Bondage of the Israelites

(Exodus 1:01 - 1:22)

These are the names of the children of Israel who accompanied him, with their households, when he emigrated to Egypt: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.  All the descendants of Jacob amounted to 70 persons, not including Joseph who was already resident in Egypt.

Joseph passed away, as did his brothers and all of his generation.  The offspring of Israel were prolific, though, and their numbers increased dramatically; they grew in power and influence and the land teemed with their population.

But there came to power in Egypt a dynasty of Pharaohs who had no acquaintance with Joseph's people.  The new Pharaoh warned his countrymen,  “Look, the Israelites are becoming as numerous and as powerful as we are.  In the event that they continue to multiply, it may happen that in time of war, they will side with our enemies and thus defeat us and take over the country.  Therefore, it would be wise on our part to deal severely with them."

Therefore, the Pharaoh charged task masters to compel the Israelites to work as slaves for the Pharaoh, building the fortified cities of Pithom and Rameses.  However, the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more their numbers increased and the more the Egyptians detested and persecuted them.  The Egyptians demanded hard labor from the Israelites and made their lives miserable with hardships.  Toiling as agricultural laborers and construction workers, the Israelites were always driven ruthlessly and rigorously.

The Pharaoh spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shiphrah, and the other Puah, "When you are called in to minister to Hebrew women and a baby is about to be delivered, put the baby to death if it be a boy, if a girl, keep it alive."

The midwives, though, had a greater fear of God and so they defied the Pharaoh, allowing the male babies to live.  The Pharaoh summoned them again and demanded, "Why is it that you are sparing the male babies?"

They replied, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women: they're very hardy.  They give birth to their babies before we can arrive to tend them."

God was pleased with what the midwives had done, allowing the Hebrew people to continue to propagate and multiply.  Because they had served him well, God rewarded the midwives by giving them families of their own.

The Pharaoh then ordered all the Hebrew people, "Every son born to you must be cast into the river; the life of every daughter may be spared."

Notes  
1.  It seems likely that the new Pharaoh, who was not acquainted with Joseph's people, was probably that of a new dynasty since a son or other family member of Joseph's Pharaoh would have known him and his people well.  Several scenarios have been proposed to fit the Biblical narrative into Egyptian history, none very satisfactory.  If the Pharaoh of Joseph's time had been a Hyksos, then the new Pharaoh would be of the native New Kingdom dynasty, to wit, Ahmose who reigned from 1550-1525 B.C. according to accepted Egyptian chronology (which is very likely to be wrong!)  The existence of a large population of Semitic settlers inhabiting the Nile Delta after the expulsion of the Semitic Hyksos, however, is simply not credible historically, militating against this hypothesis.  Or, the new Pharaoh was a Hyksos and the old Pharaoh belonged to the Middle Kingdom. A Hyksos Pharaoh might be worried that the Hebrews were more numerous than his own people, however, it seems unlikely that the Semitic Hyksos would be so inhospitable to fellow Semites, allies, one would think, against the native Egyptians.  On the other hand, if the new Pharaoh were of the New Kingdom, there would be little reason to fear that the Hebrews would overwhelm them with their numbers.  (Egypt was a relatively populous country in ancient times.)  --- The inability to fit this story convincingly into well-established Egyptian history is best explained by accepting the likelihood that parts of the story, if not most or all of it, are fictional.  Exalting the figure of Joseph into a national hero served propaganda purposes.  Creating an earlier period of Hebrew bondage was in the interest of those who were writing during the Babylonian Captivity when the Old Testament was compiled.  (The message of hope to their people would have been, "Although we are in bondage, exiled from our native land, do not despair.  This happened once before in our past.  We were in bondage in Egypt hundreds of years ago.  We suffered and were persecuted there as we are here now.  But, we were delivered and returned to our native land, as Jehovah had promised us."  Much of the Old Testament promulgates that agenda.)


2.  The ordered killing of all male Hebrew children, this time by the Pharaoh, is a recurring Old and even New Testament theme.  Although one could imagine an Assyrian or a Chaldean monarch ordering something of that sort, it hardly rings true in regard to the rulers of Pharaonic Egypt, which had relatively enlightened views on human relations.

3.  The emphasis on the Israelites being very prolific and their population increasing to a very great extent is important to the credibility of the story, which requires a considerable number of Jacob's tribe be living in Egypt to make them seem a threat to the Egyptians and to provide a justification for their bondage.  While a single man may in five generations time have a couple hundred thousand descendants, if each and every one produces a dozen children, in reality this never happens.  There is in the text thus far no indication of the amount of time passing from Joseph' death to the beginning of the Israelite's bondage, but the impression given is that it could not possibly be sufficient to yield a large enough population for the story that unfolds.   

4.  It makes little sense for the Egyptians to exterminate the Israelites once they had made them slaves.  One would think they would want more and more of them as workers.  Ancient Athens had far more slaves than citizens and Rome supported a huge slave population that only occasionally became restive (eg. Spartacus).  More recently, the Antebellum South tried to increase its slave population as much as it could, with slave owners often aiding the propagation personally. 

5.  Pithom and Rameses, cities of the eastern Nile Delta, date to the later New Kingdom (13th Century B.C.), which is why popular opinion connects the events of Exodus to the New Kingdom and, particularly, to its most famous Pharaoh, Ramses the Great.  However, it is likely the references are merely anachronistic.  Details, such as the name of a town, enhance the credibility of a legendary story and are often added for that very purpose without any regard for literal accuracy.  If the chronicler really knew when the events of the Exodus took place in the context of Egyptian history, it is likely he would have specifically named the Pharaoh.  (It is interesting the chronicler recounts the names of midwives who lived a thousand years in his past, yet is unable to furnish even a clue as to the identity of the reigning Pharaoh of Egypt.)