodus 1:1-151Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already. 6And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. 7And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. 8Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 9And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: 10Come 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. 11Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. 13And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor: 14And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor. 15And 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: (Exodus 1:1‑15)
THE brothers of Joseph with their families settled in the north of Egypt, where King Pharaoh, because of his favor to Joseph, gave them room for their herds. They had plenty of food so their lives were saved in the time of famine.
After many years Joseph and his brothers died, but their children and many grandchildren were then grown, and still had their homes there. These had all known of the promises God had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give their descendants the land of Canaan for their own country. And Joseph, before he died, reminded them of that promise.
But many of them seem not to have cared for God’s promise, nor to have thanked Him for His care over them in the strange land. Instead of worshiping God, they bowed down to idols the same as their Egyptian-neighbors (Ezekiel 20:77Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Ezekiel 20:7)). God called for them to cast out the idols, but they would not, and trouble began to come to them.
The good king, who had liked Joseph, died, and the king after him was envious of the great number of the Hebrews, and because they were such a strong, healthy people. He thought in time of war they would he stronger than his people. So he decided to try to weaken them by making them work very hard. He set cruel men over them for the building of great brick walls and storehouses to keep his treasures safe. Two cities they built are named. Other taskmasters were over those who worked in the fields; so the Israelites no longer had any comfort in Egypt, but were poor slaves to a cruel king.
After awhile the king gave a still more cruel order, which was, that no baby boys should live. This law must have cast a terrible fear over all the Israelites. And God allowed them the sorrows, for them to learn that the idols could not help them. Some of them began to pray to God in their great trouble, and He chose and fitted one to lead them out of that land.
ML 01/03/1937