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Exodus 1 General Notes
Structure and formatting
This chapter is intended to form a smooth transition with the last chapter of the book of Genesis.
Special concepts in this chapter
Israel's growth
Many years had passed since the famine that caused the Israelites to go to Egypt, and the number of Israelites had grown greatly. This was in fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham. It also caused the Egyptians great concern that there would be more Israelites than Egyptians because they would be unable to defend themselves against such a large number of people. Pharaoh also tried to kill all of the male babies so they would not become soldiers who would fight against him. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/fulfill and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/covenant)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
"All of the descendants of Jacob were seventy in number"
This number included both Jacob's children and grandchildren. It may cause confusion, but it is important to remember Jacob only had 12 sons.
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