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Exodus 01 General Notes
Structure and formatting
This chapter is intended to form a smooth transition with the last chapter of the book of Genesis.
Special concepts in this chapter
Israel's growth
Israel grew in number. This was in fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham. It also caused the Egyptians great concern that there would be more Israelites than Egyptians because they would be unable to defend themselves against such a large number of people. Pharaoh also tried to kill all of the male babies so they would not become soldiers who fought against him. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/fulfill and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/covenant)
End of the famine
It is obvious that some time has passed since the beginning of the famine which brought the Israelites into Egypt. Yahweh appears to be punishing the Hebrews for not returning back to the Promised Land and instead choosing to stay in Egypt. No return attempt is recorded to have been made. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/promisedland and rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
"All of the descendants of Jacob were seventy in number"
This number included both Jacob's children and grandchildren. It may cause confusion, but it is important to remember Jacob only had 12 sons.