The Second Book of Moses, called Exodus, chapter 1 comments: the Hebrews descended into slavery

Exodus 1:1 ¶  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.

Genesis 46: 26  All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; 27  And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.

Deuteronomy 10:22  Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Acts 7:14  Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

The difference in numbers between Moses’ accounts in Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy, and Stephen’s account recorded by Luke in Acts can be attributed to counting different people such as wives not mentioned in one. There are a number of very good explanations for why Stephen would count 75 people leaving for Egypt with Jacob and Moses would say 70 three times.

Look at the factors by which this family of less than 100 people grew. First, there is no mention in the Bible of widespread epidemics or virulent diseases yet. The first known epidemic in scientific literature and history may have been a Typhus epidemic in Athens, Greece in the middle of the first millennium BC, which killed upwards of 100,000 people. It was brought on by war and as many as 30 different microbes have been blamed for it. We will see God placing epidemics directly upon the Egyptians and their livestock.

We will also see indications of a high birth rate and of the hardiness and health of the Hebrews who had come to this land. How fast can populations increase is not only a subject of debate but has been seen as populations arise from great calamity. A high birth rate and abundant food resources can lead to relatively quick growth in population. When resources are abundant a population can experience what is called “exponential growth” and this leads to a rapid multiplication of individuals. If you add God’s supernatural purpose for multiplying the children of Israel you can imagine how amazing this could be.

Exodus 1:8 ¶  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 morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

If the Pharaoh who welcomed Joseph and then his family was one of what scholars call the Hyksos or Shepherd-kings, who ruled over Egypt for a time, then this would be the return of a native-born Egyptian ruler. This would be a Pharaoh who represented the deep hatred and disgust the Egyptians would feel against the shepherds of Canaan. Here the great numbers of these immigrants from Canaan would make the Egyptians feel threatened and uneasy so they reduced this numerous people to slavery, building the treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

If Goshen was in northeastern Egypt, a possibility we discussed in Genesis, and these cities were there as well, then the area is called Lower Egypt as the part of Egypt adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea. This is the area of the Nile Delta, lush and fertile, the powerhouse of Egypt. It was a rich agricultural region and was where such things as the Rosetta Stone were discovered in 1799 which helped scholars decipher hieroglyphics, the ancient Egyptian picture writing. There are a great many archaeological sites in this area.

The children of Israel’s lives went from the favored and plentiful existence of the welcome guest whose presence was made possible by the savior of the nation, Joseph, in a time of great want to despised slaves whose lives were made of hard, unending labor under mean-spirited overseers. It must have been quite a transition and there was probably much lamentation about the former days.

Exodus 1:15 ¶  And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: 16  And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. 17  But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 18  And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 19  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 20  Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. 21  And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. 22  And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

Apparently, the midwives had a sort of hierarchy, perhaps official even, with Shiprah and Puah as their leaders. Common sense dictates that only two midwives could not attend to such a large population. The Pharaoh gives his command to kill male babies. This they did not do. The midwives’ leaders underscored the strength and health, the vigor, of the Hebrew women while exaggerating to justify their disobedience to this human king and their loyalty to God. They disobeyed the civil authority because to obey would have been disobedience to God.

In Genesis 30:3 comments I talked about the phrase she shall bear upon my knees.

In verse 16 see the reference to birthing stools. The modern child-bearing position is on your back. The ancient was sitting on someone’s knees or a stool, a birthstool, pictures of which relics can be found on the internet if you are interested. I have read, though I cannot confirm, that birthstools were used in Europe during the Middle Ages. One Jewish source I read reported that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics show the development of a chair type device with a hole where the seat is normally, much like a toilet seat today.

God blessed the midwives and made them houses. Now, lest you think God is in the business of building suburban developments near Cairo understand that a house can be a family, or a dynasty, that goes on for generations.

Exodus 6:14  These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben.

1Samuel 20:16  So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David’s enemies.

As well as a building…

1Kings 9:10  And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house,

So, depending on the context house can be short for household as well including servants, wives, and children.

Genesis 45:2  And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.

So, a question for fundamentalists arises naturally from this. Is this reference following a physical building or a group of people characterized in type as a spiritual building?

1Corinthians 14:23  If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?

How do physical buildings come together to meet? Seems an absurdity.

Colossians 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence…24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

The church is Christ’s body on earth, not a building.

Acts 2:47  Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

1Timothy 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

So, what is the house of God, to the Roman Catholic ‘wannabes’ of Protestant fundamentalism, the Vatican’s auxiliaries? Has the gate of heaven reference in Genesis 28:17 confused you? Do you consider your specific church building, the place where your church meets, the ladder between heaven and earth? What about Christ in John 1:51? And what about these verses?

1Corinthians 3:16 ¶  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1Corinthians 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

The Hebrews had a high birth rate and grew rapidly in number. Then, Pharaoh gives a wicked command to all of his people to murder the sons of the Hebrews as they are born, to throw them into the river.