# Exodus Chapter 1
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## Summarrium
Joseph and his family move to Egypt where they live and the people of Israel are fruitful and multiply greatly in number from that initial 70 persons. A new King of Israel arrives who does not know Israel and makes an enemy of him setting taskmasters and heavy burdens before the people. Yet the people of Israel continue to be fruitful and multiply

The King directs the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah to kill the offspring of the Hebrew women in the event they father a son. However daughters are permitted to be spared. The midwives however are not complicit in this ethnic cleansing and as such God dealt well with the midwives. The King therefore decrees to all the people that sons must be cast into the Nile but every daughter will be permitted to live.

## Meditatio
The last verse in this chapter contains great religious and spiritual significance. Pharaoh considered his decree a political strategy to deal with the growing population of Hebrews that presented an existential threat to Egyptians. Targeting male infants would weaken the Hebrew capacity to resit the tyranny of Egyptian rule and ensure their subjugation.

There is also a sense of religious irony in the method of execution. The Nile is typically a symbol of life and sustenance in Egyptian culture with *Hapi* being seen as the androgynous god of fertility. This is inverted with the Nile transformed into an instrument of death. Perhaps it was believed that through the sacrificial offering of infants to *Sobek* the Egyptians might secure protection from the existential threat posed by the Hebrews. 

In any event this decree foreshadows the first plague in which the Nile turns to blood[^1]. Perhaps an act of divine judgement that reclaims the Nile from it's misuse by Pharaoh and the Egyptians revealing the sovereignty of God over Egyptian gods. Interestingly enough there is a further irony that this same river of death would become the vehicle by which Israel would be saved, thereby subverting Pharaoh's intent. Highlighting how the Lord is able to take something that has been corrupted and utilise it for good.

This is a reassuring point to anyone like me that has become increasingly aware of their own corruption and darkness. Indeed it is a hopeful message that God can take something once used for evil and use it for good. The redemption of my person is a relief and good news for this life. The gospel of the Kingdom is one in which a hopeful message is presented by Christ for the redemption by means of the invasion of heaven into earth. I have much I wish to see in myself redeemed and have much to be thankful for.

[^1]: See [Exodus 7:14-24](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%207%3A14-24&version=ESV)