The beginning of Exodus is closely linked with the ending of Genesis. In Joseph’s dying words he beseeched his brothers to believe that God would one day bring them out of Egypt:

“I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Gen. 50:24)

The first chapter of Exodus sets the context and quickly establishes the crisis of the narrative: Jacob’s descendants prospered and multiplied in Egypt, which created a threat to a pharaoh who no longer remembered the legacy of Joseph. In order to limit their numbers, Pharaoh oppressed them with forced labor and ultimately with a policy of male infanticide. God provided even in these difficult circumstances by continuing to multiply the population an…