FRAMEWORKS:
Exodus 1: The Israelites Oppressed
v.1-5
The Family of Israel who went to Egypt
v.6-8
Changing Circumstances
v.9-14
The Egyptians make the Israelites slaves
v.15-17
The King tells the midwives to kill new baby boys
v.20-22
God blesses the midwives who disobey Pharaoh
v.1-5
The Family of Israel who went to Egypt
v.1
These
are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob,
each with his family:
v.2-4
Reuben,
Simeon, Levi and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; Dan and
Naphtali; Gad and Asher.
v.5
The
descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already
in Egypt.
[Notes:
The twelve sons with their father and households. Thus
the story continues from the end of Genesis.]
v.6-8
Changing Circumstances
v.6,7
Now
Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but
the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly,
increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was
filled with them.
v.8
Then
a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.
[Notes:
God had said to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their
descendants would multiply, and so they did. The next generation
comes along, which includes in the royal palace.]
v.9-14
The Egyptians make the Israelites slaves
v.9
“Look,”
he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous
for us.
v.10
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.”
v.11
So
they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor,
and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.
v.12,13
But
the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread;
so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them
ruthlessly.
v.14
They
made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and
with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor
the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
[Notes:
The new Pharaoh looks at the growing numbers of Hebrews
and fears for the future and so makes them slaves to build two
store cities for him but, as so often happens, the more oppressed
they were, the greater they became but life became more and more
harsh for them.]
v.15-17
The King tells the midwives to kill new baby boys
v.15
The
king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah
and Puah,
v.16
“When
you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery
stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it
is a girl, let her live.”
v.17
The
midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of
Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.
v.18
Then
the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have
you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
v.19
The
midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian
women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”
[Notes:
There were obviously two main midwives among the Israelites
and so Pharaoh has them in and tells them to kill any baby boys
being born to the Hebrews. They resist his command and have to
make excuses.]
v.20-22
God blesses the midwives who disobey Pharaoh
v.20
So
God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became
even more numerous.
v.21
And
because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their
own.
v.22
Then
Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that
is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
[Notes:
God honoured the midwives with families of their own
but still Pharaoh insists that all Hebrew newborn boys be killed
at birth.]
Continue to Chapter 2