Israelites in Egypt

In spite of intense oppression by a new king of Egypt who did not know about Joseph, God blessed the Israelites and they multiplied greatly in Egypt.

When Israel moved to Egypt, he brought with him all his other sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher) and their families—70 people in all. In the course of time, Joseph, his brothers, and all that generation died, but God continued to bless the Israelites. They became so numerous that they filled the land of Goshen.

Living in Egypt meant they were surrounded by counterfeit gods again. The Egyptians worshiped 1,500 different gods who were not creators but were considered to be forces within nature. Some were part human, some part animal, and some were other entities such as the Nile River. But they all had one thing in common: they were all going to die one day. Pharaoh was also considered a god—partial while living, but becoming fully god when he died.

The Egyptians created statues (idols) in which the gods could reside. They also built temples as houses for them. Instead of God caring for people, people took care of the gods. In fact, the role of the priests was to keep the gods and goddesses happy. How different from the God of the Bible!

The Egyptian belief about creation tells the story of their principal god. Long ago before any one lived on the earth, an eternal, infinite, lifeless ocean existed. Then a pyramidal mound of earth emerged from the ocean, and then the sun god (Ra) appeared. Now he races across the sky every day.

The Egyptians placed great importance on the sun; many Mesopotamians worshiped the moon. Interesting, when one considers that when God created the sun and the moon, He didn’t even name them!

After about 100 years passed since Joseph and Israel moved to Egypt, the Israelites continued to multiply. A new king came to power who did not realize all Joseph had done for Egypt. He said to his people, “The Israelites are becoming too numerous and are becoming more powerful than we. If we are not careful, they will grow even larger and join our enemies to fight against us and leave the country. Then we won’t have cheap labor anymore! We must outsmart them.”

So the Egyptians put slave bosses over them to wear them down with hard labor. They forced them to build two store cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Rameses.

But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. The Egyptians became even more concerned, so they made their lives miserable through more work and cruel punishment. Then Pharaoh began killing all the baby boys, insisting they be thrown in the Nile.

Life in Egypt became nearly unbearable for the Israelites. They cried out to God, begging for help.