NOTES for Exo 1:1-22

The Book of Exodus is a book about salvation, about deliverance from slavery and death in all its manifestations. The principal character in this book, as in the other books of the Bible, will be God, but this time He will act through one of the best-known people in history, the Israelite prophet and lawgiver Moses. He does not appear in today's narrative: this chapter serves only as an introduction and describes the Israelites' situation in Egypt before the exodus. Yet already here we see the world into which the future leader of the exodus is to be born—a world of suffering, slavery, and genocide. We see that the people can be saved only by someone who has himself experienced every manifestation of slavery. Salvation is accomplished from within: here God works together with a human being, not by Himself, and at times it will be difficult for us to understand where God is acting and where the human being is. But this is the plan of action God has chosen: to do everything with our participation and consent. For now, a mortal threat hangs over Israel; it is time for God to intervene...