LESSON V.--MAY 1.

ISRAEL IN EGYPT.--EXOD. 1:6-14.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--He increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.--PSALM 105:24.
      TIME.--This lesson begins with the death of Joseph, which is supposed to have taken place B. C. 1635.
      PLACE.--Egypt.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Gen. 50:1-26; Exod. 1:1-5; Ps. 105:16-25.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. The Growth of Israel; 2. The King who Knew not Joseph; 3. Israel in Bondage. [125]

INTRODUCTION.

      EXODUS means a departure; the book of Exodus describes the departure of Israel from Egypt. It comprehends the history of Israel for a period variously estimated by chronologists at from one hundred and forty-five to over three hundred years, beginning with the death of Joseph. It describes the life of the Israelites in Egypt and their miraculous deliverance by the hand of Moses; their entrance into the wilderness of Sinai; the promulgation of the law, and the building of the tabernacle. Its authorship by Moses is distinctly asserted by Moses himself (Exod. 24:4), as well as by our Lord (Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Besides, the thorough knowledge it exhibits of the institutions and usages of the ancient Egyptians, and the minute geographical details of the journey to Sinai, establish in the clearest manner the authenticity of this book. The very titles of the first two books in the Bible remind us that the history of man is little more than the narrative of his entrance into the world and his exit from it.

      This lesson introduces another change in the wonderful history of the most wonderful people known in the history of the world. The race first appears to view in the person of Abraham in Central Asia; it migrates to Palestine on the Mediterranean coast: from thence, as we have seen, it is transferred to Egypt in Africa; after a season of great favor and prosperity evil days come, and a vigorous effort is made to extirpate it from the face of the earth. The present lesson gives an account of the beginning of the evil days.

      I. THE GROWTH OF ISRAEL.--6. And Joseph died. After attaining to the age of one hundred and ten years, during eighty of which he was ruler in Egypt. Of his sepulcher nothing is here said; but we learn elsewhere that his remains, as well as those of his brethren, were carried out of Egypt and buried in Shechem in the land of Canaan (Exod. 13:19; Acts 7:16).--Bush. And all his brethren. Perhaps all Jacob's sons died much about the same time; for there was not more than seven years' difference in age between the eldest and the youngest of them except Benjamin; and when death comes into a family sometimes it makes a full end in a little time; when Joseph, the stay of the family, died, the rest went off apace.--Henry. And all that generation. As some of those who descended with Jacob were mere infants, more than half of the two hundred and ten years would have elapsed before their decease. This would bring us within twenty years of the birth of Moses, if we accept the shorter period assigned for the residence of Israel in Egypt. Generations, as well as men, die and disappear. These words describe the lot of our race. But while the generation died, Israel lived. A new generation pushed into the place of the old. Men may be mortal, but the race is immortal. [126]

      7. The children of Israel were fruitful. The rapid growth of Israel into a nation is the fact of this paragraph. It is expressed, as usual, in Hebrew by a climax of verbs: were fruitful is taken from the vegetable world in which the increase varies from a simple multiple to several hundredfold; increased (spawned, swarmed) is borrowed from the finny tribes, in which the rate of increase rises to many myriads; multiplied is a general word referring to number; and waxed exceedingly mighty is a similar phrase alluding to the strength which numbers confer, composed of a verb and an adverb repeated, and therefore well adapted to complete the climax. Then follows the result, the land was filled with them.--Murphy. Egypt was always celebrated for its fruitfulness, and in no province does the population increase so rapidly as in that occupied by the Israelites. At present it has more flocks and herds than any province in Egypt, and more fishermen, though many villages are deserted; it is calculated that another million might be sustained in it.--Canon Cook. The land was filled with them. That is, the district allotted to them, extending probably from the eastern branch of the Nile to the borders of the desert. It appears from other passages (see 3:22) that they did not occupy this land exclusively, but were intermingled with the native Egyptians.--Canon Cook. Increased abundantly. Some have held that Israel could not have increased to the numbers at the Exodus, but it must be remembered, 1. That the seventy souls include only the family of Jacob, not all the tribe who went into Egypt. All these tribesmen were doubtless incorporated. 2. The period usually assigned for the residence in Egypt is probably too short. R. Payne Smith says: "The genealogies generally give only four generations in Egypt. Thus, Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses. Exod. 6:16-20. So again, Judah, Zerah, Zabdi, Carmi, whose son, Achan, in Joshua's time, stole some of the spoil of Jericho. Josh. 7:1. But these genealogies are merely compendiums in which, apparently, as a rule, one name is given for a century. They were legal documents, showing who was the representative of each branch of the families of the high chiefs of pure blood. Fortunately we have one full genealogy of no less a person than Joshua, and we find (1 Chron. 7:23-27) that this great prince of Ephraim was the twelfth in descent from Joseph. One such genealogy settles the question. For we can account for the shorter forms, but not for the longer one. In fact, no one who studies the family histories given at the beginning of Chronicles can doubt that they are legal and technical formulæ, representing rank and property, and not necessarily relationship.

      III. THE KING WHO KNEW NOT JOSEPH.--8. Now there arose. Many [127] interesting incidents had, no doubt, occurred between the death of Joseph and the incipient bondage of Israel. But these are passed over in silence, because they did not bear particularly upon any special prediction. But God would have nothing lost that was essential to the proof of his faithfulness in his covenant relations. He deems it of more importance to confirm faith than to gratify curiosity.--Bush. A new king over Egypt. The expressions in this verse are peculiar and emphatic. "A new king" is a phrase not found elsewhere. It is understood by most commentators to imply that he did not succeed his predecessor in natural order of descent and inheritance. He "arose up over Egypt," occupying the land, as it would seem, on different terms from the king whose place he took, either by usurpation or conquest. The fact that he knew not Joseph implies a complete separation from the traditions of lower Egypt. The new king is supposed to have been Amosis, the first king of the eighteenth dynasty, a king who came from the south of Egypt, near Ethiopia, who had an Ethiopian princess for a wife, and who ascended the throne by a revolution. It was natural that with a violent change of rulers there would be a complete change of policy.

      9. He said unto his people. He probably summoned a council of his chief supporters, nobles and elders, communicated his views and secured their ratification of the policy he proposed. Brought up in Upper Egypt, he probably knew little before of the Israelites, and when he found this large body of foreigners he regarded them dangerous.

      10. Let us deal wisely. He proposed to proceed craftily. The course he pursued was not really wise. Injustice never is. So get them out of the land. This is important as the first indication of a motive which determined the policy of Pharaoh, in dealing with the Israelites. He had doubtless heard that the idea prevailed that Egypt was not their permanent home; that they were to migrate to Palestine, and he apprehended a loss of revenue and power from the withdrawal of a peaceful, prosperous and industrious race. This notice shows that the Israelites had not forgotten the promise of the God of their fathers, and still cherished the hope of, at some day, entering into possession of the promised land. [128]

      III. ISRAEL IN BONDAGE.--11. They did set over them taskmasters--The writer uses the proper Egyptian designation for these officers, viz, Chiefs of tribute. They were men of rank, superintendents of the public works, such as are often represented on Egyptian monuments and are carefully distinguished from the subordinate overseers. The Israelite's were employed in forced labors, probably in detachments, each under an Egyptian "taskmaster;" but they were not reduced to slavery, properly speaking, nor treated as captives of war; they continued to occupy and cultivate their own district, and they retained possession of their houses, flocks, herds, and other property until they emigrated from Egypt.--Canon Cook. By hard feudal labor (burdens, burdensome toil) Pharaoh hoped, according to the ordinary maxims of tyrants, to break down the physical strength of Israel and lessen its increase, since a population always grows more slowly under oppression than in the midst of prosperous circumstances, and also to crush their spirit so as to banish the very wish for liberty. They built for Pharaoh treasure cities. The Hebrew word corresponds very closely, both in form and meaning, with "magazines," depots of ammunition and provisions. The same word is used in 1 Kings 9:19; 2 Chron. 8:4, and 32:28. Captives were employed in great numbers for building and enlarging such depots under the Egyptian kings of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties.--Canon Cook. Pithom and Raamses.--These two store places were in the land of Goshen; and, being situated near a border, liable to invasion, they were fortified cities. 2 Chron. 11:12. Pithom (Greek Patumos) lay on the eastern Pelusiac branch of the Nile, about twelve Roman miles from Heliopolis; and Raamses, called by the LXX. Heroopolis, lay between the same branch of the Nile and the Bitter Lakes. These two fortified cities were situated, therefore, in the same valley, and the fortifications which Pharaoh commanded to be built around both had probably the same common object, of obstructing the entrance into Egypt which this valley furnishes the enemy from Asia.--Hengstenberg.

      The very name of the Hebrews is officially recorded by their persecutors as the builders of the city of Raamses. In a papyrus preserved In the museum of Leyden, the scribe Kautsir reports to his superior, the scribe Bakenphtha, that in compliance with his instruction, he has "distributed the rations among the soldiers, and likewise among the Hebrews, (Aberiou or Apuru,) who, carried the stones to the great city of King Rameses Miamun, the Lover of Truth, and who are under the orders of the captain of the police soldiers, ameneman. I distributed the food among them monthly according to the excellent instructions which my lord has given me." There are also other documents referring to the people and their serfdom.--Philip Smith. [129]

      12. The more they afflicted them the more they multiplied. The land of enemies and the scene of the most grinding oppression is easily rendered, in the providence of God, a nursery for the increase of his Church.--Bush. In this increase of their numbers, which surpassed all expectation, there was the manifestation of a higher, supernatural, and to them awful, power.--Keil. Times of affliction have often been the Church's growing times. Christianity spread most when it was persecuted; the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church.

      13. Made the children of Israel to serve. So far were the pretended fears of the Egyptians from working within them the least sentiment of clemency, that they were evidently goaded on by the frustration of their hopes to a still more relentless course of oppression. Wicked men are slow to be taught, when their mad schemes are defeated, that God fights against them; and even if such a thought now and then glances upon their minds they seem to be stung and exasperated by it to rush on yet more recklessly in the way of rebellion.--Bush. With rigor. From the original word here used comes the Latin ferox and the English fierce. The purpose of the Egyptians was, (1) To break their spirits; (2) to ruin their health and shorten their days, and so diminish their numbers; (3) to discourage them from marrying, since their children would be born to slavery.

      14. Bitter with hard bondage. And it is to be feared that the oppression they were under had this bad effect upon them, that it brought over many of them to join with the Egyptians in their idolatrous worship: for we read (Josh. 24:14) that they served other gods in Egypt; and though it is not mentioned here in this history, yet we find (Ezek. 20:8.) that God had threatened to destroy them for it even while they were in the land of Egypt.--M. Henry. In brick. Brick was in very common use in Egypt, and especially in lower Egypt where stone was lacking.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      The fate of the Israelites in Egypt is a type of sin. They came into the best part of Egypt; first pleasant, then doubtful, then oppressed, then finally [130] enslaved. (1) Sin yields bitter fruit. (2) We have taskmasters in our habits. (3) Life becomes a burden: Sorrows of servitude.--Fowler.

      Generations are mortal as: well as individuals, nor can the nearest relation keep each other alive. The term of their existence as well as the bounds of their habitations is set by God himself.--Bush.

      We die every day: every moment deprives us of a portion of our life, and advances us a step toward the grave; our whole life is only a long and painful sickness.--Massillon.

      Human devices against God's purposes always farther those purposes. The coming of Israel into Egypt was part of God's plan. He had foretold it. He had a purpose in it. The envy of the brothers; the sale of Joseph; his experiences in Potiphar's house; his imprisonment, his liberation; his exaltation; his reunion with his kindred; their settlement in Goshen; all were permitted or directed of the Lord,, that Israel might dwell in Egypt.--Vincent.

      The grief to Israel came by a new king, who knew not Joseph. So evil men and evil principles enter into society or personal life, and break up the good of former times. New forms of skepticism and of vice arise; they know not the better things of other days; they have no sympathy with them, but crush them all into a bitter bondage.

      Egyptian cruelty. While staying at Alexandria we passed a public building in course of erection. A number of women and children of both sexes were carrying away the earth excavated from the foundation. Some laborers had loosened the soil, and the poor creatures then scraped it with their hands into circular baskets, which they bore away on their backs; they were barefooted and very slenderly covered with rags. Several taskmasters, who have not ceased out of Egypt since the time of the Pharaohs, stood at intervals, holding a scourge of cords, which was not spared if any of the people, as they passed by crouching under their burdens, seemed to slacken in their work. They had all been pressed into the service of the Pasha's officers, and were paid at the miserable sum of half a piaster a day.--Boat and Caravan.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Review history of location of Israel in Egypt. 2. Review life and death of Joseph and his work. 3. Consider the growth of Israel and its causes. 4. Consider the new king that knew not Joseph, the change of policy and its causes. 5. Observe the hope of Israel, its origin and its evidence of faith. 6. Note Israel in Bondage, its object. 7. Observe the employment of the Israelites, and the corroboration of history. 8. Note the failure of the king's purposes. 9. Consider the purposes of God in taking Israel into Egypt and finally permitting their oppressions there. 10. Consider whether affliction and persecution benefit or injure God's people. 11. Note that the progress of God's people arouses the jealousy and alarm of his enemies. 12. Note that growth, progress, and prosperity depended more on the divine favor than on prospering circumstances. [131]

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: