Catholic Commentary on Exodus 1

"The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread." (Exodus 1:12)

A New King Who Did Not Know Joseph

A new king comes to power in Egypt who did not know Joseph. He looks at the Israelites and fears them: they have become far too numerous for us. He imposes forced labour on them: Pithom and Rameses, store cities built on Israelite backs. But the more they are oppressed, the more they multiply and spread. The midwives Shiphrah and Puah are ordered to kill every Hebrew boy at birth. They fear God and do not comply. When Pharaoh confronts them they answer that Hebrew women give birth before the midwives arrive. God is kind to them and gives them families of their own. The Catechism identifies the civil disobedience of the midwives as the prototype of conscientious objection: when civil authority commands what God forbids, the obligation to obey God takes priority (CCC 2242).

Pharaoh escalates: every Hebrew boy that is born must be thrown into the Nile. The parallel with Herod's massacre of the innocents is part of the typological relationship between Moses and Jesus that Matthew's Gospel develops deliberately: the child who escapes the royal decree to become the deliverer of his people is the type of the one who will deliver humanity from a deeper slavery. The Exodus story begins with systematic oppression and escalating genocide, the full weight of imperial power turned against a people who have become an inconvenient presence. God is not yet visible. The darkness is total. And yet the people multiply.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied. This is the paradox of the Church under persecution in every age: the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. The power that should reduce a people to silence instead produces growth. Every Pharaoh who has tried to suppress the people of God has found the same arithmetic. Trust the paradox. The pressure that is meant to crush is the pressure that produces increase.

Prayer

Lord God, you saw the affliction of your people in Egypt and you did not abandon them. See the affliction of your people in every generation. Give us the courage of the midwives who feared you more than Pharaoh. And let every attempt to suppress your Church produce the growth that only persecution can force. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Exodus
1
The Israelites Multiply in Egypt
(Genesis 46:7–27)
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:
 
2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
 
3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
 
4 Dan and Naphtali;
 
Gad and Asher.
 
5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy * 1:5 MT (see also Genesis 46:27); DSS and LXX (see also Acts 7:14) seventy-five in all, including Joseph, who was already in Egypt.
 
6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
Oppression by a New King
(Acts 7:15–19)
 
8 Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become too numerous and too powerful for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase even more; and if a war breaks out, they may join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.† 1:10 Or and take the country”
 
11 So the Egyptians appointed taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor. As a result, they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and flourished; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
 
13 They worked the Israelites ruthlessly 14 and made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. Every service they imposed was harsh.
 
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
 
17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”
 
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before a midwife arrives.”
 
20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.
 
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews ‡ 1:22 SP, LXX, and Targum Yonaton; Hebrew does not include to the Hebrews. you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”

*1:5 1:5 MT (see also Genesis 46:27); DSS and LXX (see also Acts 7:14) seventy-five

†1:10 1:10 Or and take the country

‡1:22 1:22 SP, LXX, and Targum Yonaton; Hebrew does not include to the Hebrews.

Public Domain