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Did 66, 70 or 75 Israelis go to Mitzraim?
“All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Yosef was already in Mitzraim.”
Exodus 1:5 NASB
Shemot begins with the immigration of one family from the land of Canaan into Mitzraim and they grow from a small clan into a nation within a nation.
Here is one of various reconciliations over the centuries between the 66 stated in Genesis 46:20, the 70 people who entered Mitzraim (Genesis 46; Exodus 1:5) and the 75 the Septuagint1Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, circa 300–100 B.C. mentions, a figure deacon Stephen also mentions in his recounting of history (Acts 7:14)2Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Accordance electronic ed. (Altamonte Springs: OakTree Software, 2004), paragraph 2022. Citing William Hales, D.D., A New Analysis of Chronology, Vol. 2, London, 1809, p. 159:
| Group | Number of people |
|---|---|
| Jacob’s 11 sons and 1 daughter | 12 |
| Reuben’s sons | 4 |
| Simeon’s sons | 6 |
| Levi’s sons | 3 |
| Judah’s three sons and two grandsons | 5 |
| Issachar’s sons | 4 |
| Zebulun’s sons | 3 |
| Gad’s sons | 7 |
| Asher’s four sons, one daughter and two grandsons | 7 |
| Dan’s son | 1 |
| Naphtali’s sons | 4 |
| Benjamin’s sons | 10 |
| Subtotal | 66 |
| Add Jacob, Joseph and his two sons | 4 |
| Total | 70 |
| Add the wives of the nine sons (Judah’s and Simeon’s were dead) | 9 |
| Total | 75 |
‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper’
Biblical historians have wondered for millennia who was the Pharaoh who raised Moshe and which Pharaoh received the wrath of the Exodus. It’s hard to say because so much of the history of Mitzraim has been purposefully revised by subsequent Pharaohs.
What the Bible does tell us is that as the people of Israel grew from a family into a nation, the Pharaoh saw them as enough of a threat that he started a genocidal campaign against the people of Israel so he could feel secure on his throne. We see history repeating itself when Herod the Great also tried to commit an act of genocide against his people to stabilize his hold on his throne.
The people of Mitzraim reneged on their promise to their savior Yosef to be a safe haven for his family. The descendants of the savior of Mitzraim have now become a pariah. Yeshua was treated the same way by His own people generations later.
First Pharaoh tried to conscript the midwives to kill the male Israelites. When that failed, he commanded that the male Hebrew babies be thrown into the Nile. That also failed because that which was thrown into the Nile (Moshe) was also retrieved from the Nile and ended up being the deliverer of Israel and the downfall of Egypt as a superpower.
We see that those who have been beaten down and disadvantaged win in the end. Pharaoh’s attempts at infanticide and genocide against the people of Israel failed.
It took a very “strong-arm” to bring Israel out of Mitzraim. The strong-arm is not just about breaking Pharaoh’s power, after all, Pharaoh was powerless. The strong-arm was just as much for the Israelites to let go of Mitzraim as it was for the Mitzraim to let go of the Israelites.
Deliverer arrives in the fullness of time
The deliverer, Moshe, arrived at the fullness of time. Just as in Exodus 1 we see the recap of the generations of Jacob, so too we now see the generations leading up to Moshe. We see that he is the fourth generation since the family of Jacob arrived into Mitzraim.
When he was born, his family makes note of Moshe’s goodness and beauty. This is not just about a cute, adorable baby. His “cuteness” is prophetic.
What Moshe did when he saw an Egyptian taskmaster oppressing an Israelite, he responded with violence. He was confronted by a fellow Israelite just a day later.
“But he said, ‘Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’”
Exodus 2:14 NASB
This is not the example of the midwives, his own mother and sister, who resisted against an unjust ruler and his genocidal campaign without any violence.
When God opens doors, we need to walk through. When He closes the doors behind us. We should not get out a crowbar to try to reopen it.
“He said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lamp-stand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.” Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?” So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’” Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. “For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel — these are the eyes of the LORD which range to and fro throughout the earth.””
Zechariah 4:2–10 NASB
These seven lamps were the seven eyes of God. There’s nothing that the Lord can’t see. When the Lord is rebuilding His house and rebuilding His people, He knows exactly what He is putting into it.
Moshe had to flee the land of Mitzraim to Midian because he was not ready to be the leader Israel really needed. Moshe had to be reminded that what the Creator creates happens in His time and by His means.
The Pharaoh who raised Moshe died. Israel cries out from their suffering, and God knows all of this.
“Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.”
Exodus 2:23–25 NASB
After Moshe was in the land of Midian for about 20 years, God calls out to him, but God is calling Moshe to exercise a soft power, not a hard violent power.
The reason that Moshe was sent to Mitzraim to let Pharaoh and all the people, both those of Mitzraim and Israel, who God really is.
The story of the Exodus shows us the difference between those who realize freedom is a gift from God and those who believe that freedom is an entitlement. Those who saw it as a gift were grateful to God, while those who saw it as their entitlement, wondered why God took so long and were not grateful to Him for their freedom.
The Exodus and the 40 years of wandering is a picture of where we are at is not where we need to be. God has always been Immanuel, God with us from Genesis to Revelation. It would be foolhardy to assume that God is limited to a tabernacle or a temple. God knows when we are acting in sin, He also knows when we are suffering unjustly.
God gives His name to Moses as “I am the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.” This is very important. Even the Messiah brings this up. God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. God still has them in His mind, not just in the past or present but also in the future.
If God remembers you, you aren’t really dead. This is a point of hope for us. We mourn over those who die, especially those who are close to us. We tend to forget our ancestors, because we don’t talk about them. But the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob keeps them alive and thinks about them. We might forget who we came from but God will not and will bring them back to life.
God protected the legacy and history of the people of Israel. He protected Israel from assimilation into Mitzraim and later into other nations, too. He still protects them from assimilation to this day.
Everything is pointing towards a revival. That which everyone thinks is dead comes back to live.
‘Bridegroom of blood’: Foreshadowing of the cost of freedom
“Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me.” So He let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood” — because of the circumcision.” (Exodus 4:24–26 NASB)
God’s attempt to put Moshe’s son Gershon to death is a sneak preview of what God will do to the first-born of Pharaoh and of Mitzraim. It’s also a sneak preview of how the blood of an innocent will protect the children of Israel from the Destroyer.
Israel’s freedom will come at a huge cost, but it’s not a random smiting. It is the Creator of Heaven and Earth who does this. God is the only one who can kill and bring back life.
God wants to be on our side, regardless of how we fight it. The “bridegroom of blood” is just a small hint of how difficult the separation of Israel from Mitzraim will be.
We have to count the cost of faith and freedom. Do we really want freedom or do we enjoy or slavery?
Sabbath: It’s the rest of the story
“Again Pharaoh said, ‘Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!’”
Exodus 5:5 NASB
The word that is translated as “cease” is the Hebrew word שבת shavat (Strong’s lexicon No. H7673a). This is a reference to shabbat, which is why the Shabbat is so closely associated with the Exodus later when God reminds the second generation about His laws.
The suffering of the people of Israel, which hurt them a lot in the short-term, was for their ultimate benefit. It was to impress on the Israelites how they were not a part of Mitzraim and never would be accepted as part of Mitzraim.
God was saving the Israelites not by making the Egyptians be nice to them but by making the Egyptians hate them and vomit them out. God will compel Mitzraim to let Israel go.
The Israelites needed to realized they needed to be rescued from Mitzraim, not to be accepted into Mitzraim.
The power exercised against Mitzraim was not a “hard” power but an overwhelming “soft” power. The refrain was, “Let my people go.”
What you see in Revelation is a slow tightening of the noose on the Beast power. There will be a gradual realization that the Beast power is not the way to go.
We should look back at the Exodus and be grateful God took us out of there, not longing to return to it.
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
James 1:2–8 NASB
If you don’t understand what God is doing in you and for you, ask Him. If we don’t understand why troubles are coming in our lives, ask Him for wisdom on how to grow as a complete person through it and after it. He will tell you.
““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7–8 NASB
We have a weekly reminder through the Shabbat as well as the annual reminder through Pesach where we used to be in our own Mitzraim-like bondage in life without God and where God is taking us to a life of freedom and purpose.
Summary: Tammy