Exodus 1:5

• seventy: The number 75 in the ancient Greek version and the Dead Sea Scrolls might include the five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh (Numbers 26:29, 35).

• His jealous brothers sold Joseph, Jacob’s eleventh son, into Egyptian slavery (Genesis 37:18–28). God did good for his people even though Joseph’s brothers sinned. When Joseph was in Egypt, God used him to save the chosen people during a severe famine. Without Joseph, the famine could have destroyed them (Genesis 42:1–2; 50:19–20).

The need for rescue was clearly related to the Israelites' condition. The Egyptians forced the people of Israel to work without mercy (1:13). It was also related to promises God had made to the patriarchs years earlier.

The Lord had promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation, living freely in the land of Canaan. At this time, Abraham's descendants were slaves in Egypt under a pharaoh who wanted to destroy them as a people. God would have to rescue them to fulfill his promises.