Exodus 1

Sometime after Joseph and his brothers die, a new king comes to power in Egypt (I thought they had Pharaohs) and doesn’t like that they have become so numerous. We don’t know how long after Joseph this king comes along, but he doesn’t seem to care much about all the good he did for Egypt.

The king’s afraid of the Israelites and decides to enslave them and force harsh work on them.

In addition, this king wants the Hebrew midwives to kill any boys that are born. The midwives ignore this command and tell the king later that Hebrew women give birth too fast for them to get there in time. This is apparently another lie God is ok with, because he rewards them with families of their own.

Finally, the Pharaoh (not the king?) gives an order that every Hebrew boy that is born must be thrown into the Nile.

While this is very early in this book, I must note that these horrible things are happening to the Israelites despite there being no indication that they have done anything to displease God. He’s letting this happen while he watches silently.