Exodus 1:1-7

1. The growth of Jacob’s family 1:1-7

The purposes of this section are three at least.

1. These verses introduce the Israelites who are the focus of attention in Exodus.

2. They also tie the Israelites back to Jacob and explain their presence in Egypt.

3. They account for the numerical growth of the Israelites during the 360 years that elapsed between Genesis and Exodus following Joseph’s death and preceding Moses’ birth.

Moses used the round number 70 for the number of Jacob’s descendants when the patriarch entered Egypt (Exodus 1:5; cf. Genesis 46:27). [Note: For a good short history of Egypt, see Hannah, pp. 105-7; Youngblood, pp. 20-25, or Siegfried Schwantes, A Short History of the Ancient Near East, pp. 51-109.] The writer’s purpose was to contrast the small number of Israelites that entered Egypt with the large number that existed at the time Exodus begins (Exodus 1:8 ff.), about two million individuals (cf. Exodus 12:37; Exodus 38:26; Numbers 1:45-47). It is quite easy to prove mathematically that Jacob’s family of 70 that moved into Egypt could have grown into a nation of two million or more individuals in 430 years. [Note: See Ralph D. Winter, "The Growth of Israel in Egypt (The Phenomenon of Exponential Growth)," a paper published by the Institute of International Studies, Pasadena, Ca., 14 April 1993.]

The fruitfulness of the Israelites in Goshen was due to God’s blessing as He fulfilled His promises to the patriarchs (Exodus 1:7).