Exodus 1 · a question people ask
Where is God in this chapter?
God isn't named until the midwives "feared God" (1:17), and then twice more: "God dealt well with the midwives" (1:20) and "Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families" (1:21). But the chapter's growth is what God had promised Jacob: "there I will make of you a great nation" (Genesis 46:3). He had also told Abram the hard part beforehand: "your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years" (Genesis 15:13). Looking back on these years, a psalm says, "He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries" (Psalm 105:24). And the next chapter says, "God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob" (2:24).
The verses
“But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive. The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing and saved the boys alive?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.”
“He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.”
“He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.”
“He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries.”