Jacob and his family had come to Egypt somewhere around 1875 BC in order to be spared from the great famine which had plagued the land of Canaan (Genesis 46). They were providentially brought to Egypt through God using Joseph, Jacob’s son, to preserve the nation of Israel (Genesis 49-50). When Joseph died in in 1804 BC, the nation of Israel consisted of 70 men (1:1-6) and had favor with Egypt; however, after Joseph and his generation passed away, the relationship between Israel and Egypt began to change (1525 BC). The children of Israel had become a growing nation of approximately 2 million people (1:7; see also Numbers 1:46) and the new king over Egypt began to fear Israel saying, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land” (1:9-10). In response to the rapid growth of Israel and fear of being overtaken, the king of Egypt implemented intense, forced labor on the Israelites and required them to build supply cities for Egypt (1:11). The intense slavery did not stop the population from growing so the Egyptian king “…made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage…” (1:13-14). No matter how intense the bondage, Israel continued to grow because of God’s supernatural protection over them. The king of Egypt became frustrated and resorted to another way of keeping the Israelite population from expanding. ”Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, ‘When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live’” (1:15-16). The Hebrew midwives feared God and therefore ignored the king’s command to kill all male children being born (1:17). When the king found out that the Hebrew midwives had disobeyed his order, he confronted them (1:18) but they said, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them” (1:19). Their statement to the king should not be understood as a lie, but rather that God was supernaturally involved in helping the Israelite women to experience smooth deliveries. The Hebrew midwives were blessed by God for their courage and faithfulness to Him (1:20-21). Pharaoh, king of Egypt, became even more desperate to control the population of the Israelites so he commanded the Egyptians saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive” (1:22). His command to exterminate the newborn, male children exposed the hatred and fear in his heart against God’s people.
Dear God, thank You for being involved in the affairs of men. Thank You for Your protection and care over those who belong to You.
