Exodus 1
1 Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who 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 All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already. 6 Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation.
7 The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. 10 Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They started to dread the children of Israel.
13 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, 14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
15 The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, 16 and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
17 But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.
18 The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and saved the boys alive?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20 God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. 21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
22 Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
Commentary
Overview
Exodus 1 continues the story that closed the book of Genesis. Jacob’s family entered Egypt because God used Joseph to preserve them during famine. The chapter begins by repeating the names of Jacob’s sons, reminding the reader that the people now suffering in Egypt are the same covenant family through whom God promised to bless the nations. Exodus is therefore not a separate story beginning from nothing. It is the next stage in God’s continuing faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants.
The opening list contains familiar names, but the situation has changed dramatically. Joseph, his brothers, and their generation have died. Human leaders and protectors pass away, yet God’s promise continues beyond them. The family that once numbered seventy has become a people who are fruitful, multiply, and fill the land. This language recalls God’s blessing in Genesis. Israel’s growth is not presented merely as a demographic fact; it is evidence that the Creator’s purpose is advancing even in a foreign land.
Pharaoh’s fear shapes his policy. He portrays Israel’s population as a national-security danger and urges Egypt to deal “wisely” with them. Yet what he calls wisdom is actually oppression. Fear turns neighbors into enemies, people into statistics, and imagined possibilities into excuses for cruelty. Pharaoh worries that Israel might join Egypt’s enemies and leave the land, so he attempts to control them through forced labor.
The Israelites are placed under taskmasters and compelled to build the storage cities of Pithom and Raamses. Their lives become bitter through exhausting labor in mortar, brick, and the fields. The repeated description of ruthless service stresses that this is not ordinary employment or taxation. It is systematic oppression intended to weaken a people and place every part of their lives under Egyptian control.
Pharaoh’s plan produces the opposite of what he intends. The more Israel is afflicted, the more the people multiply and spread. Exodus does not romanticize suffering or suggest that oppression is good. The pain is real, and the bitterness of slavery will shape the rest of the book. Yet the chapter reveals that human power cannot cancel God’s promise. Pharaoh can increase burdens, but he cannot command the covenant blessing to stop.
When forced labor fails, Pharaoh escalates from exploitation to secret murder. He orders the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill the sons born to Hebrew women. The command targets the future of Israel by attempting to destroy its male children at birth. It also tries to make caregivers into agents of death. Pharaoh seeks to hide violence inside the ordinary work of childbirth, turning a place associated with life into an instrument of state policy.
The midwives fear God and refuse Pharaoh’s command. Their fear of God is not terror that paralyzes them; it is reverence that gives them courage. Because they recognize a higher authority than the king, they will not treat innocent life as disposable. Their action provides an important biblical example of refusing a human command that directly requires sin. Their resistance is not motivated by personal ambition or rebellion for its own sake. It is a faithful refusal to become participants in murder.
When questioned, the midwives tell Pharaoh that the Hebrew women give birth before a midwife arrives. The passage focuses its moral approval on their fear of God and their preservation of life. Readers have long discussed whether their explanation was entirely literal, a general description, or a protective answer given to a murderous ruler. The text does not pause to resolve every ethical question surrounding their words. Its emphasis is clear: they would not obey an evil order, God dealt well with them, and Israel continued to grow.
God gives the midwives families of their own. This blessing should not be reduced to a transaction, as though good works mechanically purchase rewards. Rather, it demonstrates that God sees people whom the empire considers insignificant. Pharaoh attempts to decide which families may continue, but God blesses the women who protect families. The king’s program is directed toward death; God’s favor is directed toward life.
After the midwives refuse to cooperate, Pharaoh makes the violence public. He commands all his people to cast every Hebrew son into the Nile while allowing the daughters to live. The policy now recruits the whole population into the persecution of Israel. Sin becomes more dangerous when it moves from a ruler’s private command into a society’s accepted duty. Ordinary Egyptians are expected to participate in the destruction of children simply because the state has identified them as a threat.
God does not speak directly in Exodus 1, and the chapter ends without immediate deliverance. Israel remains enslaved, children remain threatened, and Pharaoh appears to control the future. Nevertheless, God’s presence can be seen in the people’s multiplication, the courage of the midwives, and the failure of every policy to extinguish the covenant family. The chapter prepares readers to understand the Exodus as God’s answer to a crisis that human strength cannot solve.
Exodus 1 therefore introduces the central conflict of the book. Pharaoh claims the right to control Israel’s labor, families, children, and future. God will reveal that Israel belongs to Him. The contest is not between equal powers. It is between a human ruler who treats people as property and the covenant Lord who hears the oppressed, judges evil, and brings His people out of bondage.
Key Themes
Notable Verses
Exodus 1:1–5 connects Exodus to Genesis by naming Jacob’s sons and recalling the seventy members of his family who came into Egypt.
Exodus 1:6–7 records the death of Joseph’s generation and the extraordinary fruitfulness and multiplication of Israel.
Exodus 1:8–10 introduces the new Pharaoh, whose lack of regard for Joseph and fear of Israel lead him to oppressive policies.
Exodus 1:11–14 describes Israel’s forced labor, the building of Pithom and Raamses, and the bitterness of ruthless slavery.
Exodus 1:12 shows that oppression cannot stop God’s blessing: the more Israel is afflicted, the more the people multiply and spread.
Exodus 1:15–17 records Pharaoh’s command to kill Hebrew sons and the midwives’ courageous refusal because they feared God.
Exodus 1:20–21 describes God’s kindness toward the midwives and His blessing upon their households.
Exodus 1:22 reveals Pharaoh’s final escalation as he commands all Egypt to cast every newborn Hebrew son into the Nile.
Reflection and Application
Exodus 1 warns believers about the moral power of fear. Pharaoh does not begin by proving that Israel has committed a crime. He begins by imagining what the people might do and then treating that possibility as permission to oppress them. Christians should be careful whenever leaders or communities describe whole groups primarily as threats. Fear can make cruelty appear practical and injustice appear necessary.
The chapter also teaches that obedience to authority has limits. Scripture often calls believers to respect governing authorities, but no ruler possesses the right to command what God forbids. Shiphrah and Puah refuse to kill because the fear of God is greater than the fear of Pharaoh. Their example calls believers to form consciences through Scripture before moments of pressure arrive. Courage is strengthened when people have already decided that God’s authority is ultimate.
The midwives demonstrate that faithfulness is not reserved for famous leaders. Moses has not yet entered the story as an adult, but God is already preserving His people through women whose ordinary vocation places them near vulnerable lives. Their names remind believers that quiet acts of courage matter to God. A person may seem powerless in the eyes of society and still become an important instrument of mercy.
The passage should never be used to minimize oppression by saying that suffering automatically produces growth. The Israelites’ bitter labor and threatened children are genuine evils that God will judge. The comfort of the chapter is not that slavery is secretly beneficial, but that slavery cannot become sovereign. Evil may wound, delay, and terrify, but it cannot finally overthrow the purpose of God.
Finally, Exodus 1 points toward the greater deliverance accomplished in Jesus Christ. Like Pharaoh, the powers of the world attempt to preserve themselves through violence and the destruction of the innocent. Yet God brings salvation through One who enters a world of danger, identifies with the oppressed, and defeats the powers of sin and death. The God who will bring Israel out of Egypt ultimately brings His people out of a deeper bondage through Christ. Exodus begins with a ruler trying to control life and death; the gospel announces a King whose resurrection proves that death itself does not have the final word.