‘Now these are the names of the children of Israel,
which came into Egypt: every man and his household
came with Jacob. 2. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,
3. Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4. Dan and Naphtali,
Gad and Asher. 5. And all the souls that came out of
the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was
in Egypt already. 6. And Joseph died, and all his
brethren, and all that generation. 7, And the children
of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and
multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land
was filled with them. 8. Now there arose up a new king
over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. 9. And he said unto
his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel
are more and mightier than we: 10. Come 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. 11. Therefore they did set over
them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And
they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities, Pithom and
Raamses. 12. But the more they afflicted them, the more
they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because
of the children of Israel. 13. And the Egyptians made
the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14. And
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 rigour.’–EXODUS i. 1-14.
The four hundred years of Israel’s stay in Egypt were divided into two
unequal periods, in the former and longer of which they were prosperous
and favoured, while in the latter they were oppressed. Both periods had
their uses and place in the shaping of the nation and its preparation
for the Exodus. Both carry permanent lessons.
I. The long days of unclouded prosperity. These extended over
centuries, the whole history of which is summed up in two words: death
and growth. The calm years glided on, and the shepherds in Goshen had
the happiness of having no annals. All that needed to be recorded was
that, one by one, the first generation died off, and that the new
generations ‘were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied,
and waxed exceeding mighty.’ The emphatic repetitions recall the
original promises in Genesis xii. 2, xvii. 4,5, xviii. 18. The
preceding specification of the number of the original settlers
(repeated from Genesis xlvi. 27) brings into impressive contrast the
small beginnings and the rapid increase. We may note that eloquent
setting side by side of the two processes which are ever going on
simultaneously, death and birth.
One by one men pass out of the warmth and light into the darkness, and
so gradually does the withdrawal proceed that we scarcely are aware of
its going on, but at last ‘all that generation’ has vanished. The old
trees are all cleared off the ground, and everywhere their place is
taken by the young saplings. The web is ever being woven at one end,
and run down at the other. ‘The individual withers, but the race is
more and more.’ How solemn that continual play of opposing movements
is, and how blind we are to its solemnity!
That long period of growth may be regarded in two lights. It effected
the conversion of a horde into a nation by numerical increase, and so
was a link in the chain of the divine working. The great increase, of
which the writer speaks so strongly, was, no doubt, due to the
favourable circumstances of the life in Goshen, but was none the less
regarded by him, and rightly so, as God’s doing. As the Psalmist sings,
‘_He_ increased His people greatly.’ ‘Natural processes’ are the
implements of a supernatural will. So Israel was being multiplied, and
the end for which it was peacefully growing into a multitude was hidden
from all but God. But there was another end, in reference to which the
years of peaceful prosperity may be regarded; namely, the schooling of
the people to patient trust in the long-delayed fulfilment of the
promise. That hope had burned bright in Joseph when he died, and he
being dead yet spake of it from his coffin to the successive
generations. Delay is fitted and intended to strengthen faith and make
hope more eager. But that part of the divine purpose, alas! was not
effected as the former was. In the moral region every circumstance has
two opposite results possible. Each condition has, as it were, two
handles, and we can take it by either, and generally take it by the
wrong one. Whatever is meant to better us may be so used by us as to
worsen us. And the history of Israel in Egypt and in the desert shows
only too plainly that ease weakened, if it did not kill, faith, and
that Goshen was so pleasant that it drove the hope and the wish for
Canaan out of mind. ‘While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered
and slept.’ Is not Israel in Egypt, slackening hold of the promise
because it tarried, a mirror in which the Church may see itself? and do
_we_ not know the enervating influence of Goshen, making us reluctant
to shoulder our packs and turn out for the pilgrimage? The desert
repels more strongly than Canaan attracts.
II. The shorter period of oppression. Probably the rise of a ‘new king’
means a revolution in which a native dynasty expelled foreign monarchs.
The Pharaoh of the oppression was, perhaps, the great Rameses II.,
whose long reign of sixty-seven years gives ample room for protracted
and grinding oppression of Israel. The policy adopted was
characteristic of these early despotisms, in its utter disregard of
humanity and of everything but making the kingdom safe. It was not
intentionally cruel, it was merely indifferent to the suffering it
occasioned. ‘Let us deal _wisely_ with them’–never mind about justice,
not to say kindness. Pharaoh’s ‘politics,’ like those of some other
rulers who divorce them from morality, turned out to be impolitic, and
his ‘wisdom’ proved to be roundabout folly. He was afraid that the
Israelites, if they were allowed to grow, might find out their strength
and seek to emigrate; and so he set to work to weaken them with hard
bondage, not seeing that that was sure to make them wish the very thing
that he was blunderingly trying to prevent. The only way to make men
glad to remain in a community is to make them at home there. The sense
of injustice is the strongest disintegrating force. If there is a
‘dangerous class’ the surest way to make them more dangerous is to
treat them harshly. It was a blunder to make ‘lives bitter,’ for hearts
also were embittered. So the people were ripened for revolt, and Goshen
became less attractive.
God used Pharaoh’s foolish wisdom, as He had used natural laws, to
prepare for the Exodus. The long years of ease had multiplied the
nation. The period of oppression was to stir them up out of their
comfortable nest, and make them willing to risk the bold dash for
freedom. Is not that the explanation, too, of the similar times in our
lives? It needs that we should experience life’s sorrows and burdens,
and find how hard the world’s service is, and how quickly our Goshens
may become places of grievous toil, in order that the weak hearts,
which cling so tightly to earth, may be detached from it, and taught to
reach upwards to God. ‘Blessed is the man … in whose heart are thy
ways,’ and happy is he who so profits by his sorrows that they stir in
him the pilgrim’s spirit, and make him yearn after Canaan, and not
grudge to leave Goshen. Our ease and our troubles, opposite though they
seem and are, are meant to further the same end,–to make us fit for
the journey which leads to rest and home. We often misuse them both,
letting the one sink us in earthly delights and oblivion of the great
hope, and the other embitter our spirits without impelling them to seek
the things that are above. Let us use the one for thankfulness, growth,
and patient hope, and the other for writing deep the conviction that
this is not our rest, and making firm the resolve that we will gird our
loins and, staff in hand, go forth on the pilgrim road, not shrinking
from the wilderness, because we see the mountains of Canaan across its
sandy flats.
Bible Scriptures
Bible Verses About love – Ezekiel 23:22
Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
Bible Verses About love – Luke 7:5
For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.
Bible Verses About love – Colossians 3:12
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Bible Scriptures – Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Bible Favorites
Bible Scriptures About sinners – Matthew 11:19
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Bible Scriptures About slain – Isaiah 14:20
Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, [and] slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
Bible Scriptures About far – Genesis 43:27
And he asked them of [their] welfare, and said, [Is] your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? [Is] he yet alive?
Bible Scriptures About servants – Kings-1 20:6
Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, [that] whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put [it] in their hand, and take [it] away.
Bible Scriptures About thyself – Jeremiah 2:17
Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?
Bible Scriptures About court – Ezekiel 10:5
And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard [even] to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
Bible Scriptures About body – Jeremiah 26:23
And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
Bible Scriptures About second – Corinthians-1 12:28
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
Bible Scriptures About power – Habakkuk 1:11
Then shall [his] mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, [imputing] this his power unto his god.
Bible Scriptures About cause – Jonah 3:7
And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
Bible Scriptures About angel – Numbers 22:27
And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
Bible Scriptures About vows – Jonah 1:16
Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
Bible Scriptures About carry – Isaiah 46:4
And [even] to [your] old age I [am] he; and [even] to hoar hairs will I carry [you]: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver [you].
Bible Scriptures About rose – Nehemiah 3:1
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.
Bible Scriptures About presence – Numbers 20:6
And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.
Bible Scriptures About holy – Isaiah 48:17
Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I [am] the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way [that] thou shouldest go.
Bible Scriptures About blessed – Revelations 16:15
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Bible Scriptures About present – Esther 1:5
And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace;
Bible Scriptures About right – Jeremiah 23:10
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force [is] not right.
Bible Scriptures About built – Luke 6:49
But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
Bible Scriptures About healing – Luke 9:11
And the people, when they knew [it], followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.
Bible Scriptures About baptism – Matthew 3:7
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bible Scriptures About anger – Isaiah 10:25
For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction.
Bible Scriptures About trust – Psalms 31:19
[Oh] how great [is] thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; [which] thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
Bible Scriptures About hope – Job 27:8
For what [is] the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Bible Scriptures About peace – Zecharia 6:13
Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
Bible Scriptures About fathers – Judges 2:22
That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep [it], or not.
Bible Scriptures About worship – Matthew 15:25
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
Bible Scriptures About strength – Isaiah 30:2
That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
Bible Scriptures About bless – Deuteronomy 30:1
And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call [them] to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Bible Scriptures About joy – Isaiah 52:9
Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
Bible Scriptures About wife – Exodus 6:20
And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram [were] an hundred and thirty and seven years.
Bible Scriptures About grace – John 1:16
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
Bible Scriptures About life – Genesis 18:14
Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
Bible Scriptures About clean – Samuel-1 20:26
Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he [is] not clean; surely he [is] not clean.
Bible Scriptures About money – Kings-2 23:35
And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give [it] unto Pharaohnechoh.
Bible Scriptures About fear – Proverbs 1:29
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Bible Scriptures About salvation – John 4:22
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Bible Scriptures About wisdom – Daniel 5:14
I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods [is] in thee, and [that] light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.
Bible Scriptures About women – Samuel-2 15:16
And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, [which were] concubines, to keep the house.
Bible Scriptures About arise – Mark 3:6
And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Bible Scriptures About covenant – Psalms 78:37
For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.
Bible Scriptures About begat – Genesis 5:30
And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:
Bible Scriptures About inheritance – Kings-1 21:4
And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
Bible Scriptures About heavens – Psalms 50:6
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God [is] judge himself. Selah.
World English Bible
Bible Verses About sadness – Ecclesiastes 7:3
Sorrow [is] better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
Bible Verses About baptism – Luke 20:4
The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?
Bible Verses About healing – Corinthians-1 12:30
Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
Bible Verses About purpose – Romans 9:17
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Bible Verses About husbands – Ephesians 5:25
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Bible Verses About lying – Psalms 109:2
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
Bible Verses About forgive – Psalms 25:18
Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
Bible Verses About wisdom – Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Bible Verses About strength – Isaiah 33:23
Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.
Bible Verses About jealousy – Psalms 78:58
For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
Bible Verses About sustain – Genesis 27:37
And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?
Bible Verses About cunning – Jeremiah 10:9
Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple [is] their clothing: they [are] all the work of cunning [men].
Bible Verses About cistern – Isaiah 36:16
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make [an agreement] with me [by] a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
Bible Verses About begging – Psalms 37:25
I have been young, and [now] am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Bible Verses About outstretched – Jeremiah 21:5
And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
Bible Verses About enough – Proverbs 30:15
The horseleach hath two daughters, [crying], Give, give. There are three [things that] are never satisfied, [yea], four [things] say not, [It is] enough:
Bible Verses About flame – Isaiah 13:8
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces [shall be as] flames.
Bible Verses About falsehood – Hosea 7:1
When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, [and] the troop of robbers spoileth without.
Bible Verses About wages – Genesis 31:8
If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstreaked.
Bible Verses About pervert – Exodus 23:8
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
King James Bible
Bible Verses About hittite – Ezekiel 16:45
Thou [art] thy mother's daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou [art] the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother [was] an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
Bible Verses About sworn – Hebrews 4:3
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Bible Verses About maidservant – Exodus 20:10
But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:
Bible Verses About inquire – Matthew 2:7
Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
Bible Verses About taste – Samuel-1 14:29
Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.
Bible Verses About eternal – John 6:68
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
Bible Verses About child – Deuteronomy 31:23
And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.
Bible Verses About ram – Hosea 5:4
They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms [is] in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.
Bible Verses About garments – Ezekiel 16:18
And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
Bible Verses About tribe – Numbers 13:2
Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
Bible Verses About diseases – Acts 28:9
So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:
Bible Verses About searched – Genesis 44:12
And he searched, [and] began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
Bible Verses About tribute – Kings-2 23:33
And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold.
Bible Verses About thief – John 12:6
This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
Bible Verses About darius – Daniel 6:6
Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever.
Bible Verses About shine – Psalms 31:16
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.
Bible Verses About search – Ezekiel 34:11
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, [even] I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
Bible Verses About backward – Isaiah 1:4
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Bible Verses About ishmael – Chronicles-2 19:11
And, behold, Amariah the chief priest [is] over you in all matters of the LORD; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, for all the king's matters: also the Levites [shall be] officers before you. Deal courageously, and the LORD shall be with the good.
Bible Verses About nakedness – Ezekiel 23:18
So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.
Bible Verses About gird – Isaiah 8:9
Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
Bible Verses About loins – Kings-1 2:5
Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, [and] what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that [was] about his loins, and in his shoes that [were] on his feet.
Bible Verses About noah – Genesis 10:1
Now these [are] the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
Bible Verses About hail – Exodus 9:24
So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
Bible Verses About strange – Zecharia 7:10
And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.
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