THE GROWTH AND AFFLICTION OF THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT

EXODUS 1–12

The stay of Jacob’s family in Egypt lasted hundreds of years longer than the famine that initially brought them there. Two things, both promised by God, were to happen before they would leave. The family of Jacob (i.e., Israel) was to multiply greatly in that land (Gen. 46:3–4) and be afflicted there (Gen. 15:13). Only when these events transpired did the Israelites leave. And they both happened in Egypt for a reason.

As Jacob worshiped the God of his fathers on the border of the Promised Land at Beersheba, wondering if he should leave Canaan for Egypt (even under the duress of famine), the Lord appeared to him and assured him that this journey to Egypt was part of a larger plan (Gen. 46:2–4). His family would return to the Promised Land but only after they had grown to become a great nation within Egypt. This was just the kind of place where that could happen. In contrast to Canaan, Egypt enjoyed a predictable supply of water from the Nile River, a more temperate climate, and less exposure to invasion than other countries within the Fertile Crescent.1 Thus the natural setting of Egypt provided a place in which Israel’s population could grow at an aggressive rate under the hand of their capable God.

Tomb painting from the Egyptian nobleman Rekhmire, depicting forced labor (ca. 1450 BC).

Infant reed-basket coffin (First to Third Dynasty, Egypt). Moses’s mother may have placed her son in a basket like this when she hid him among the reeds of the Nile River.
© Dr. James C. Martin. The Cairo Museum.

The political climate of Egypt was also favorable for such growth. Jacob’s son, Joseph, had given Egypt an incredible life of public service. His contribution to the rescue and success of Egypt during the famine meant that his family enjoyed the political favor of Egypt for decades. That time came to a close, however, and the Hebrew people fell under oppression and servitude.

When Jacob, his sons, and their families originally went to Egypt they numbered only seventy people in total (Exod. 1:5). Through the years their numerical growth and prosperity became so great that it threatened the new king of Egypt.2 This new pharaoh had no knowledge of Joseph, his relatives, or the contribution the Hebrew people had made to Egyptian society. As a result, the Israelite population was viewed as a political threat by Egypt’s officials, so an edict was sent out that all Hebrew male infants should be put to death at birth.

Not everyone complied. When Moses was born, his mother hid him for three months. She then placed him in a papyrus basket coated with tar and pitch and hid him in that basket among the reeds along the Nile, near the pharaoh’s residence.3

Moses was discovered by the pharaoh’s daughter and, after still being nursed by his own mother, was brought up in the pharaoh’s court. Later he fled to Midianite territory for killing an Egyptian official. There he had an encounter with the God of Abraham, who instructed Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Through a series of plagues, Egypt’s resolve to keep the Israelites enslaved was broken.

The Lord had informed Abram that his descendants would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years in a foreign land (Gen. 15:13–14). It was now time to leave. The challenge for Jacob’s descendants was that Egyptian military power, which had put them into slavery, also controlled the road systems out of Egypt. This military power is illuminated by the historical records of Egypt that speak of seventeen military campaigns executed by Thutmose III (1504–1450 BC). Many of those campaigns were targeted against Asian peoples who were subsequently brought to Egypt as slaves.4 Given the powerful presence Egypt could project on the frontier, we can easily see that they presented more than enough intimidation to oppress the Israelites at home.

Egyptian border defenses, ca. 1450 BC

Mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut. Some suggest she was the Pharaoh’s daughter who discovered the infant Moses among the reeds.

The growth and affliction of the Israelites happened in Egypt for a reason. The growth occurred during a period of time when Egypt functioned as a safe haven for the Israelites. Eventually their small population grew, making them a threat to Egypt, which now had a pharaoh who did not know Joseph.