Ex. 1: Kill Hebrew He-Babies!

Well, might as well start cranking out Exodus.

By this time, the descendants of the twelve brothers (the twelve tribes of Israel) are multiplying and multiplying and multiplying, filling the land of Egypt. I'm not sure how many years went by, but enough time had passed that Egypt's new king had no knowledge of Joseph. It's possible that this knowledge was kept from him. Just speculation, but when another group of people enters your country, and their population spirals out of control, your government may begin to take notice.

Anyway, the new guy tells his people that the Israelites have become too numerous. In his paranoia, he assumes (probably incorrectly in my opinion) that in a time of war, Israel would join Egypt's enemies, fight against them, and then leave the country. What would Israel have to gain by fighting against the nation that "welcomed" them?

This fear led to the Israelites being subject to forced labor under the watch of slave masters. They built Pithon and Rameses, two cities created for storing Pharaoh's...stuff, I guess.

While the Israelites were oppressed, their multiplication continued and spread, leading to more and more Egyptians dreading them and their numbers. So instead of reaching out to them and making friends, the Egyptians' intent was to work them even harder. The word says Hebrew lives were bitter. They were forced to make bricks and mortar, and labor in the fields. They were used ruthlessly.

So then the king figures that if he can't use labor for population control, infanticide is the wave of the future. He instructs the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah to kill any Hebrew male babies. To kill their own kind. Because of their fear of God, and their intestinal fortitude, they refused to obey this order. This leads to a confrontation where the king questions them.

"Why are you letting them live?"

"Well, Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."

Amazing. Not only do they lie to this evil tyrant's face, they seize the opportunity to denigrate his people while they're at it. Good stuff, Shiphrah and Puah. So God was kind to the midwives, and increased the Israelite numbers more. I can't believe that all the Egyptain people were 100% on board with this treatment of Israelite women or people, but maybe they were under the thumb of the Pharaoh.

Pharaoh, ever the strategic thinker, decrees that every boy that is born must be thrown in to the Nile, but the girls can live. Girls grow up to be baby factories, concubines and housemaids, after all.

Well, this plan can't possibly fail.