And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
Exodus opens with the family of seventy who came down to Egypt. Then it closes the book on them: Joseph, his brothers, and their whole generation are gone. Did God's promises to that family die with them?
Israel entered Egypt on the best possible terms. They had royal favour and Joseph's high position. One commentator sets that comfort against what God had already told Abraham.
God had shown Abraham in a vision that his descendants would live as strangers in a land not their own, and would be in bondage and affliction for four hundred years. They would come out with great wealth, and God would judge the masters who oppressed them. Israel came down to Egypt under the prestige of its greatest governor and the warmest royal favour. They settled in the best of the land, in Goshen, so they might have expected nothing but ease and honour. But despite appearances, Egypt in the Lord's eyes meant servitude and affliction. That is just what happened once Joseph's protection was gone. The word of God stands and cannot fail, whatever the weakness of man or the pride of unbelief.
The verse reads like an ending. But the God who made the promises does not die, and the timing of what came next was never in human hands.
Faith rests on the immovable rock of God's eternal Word, not on the shifting sands of human affairs. Come what may, it stays in that place of strength. "Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation." What then? Could death affect the plans of the living God? Surely not. He only waited for the appointed moment, the due time, and then He made the most hostile forces serve the working out of His purposes.
The next verse answers the death notice with an explosion of life. One writer explains how seventy people became a nation so fast, and who else was counted with them.
Joseph and all his brothers had passed away, but their descendants multiplied rapidly. The Hebrew word "increased" means "swarmed." Only about 64 years had passed since Joseph's death. Because that is such a short time, unbelief has sneered at this description of the increase. People usually forget that a very large number of servants must have come with the 70 who entered Egypt. Abraham had 318 servants born in his house. Jacob had a still larger number. These servants had come into the covenant too, though they were not natural descendants... Yet even this does not fully explain the great increase. It was miraculous, the fulfilment of the promises given to the patriarchs. God witnessed by it that they were His people.
Israel thrived in Egypt just after burying the last man who had known the promises firsthand. That prosperity had a cause.
After the statement that "Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation" (v. 6), the story moves quickly on to their situation and condition. First, it points to their increase and their prosperity... They were the children of promise, even in Egypt, and as such God's favour was resting on them. That is why we see this picture of prosperity on earth. God never forgets His people, although they may forget Him.
The long years after Joseph's funeral were not wasted time. Egypt had a job to do in forming a family into a nation.
Egypt was the nursery God provided for the chosen race while they grew from one great family — the sons and grandsons of one father — into a people fit for the inheritance meant for them. In mercy He sheltered them for a time, so that they would grow all the more under hardship when it came. And it had to come, because people are hostile to anyone who claims a link with the true God.
Joseph died, but he was not forgotten. His coffin stayed in Egypt, and someone had to keep it.
Joseph was a man of faith, a man of vision. His bones remained in Egypt for something like three hundred years. Had God forgotten? Generations came and went. A Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. Clearly Joseph's brothers took care of the coffin, and each generation handed the trust on to the next.
- A generation ends — Joseph, his brothers, and their whole generation die. The human protection that made Egypt comfortable is gone, and God's word to Abraham about bondage starts to come true.
- God does not end — death cannot touch the plans of the living God. He waited for the appointed moment, then made the most hostile forces serve His purposes.
- The promise outgrows the funeral — in about 64 years, seventy people "swarmed" into a nation. The increase was miraculous, and it marked them out as God's people.
- Favour they may forget — they prospered as children of promise even in Egypt. God never forgets His people, although they may forget Him.
- The coffin keeps waiting — Joseph's bones stayed in Egypt for about three hundred years. His brothers cared for the coffin, and each generation passed the trust to the next.
And the children of Israel were fruitful, and swarmed and multiplied, and became exceeding strong; and the land was full of them.
Seventy people came down to Egypt with Jacob, and their descendants grew into a vast nation — the verse piles up one verb after another to say it. Two questions follow: is this God keeping an old promise, and why does such blessing end in slavery?
Some have mocked the scale of this growth as impossible. One writer answers them, starting with the word itself.
The Hebrew word translated "increased" means "swarmed." This verse emphasises their wonderful increase both in numbers and in power. Only a short time had passed after Joseph's death, some sixty-four years, so unbelief has sneered at this description of their increase. People usually overlook that besides the seventy souls who came into Egypt, a very large number of servants must have come with them. Abraham had 318 servants born in his house. Jacob had a still larger number. The covenant took these servants in too, though they were not natural descendants: the command of circumcision covered every male born in the house or bought with money... Yet even this does not fully explain the great increase. It was miraculous, the fulfilment of the promises given to the patriarchs. God witnessed by it that they were His people.
This growth was no accident of history. It matched words God had spoken to Abraham long before.
The descendants of Abraham, to whom the promises of God were made, were in Egypt... They were like the sand on the seashore for multitude. This was the vine God brought out of Egypt (Psalm 80:8).
The growth happened in a foreign land that would soon turn hostile. One writer sees that place as chosen on purpose.
Egypt was the providential nursery for the chosen race. There they grew from one great family — the sons and grandsons of a single father — into a people fit for the inheritance God had destined for them. In mercy He sheltered them for a season, so that they might grow all the more under hardship when it came. And it had to come, because men resent anyone who claims a link with the true God.
Numbers were not the only thing that set this people apart. One writer points to what did not change.
You would expect this small number of seventy persons to blend into the Egyptian nation. Instead they kept an identity totally distinct from them. Israel has been scattered among other nations for centuries since. Yet God has preserved a clear distinction between them and all other nations, even giving them their land back in 1948.
One writer takes Egypt here as a picture of something wider. He reads their prosperity as a sign of God's favour.
In Scripture Egypt is a picture of the world, and so Israel in Egypt becomes a picture of man's natural condition... First comes their increase, and indeed their prosperity... They were the children of promise, even though in Egypt, and God's favour rested on them as such. So we see this picture of earthly prosperity. God never forgets His people, although they may forget Him.
This blessing ends in slavery. One writer says that turn was no accident.
Here we see grace at its first work. A nation begins small, in the seventy souls who came into Egypt with Jacob, and then grows in a marvellous way that nothing could stop. God had already promised them even the bondage they come into, and what seemed most against them was really the working out of promise for them. The hand of power works in disguise, yet in a way faith can see through. It is essentially the same story, whether told of the nation of Israel or of any of the Lord's redeemed.
Another writer shows where that promise was given, and what it means for every dark turn in the story.
Long before this, God had said to Abram that his offspring would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, that they would serve that nation and be afflicted four hundred years, that He would judge that nation, and that afterwards they would come out with great possessions. This is the history of the first twelve chapters of Exodus. Whatever men do, even in wickedness and open rebellion, God makes it serve the purposes of His own grace and love.
- Promise — the increase was not luck. Commentators call it miraculous: "the fulfilment of the promises given to the patriarchs," and God's own witness that these were His people.
- Place — Egypt was the "providential nursery." There one family grew into a people, sheltered for a season before the hardship that would make them stronger.
- Preservation — they lived inside a greater culture and kept "an identity totally distinct." One writer traces that distinction through the centuries of Israel's scattering.
- Presence — prosperity came while they were still in Egypt, before any rescue: "God never forgets His people, although they may forget Him."
- Pressure — the growth led to the slavery, and God had foretold that too. "What seemed most against them was really the working out of promise for them" — and the same holds for any of the Lord's redeemed.