Israel in Bondage
October 12, 2025
Commentary
Exodus tells the story of how Israel was born as a nation. In Egypt, one Hebrew family of 70 people grew quickly. God caused this small group to grow into a large nation of two to three million people. He faithfully cared for them, protected them, and met their needs. The main character in Exo-dus is Moses. At first, he doubted his ability to lead God’s people, but he remained faithful and learned to trust God completely, becoming a great leader.
From Genesis, we learn that Joseph had become a powerful ruler in Egypt. He invited his father and family to move from Canaan about 430 years before the Exodus (vv. 1–7). Eventually, Joseph and his brothers died, and that generation passed away. But God kept His promise to Abraham and caused their family to grow greatly.
About 400 years later, a new Pharaoh rose to power in Egypt. He did not know Joseph or care about what he had done for Egypt (v. 8). When Pharaoh saw how strong and numerous the Israelites had become, he be-came afraid (vv. 9–10). He said, “If there is a war, they might join our ene-mies and fight against us!”
So, Pharaoh decided to control them in cruel ways. He did this by making the Israelites slaves. He forced them into hard labor, making them build cities for Pharaoh (v. 11). But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied (v. 12). This made the Egyptians even more afraid, so they made the Israelites’ lives bitter with brutal, exhausting, hard labor in the fields, carrying heavy loads of brick and mortar (vv. 13–14).
Application
Has anyone or anything ever made life difficult for you? Have you been to the end of your resources and then cried out to God for deliverance? Just like the Lord is teaching Israel profound lessons, He wants to teach me and use me in a greater way. Trials can cause me to become stronger when the Lord is with me and I allow Him to work through me.
Exodus 1:1–14 (NET)
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who entered Egypt—each man with his household entered with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the people who were directly descended from Jacob numbered seventy. But Joseph was already in Egypt, 6 and in time Joseph and his brothers and all that generation died. 7 The Israelites, however, were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them.
8 Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt. 9 He said to his people, “Look at the Israelite people, more numerous and stronger than we are! 10 Come, let’s deal wisely with them. Otherwise they will continue to multiply, and if a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with our enemies and fight against us and leave the country.”
11 So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. As a result the Egyptians loathed the Israelites, 13 and they made the Israelites serve rigorously. 14 They made their lives bitter by hard service with mortar and bricks and by all kinds of service in the fields. Every kind of service the Israelites were required to give was rigorous.
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