The big picture
Exodus opens by letting the names of Jacob's household give way to a population large enough to alarm a new king. Pharaoh treats Israel's multiplication as a military and political threat, then discovers that forced labor does not produce the result he wants. His policy escalates from taskmasters to a private order for Hebrew sons to be killed at birth, but Shiphrah and Puah refuse him because they fear God. Their resistance does not end the danger. Pharaoh responds by widening responsibility for the killing to all his people and ordering newborn sons cast into the river. The chapter therefore begins with continuity from Genesis and ends with a public death decree, while the people he is trying to suppress continue to multiply.
Central truth
The Book of Exodus opens with Jacob’s named household becoming a numerous people in Egypt after Joseph and his generation have died. Pharaoh escalates oppression against Israel, but the people multiply and Shiphrah and Puah preserve the boys’ lives because they fear God rather than obey his murderous order.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
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.”
Slow down at the turning point
Exodus 1:11: “Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.”
Keep this word trail visible
children, midwives, Egypt, Israel, king, people
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Exodus 1:1–7
Exodus 1:1
Begin with names and households
Open by reading the first verse slowly and asking what kind of book starts with a list of names. Explain that the Hebrew title of Exodus is taken from these words, “these are the names”, and that the opening line repeats Genesis 46:8 almost exactly, so the reader is told plainly that this book continues the last one. Point to “every man and his household” and put families, not individuals, in front of the class. Teach this first because the whole book is about a people God calls his own, and the people are introduced by name before they are introduced as slaves.
Exodus 1:2-5
Eleven names and seventy souls
Read the names in 1:2-4 aloud and let the group notice the order: Leah’s sons first, then Rachel’s Benjamin, then the sons of the two servant women. Do not build a theology on the grouping; simply show that the list is ordered and deliberate. Explain “souls” as persons and “came out of the loins of Jacob” as descendants. Then read the closing clause, “for Joseph was in Egypt already”, and show why Joseph stands apart. If someone asks about the number seventy beside the seventy five of Acts 7:14, say that the Greek Old Testament counted differently and leave it there.
Exodus 1:6
A whole generation dies
Give this verse its own moment. Joseph, his brothers and “all that generation” die, and the Book of Exodus says it in a single line. Explain why this matters: the people who remembered Canaan, who knew Joseph as a brother, who stood at Jacob’s deathbed, are gone. Read Genesis 50:24-25 beside it, where Joseph says “God will surely visit you”, and ask what the next generation now has instead of Joseph. Teach it here because the arrival of a king “which knew not Joseph” in 1:8 depends on this loss of living memory.
Exodus 1:7
Growth as promise kept
Read 1:7 and write its five expressions on the board one under another. Explain “waxed” as grew. Then put Genesis 1:28, Genesis 35:11 and Genesis 46:3 beside it and let the class find the shared words. The point is that the Book of Exodus describes the family’s increase in the language of creation blessing and of God’s promise to Jacob. Teach this before Pharaoh speaks so that the group hears the growth as God’s doing first. Only then read 1:8-10 and let the contrast between blessing and suspicion land.
Exodus 1:8–22
Exodus 1:8-10
A king who did not know Joseph
Begin with the change of government. "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." Explain that knew not means the debt to Joseph no longer counts, not that his name was forgotten. Then read the king's speech and mark the word "lest": everything he proposes is driven by what might happen. The phrase to explain here is "deal wisely"; it is cunning dressed as policy. Teach this first because every later order in the chapter grows out of this fear, and learners need to hear how reasonable it sounds before they see what it costs.
Exodus 1:11-14
Labour that cannot stop growth
Read the taskmasters, the burdens and the store cities, Pithom and Raamses. Then stop on verse 12 and read it twice. The affliction is meant to shrink the people and it does the opposite. Set it beside 1:7, where the words of blessing from Genesis are heaped together, "fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied". Explain "rigour" as harsh severity, and let the class hear the word come back in 1:13 and 1:14 at either end of the list. The order matters: the first policy fails before the second, crueller one is tried.
Exodus 1:15-16
The order at the birth stool
Name the midwives and the instruction plainly. Pharaoh wants the killing done quietly, by women whose work is to bring life, at the moment of birth, where no one would see. The words "upon the stools" refer to the birthing seat; say so and go no further. Explain "men children" as boys. Teach this step briefly and soberly, because the weight of the chapter sits on what the midwives do next, and because the lesson must not dwell on harm to babies, especially where children or grieving parents are present.
Exodus 1:17-21
They feared God
This is the centre of the passage. Read 1:17 slowly and point to its three verbs: they feared, they did not, they saved. Then read the interview with Pharaoh and the midwives' answer in 1:19 without comment, and then 1:20-21, where God deals well with them. Show that the reason is stated twice, at 1:17 and 1:21, and that it is the same reason. Explain "he made them houses" as the gift of households and families, a fitting reward for women who protected other families. Leave room for the hard question about verse 19, but keep the stated reason at the front.
Exodus 1:22
The whole nation enlisted
End where the chapter ends. Pharaoh's third policy is public: he charges "all his people". The river that gives Egypt life becomes the means of death. Note that the daughters are spared, and that the next verse, 2:1, begins with a Levite family and a daughter of Levi. Teach this last so the class leaves with the danger still open. The chapter does not resolve; it hands the reader to a mother, a basket and that same river, and the teacher should let it do so.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
Exodus 1:1–7
“Exodus starts a new history, so I can skip Genesis.”
The first verse ties the books together. “Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt” repeats Genesis 46:8, and the names, the seventy, and Joseph’s death (1:5-6) all assume what Genesis has told. God’s promise of a great nation in Genesis 46:3 is the reason 1:7 matters. Teach Exodus as the second part of one account, and the book makes more sense from its first line.
“Joseph was left off the list because he was no longer one of the family.”
The text gives its own reason: “for Joseph was in Egypt already” (1:5). He is counted among the seventy who came out of Jacob’s loins, but he did not travel with the eleven. His bones will later be carried out of Egypt (13:19), which shows how much he still belongs. The separate mention is about where he was, not about whether he mattered.
“Seventy people became millions in a few years, so the numbers must be made up.”
Exodus 1:7 does not say how long the growth took or how many there were at the end of this verse. Later the book gives 430 years in Egypt (12:40) and a count of men at the departure (12:37), and readers discuss those figures in different ways. This passage asks only that we see abundant increase as God’s promise kept. Keep the lesson on what 1:7 says, and treat calculation as a separate question for another time.
“When the great leaders die, God’s work stops.”
Verse 6 records the death of Joseph and his whole generation, and verse 7 immediately records growth. The family’s future did not depend on Joseph staying alive; it depended on God’s word to Jacob in Genesis 46:3-4. This is worth saying gently to a church that has lost a beloved leader or an older generation: grief is real, and the Book of Exodus does not say otherwise, but the next verse belongs to God.
Exodus 1:8–22
"The Hebrews were planning to rebel, so Pharaoh had a point."
Only Pharaoh says so, and he says it as a fear: "lest they multiply" and "when there falleth out any war" (1:10). Exodus records growth (1:7, 12) and nothing else. Teach learners to notice whose voice is speaking. The king's reasons are given so the reader can see how oppression justifies itself, not so the reader will agree. The test is what Israel is actually reported doing, and the answer is multiplying.
"The midwives lied, so God rewards lying when the cause is good."
Exodus does not say this. It says "God dealt well with the midwives" and gives the reason in 1:21: "because the midwives feared God". Whether their explanation in 1:19 was true, partly true or false, the text does not settle, and readers in different traditions have weighed it differently. Let the class hold the question open. What is clear is the commendation of their fear of God and their refusal to kill.
"The midwives were Egyptians who refused out of kindness."
The phrase "Hebrew midwives" in 1:15 can be read either as midwives who were Hebrews or as midwives to the Hebrews, and readers take it both ways. Say so honestly and do not settle it. What the text does settle is the reason for their refusal: they "feared God" (1:17). Whoever they were, their motive is stated, and it is not general kindness but reverence for God above the king.
"Pharaoh's plan worked; Israel was crushed."
The chapter says the reverse twice. After the labour, "the more they multiplied and grew" (1:12); after the midwives, "the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty" (1:20). Suffering is real and bitter (1:14), and 1:22 is the worst order yet, but the policy fails at every stage. Teach the class to see that Exodus measures Pharaoh's power against something he cannot stop.
Learning objectives
- Identify Jacob’s household as the people entering Egypt.
- Explain why Joseph is mentioned separately in verse 5.
- Distinguish the founding generation from its growing descendants.
- Identify the accumulation of growth language in verse 7.
- Connect Israel’s increase with Genesis 46:3.
- Explain how verse 7 prepares for Pharaoh’s alarm.
- Trace Pharaoh’s three escalating methods of oppression.
- Distinguish Pharaoh’s fears from Israel’s reported actions.
- Identify the reversal in the population-control policy.
- Explain the midwives’ stated reason for refusing obedience.
- Separate the midwives’ explanation from the book’s commendation.
- Explain how verse 22 widens responsibility for the violence.
Teacher preparation
- Read Genesis 46:1–7 and 50:24–26; bring the migration and Joseph’s death into view.
- Explain that “souls” means persons here and “waxed” means grew, not a household chore.
- Write the eleven names in verses 2–4, leaving Joseph’s separate place visible.
- Prepare two headings: a generation dies; a people grows. Resist treating names as disposable packaging.
- Read Exodus 1:8–10 beforehand, but reserve Pharaoh’s response until the class has heard verse 7.
- Read Exodus 1:1–7 to recover the growth that Pharaoh treats as danger.
- Define “rigour” as harsh severity and “men children” as male children; describe the birth setting without graphic detail.
- Prepare a three-stage chart: forced labor, orders to midwives, orders to everyone.
- Plan for the ethical question about verse 19; distinguish reported speech from what verses 17 and 21 explicitly commend.
- Keep the threatened deaths serious; do not stage a killing, demand bravery disclosures, or identify an unnamed Pharaoh.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Locate the seventy descendants, Joseph’s prior presence, the generation’s death, and Israel’s multiplication in Exodus 1:5–7. Anchor the midwives’ refusal in Exodus 1:17 and the reason for God’s favor in 1:21: they feared God.
Scripture-supported
Use Genesis 46:3 and Acts 7:17 to support the connection between this population growth and God’s promise. Read Exodus 1:12 with 1:7 and Genesis 46:3; oppression fails to halt the growth associated with God’s promise.
Strong inference
Infer from Exodus 1:6–7 that the community’s continuation is not dependent on Joseph remaining alive; the contrast makes that emphasis persuasive. Infer from Exodus 1:15–21 that naming Shiphrah and Puah gives their actions prominence beside a king who remains unnamed.
Possible or traditional reading
Treat a symbolic reading of seventy as completeness as a proposal, not the stated explanation of the number in Exodus 1:5. Present “made them houses” in Exodus 1:21 as commonly understood to mean established households, not a promise of literal buildings.
Limit
Do not calculate a growth rate from Exodus 1:7. It supplies neither a final census nor the number of years between its statements. Do not claim Exodus 1:19–21 expressly praises falsehood or verifies every detail of the midwives’ explanation; its stated commendation concerns fearing God.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. Why name eleven brothers before mentioning Joseph separately?
What a good answer contains
Because Joseph did not come down with the others. Verse 5 gives the reason in so many words: “for Joseph was in Egypt already”. The eleven are the ones who travelled with Jacob, so they are listed as the travelling household (1:2-4), and Joseph is accounted for separately. A good answer sees an accurate record of who arrived. A weak answer says Joseph has been demoted or forgotten, when Genesis has just spent fourteen chapters on him.
Show teacher guidance
Point to verses 1–5: the household came with Jacob, while Joseph was already in Egypt. Correct any suggestion that he was forgotten.
2. What does “every man and his household” add to the names?
What a good answer contains
It turns a list of men into a list of families. The verse says “every man and his household came with Jacob” (1:1), so wives, children and servants stand behind each name. The seventy of 1:5 are counted as those “that came out of the loins of Jacob”, which is a family count, not a head count of everyone who moved. A good answer keeps women and children in the picture; a weak one pictures eleven men walking into Egypt alone.
Show teacher guidance
Keep families in view from verse 1. Do not reduce the migration to eleven solitary men carrying the entire future.
3. What ends in verse 6, and what continues in verse 7?
What a good answer contains
A generation ends: “Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation” (1:6). What continues is the people: “the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly” (1:7). The strong answer notices the hinge. The men whose names opened the book are gone within a verse, yet the family does not shrink with them. A weak answer either skips the deaths or treats them as a tragedy that halts the account, when the very next verse is growth.
Show teacher guidance
Contrast the death of Joseph’s generation with the descendants’ increase. Avoid turning the contrast into a claim that grief was absent.
4. Why does verse 7 pile up so many expressions of growth?
What a good answer contains
Five expressions stack up in one sentence: they “were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty”, and “the land was filled with them” (1:7). The piling is the point; the Book of Exodus wants the reader to feel abundance before it introduces a king who fears it. Good answers hear the echo of “be fruitful, and multiply” from Genesis 1:28 and 9:1. Weak answers try to turn the words into a census figure the verse never gives.
Show teacher guidance
Identify fruitful, increased, multiplied, mighty, and filled. Accept emphasis on abundance; reject a precise census extracted from the wording.
5. How does Genesis 46:3 sharpen the meaning of this increase?
What a good answer contains
In Genesis 46:3 God tells Jacob, “fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation”. Exodus 1:7 is that promise happening. So the growth is not luck or demography; it is God doing what he said, in the very place he named. A good answer ties the increase to this specific word to Jacob. A weak answer turns it into a general rule that God always makes his people prosper in numbers or wealth.
Show teacher guidance
Connect the promised great nation in Egypt with verse 7. Keep the connection anchored to that promise, not universal prosperity.
6. How will Pharaoh read the same growth in Exodus 1:9–10?
What a good answer contains
Pharaoh hears the same facts as a threat: “the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we” (1:9), and he imagines that “when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies” (1:10). The Book of Exodus reports blessing; the king reports danger. A good answer notices that the rebellion is his speculation, not something Israel has done. A weak answer accepts the king’s reading as if it were the book’s own judgement on Israel.
Show teacher guidance
Contrast the book’s report with the king’s threat assessment. Notice that his accusation about possible enemies is his claim, not a reported rebellion.
7. What danger does Pharaoh predict, and what rebellion does Exodus report?
What a good answer contains
He predicts that Israel will multiply, join an enemy "when there falleth out any war", fight against Egypt "and so get them up out of the land" (1:10). Exodus reports no such rebellion. Israel's only recorded action is growth (1:7, 12). A good answer keeps the king's fear and the facts apart and notices that his worst outcome is losing a labour force. A weak answer repeats his speculation as if it had happened.
Show teacher guidance
Use verses 9–10. Identify his fear of alliance and departure; correct answers that turn his speculation into an actual uprising.
8. What happens when Pharaoh increases Israel’s burdens?
What a good answer contains
Verse 12 reverses the policy: "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." The Egyptians are "grieved", and their answer is more rigour, bitter lives, "hard bondage, in morter, and in brick" (1:13-14). A strong answer holds both halves: the growth is God's blessing from 1:7 carrying on, and the suffering is real and getting worse. Do not let anyone conclude the people were therefore fine.
Show teacher guidance
Point to verse 12: affliction accompanies further multiplication. Do not imply that the suffering is therefore harmless.
9. Why are Shiphrah and Puah worth naming in this account?
What a good answer contains
Because the Book of Exodus names two midwives and leaves the most powerful man in Egypt without a name. Verse 15 gives "Shiphrah" and "Puah"; the king is only "the king of Egypt". Verse 17 then records what they did: they "did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive." A good answer ties the naming to the action. A weak answer praises courage in general without the verse.
Show teacher guidance
Ground answers in verses 15–17: named women refuse the king’s lethal instruction. Move beyond a free-floating theme of courage.
10. What reason does Exodus give for the midwives’ refusal?
What a good answer contains
"But the midwives feared God" (1:17), repeated in 1:21, "because the midwives feared God". That is the only motive Exodus gives. A strong answer notices that fear of God here means something practical: it outweighed fear of the king and produced a refusal. A weak answer substitutes a reason the text does not give, such as a plan to bring Pharaoh down or a promise that they would be kept safe.
Show teacher guidance
Require the fear of God in verse 17. Distinguish this stated motive from imagined political strategy or promised personal safety.
11. Does verse 19’s explanation receive the same endorsement as verse 17’s refusal?
What a good answer contains
No. Verse 19 reports what they told Pharaoh, that Hebrew women "are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them." Verses 20-21 then give God's dealing with them, and the reason stated is that they "feared God", not that their answer was accurate. A good answer separates the report of speech from the commendation. Let the group discuss the ethics; correct anyone who says the verse praises the words themselves.
Show teacher guidance
Read verses 19–21 carefully. Allow ethical discussion, but correct the claim that the book explicitly praises every word spoken to Pharaoh.
12. What changes when Pharaoh addresses “all his people” in verse 22?
What a good answer contains
The killing moves from two professionals at the birth stool to the whole nation: "Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river" (1:22). What was hidden in 1:16 is now public and everyone's job. A strong answer notes the widening of responsibility and that daughters are still spared, which the next chapter depends on. A weak answer treats verse 22 as a repeat of verse 16.
Show teacher guidance
Compare verses 15–16 and 22. The policy expands from a targeted instruction at childbirth to public participation in killing boys.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Invite a written explanation of why Joseph’s death does not cancel Genesis 46:3; keep discussion on the texts rather than personal bereavement.
Relationships and community
Ask how retaining the household names changes a lesson otherwise reduced to population totals; draft one people-conscious teaching sentence.
Read the list before the crisis
Have learners identify what would disappear from the opening if teaching began at Pharaoh’s decree rather than Jacob’s family.
Expose the language of oppression
Rewrite Pharaoh’s “deal wisely” proposal as an accurate description of verses 11–16, preserving the human cost his language conceals.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
Exodus 1:1–7
45 minutes
These are the names
Read 1:1 and Genesis 46:8 side by side. Ask what the matching words tell the group about how the two books relate.
Households and Joseph
Read 1:2-5 aloud, write the eleven names with Joseph set apart, and take questions one and two. Deal with confusion two from the end of 1:5.
A generation ends, a people grows
Read 1:6-7 and use the two headings prepared in advance. Take questions three and four, then confusion four with care for anyone recently bereaved.
Promise and threat
Read Genesis 46:3 and then Exodus 1:8-10. Take questions five and six, keeping the king’s words labelled as his.
Response and handout
Choose one application, read the key verse together, and point to the take-home line before praying.
90 minutes
Why start with names
Ask the group how they would open a book about a nation’s rescue. Then read 1:1 and let the plainness of a name list surprise them.
Two books, one family
Read Genesis 46:1-8 and Exodus 1:1. Take confusion one and draw a simple line from Jacob’s journey to the opening of Exodus.
Eleven names and Joseph
Read 1:2-5. Write the names in their mothers’ groups, take questions one and two, and handle confusion two. Mention Acts 7:14 only if asked.
The death of a generation
Read 1:6 with Genesis 50:24-26. Take question three and confusion four, and give the room a moment of quiet for its own losses.
Fruitful and filled
Read 1:7 and list its five expressions. Compare Genesis 1:28 and 35:11, then take questions four and five and confusion three.
The king reads it differently
Read 1:8-10 and take question six. Ask what changes when the same facts are seen without knowing Joseph.
Application
In pairs, work through one application and name one promise of God they have seen kept slowly rather than suddenly.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse aloud together, give out the sheet, and pray for the next generation by name.
Exodus 1:8–22
45 minutes
Two names and no name
Write Shiphrah and Puah on the board, and beside them "the king of Egypt". Ask why one side is named.
The fear behind the policy
Read 1:8-14. Ask questions one and two. Take confusion one and confusion four together from verses 10 and 12.
The refusal
Read 1:15-21. Ask questions three and four, underline "feared God" in both verses, then ask question five and take confusion two briefly.
The river
Read 1:22 and ask question six. Draw the three policies as steps on the board: labour, midwives, all the people.
Response and handout
Use the application on the language of oppression, read the key verse together and give out the handout.
90 minutes
Who has a name
Read 1:1-7 for the seventy souls and the growth. Write the two midwives' names and the unnamed king on the board.
Deal wisely
Read 1:8-14. Explain "knew not Joseph" and "rigour". Ask questions one and two, then confusion one, with Genesis 15:13-14 read alongside.
The order at the stool
Read 1:15-16 soberly. Ask question three and explain what midwives did, then take confusion three on who the midwives were.
They feared God
Read 1:17-21. Ask question four, mark the reason in 1:17 and 1:21, and explain "made them houses".
The hard answer
Ask question five. Let the group discuss confusion two in pairs and report back; hold the question open where the text does.
The whole nation
Read 1:22 and ask question six. Complete the three-step chart and take confusion four.
Application
Work through the heart and habits application, then the language application, rewriting "deal wisely" as plain description.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, point to the take-home line and pray for those who refuse to do harm when ordered.
Adapting the lesson
Exodus 1:1–7
Children
Bring twelve paper figures and a small box marked Egypt. Put Joseph in the box first, then walk the other eleven in with little family cards behind them, so children see households, not just men. For verse 6, lay the first figures down quietly and explain that they grew old and died. For verse 7, pour in a handful of extra figures or beans so the box fills up. Keep death simple and calm.
Youth
Ask what they know about their great-grandparents, and how much of that memory will survive another generation. Use that to read 1:6 and the coming king who “knew not Joseph”. Then look at 1:7 as God keeping a promise across a gap no single life could see. Let them notice how the same growth becomes a threat in 1:9-10, and talk about how fear rereads good news.
Adults
Spend time on the link with Genesis: 46:3, 46:8, 50:24-26, and the creation language of Genesis 1:28 in Exodus 1:7. Raise the Acts 7:14 count only if the group wants it. Ask how a community handles the death of the generation that founded it, and what it relies on when memory fades. Leave room for those who feel their own family line is shrinking rather than growing.
One to one
Read the seven verses aloud together and ask which line catches the person: the names, the deaths, or the growth. If they are grieving, stay with verse 6 and do not rush to verse 7. If they are discouraged about slow results in their own life or church, read Genesis 46:3 and show that the promise was kept in Egypt, the place Jacob feared to go.
Exodus 1:8–22
Children
Tell children that a king was afraid of God's people and made them work very hard, but they kept growing. Then introduce two brave ladies, Shiphrah and Puah, whose job was helping babies be born. The king told them to do something very wrong to baby boys and they said no, because they loved and feared God. Leave out the river order. Let children practise saying both names.
Youth
Start with the phrase "deal wisely" and ask them where they have heard cruelty described in smart, careful words. Read 1:8-14 and let them find the gap between the king's fears and the facts. Then read the midwives' refusal. Keep the discussion on a fictional workplace or school rule rather than personal experiences, and let them argue about verse 19 without forcing a verdict.
Adults
Give time to the ethics of 1:19 and the long discussion in different traditions about deception under oppression, without settling it for the group. Read Genesis 15:13-14 and Acts 7:17-19. Some adults may carry grief over children lost, or experience of unjust orders at work; describe the decree of 1:16 and 1:22 accurately but briefly, and do not ask anyone to share their history.
One to one
Read the chapter aloud together and ask which person they notice most: the king, the midwives, or the people who keep growing. Follow that thread. If the person is under pressure from someone with power over them, let 1:17 be heard as permission to fear God more than that person, and help them think through one concrete step without telling them what to do.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Exodus 1:1–7
The passage in brief
Exodus opens by naming the sons of Jacob who came into Egypt with their households, seventy persons in all, with Joseph already there. Then Joseph and his whole generation die. Yet the family does not fade with them. The children of Israel grow and multiply until the land is full of them, just as God had promised Jacob when he told him not to fear going down to Egypt.
A verse to keep
And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
Exodus 1:7 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Why is Joseph mentioned separately from his eleven brothers in 1:1-5?
What ends in 1:6, and what carries on in 1:7?
Which promise of God to Jacob does 1:7 show being kept?
This week
Write down one promise of God you are waiting on, and read Genesis 46:3 beside it this week.
Exodus 1:8–22
The passage in brief
A new king in Egypt fears the Israelites because there are so many of them. He makes them slaves and works them harshly, but they keep growing. He orders two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill the baby boys at birth. They refuse because they fear God, and God is good to them and gives them families. Finally Pharaoh orders all his people to throw the newborn boys into the river.
A verse to keep
But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
Exodus 1:17 · King James Version
Questions to take home
What did the king fear, and what does the chapter say the Israelites actually did?
What reason does the Book of Exodus give, twice, for the midwives' refusal?
How did the king's orders get worse from 1:11 to 1:16 to 1:22?
This week
This week, when someone asks you to do something wrong, remember the midwives and ask what fearing God requires.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
