The first readings all week are taken from the Book of Exodus and follow Moses from his birth to the encounter with the burning bush and then leaping ahead to Pharaoh’s refusal to let the Israelites go which leads to a description of the Passover meal and its preparations. Today’s first reading picks up the story from the end of Genesis. The Israelites had achieved most-favored immigrant status in the land of Egypt. The Egyptians had welcomed the Hebrew foreigners from Canaan because they were family to Joseph who, even as a non-Egyptian, had risen to second-in-command next to Pharaoh

It has been several hundred years since the time of Joseph as chancellor to the Pharaoh. Any “good will” for all that Joseph had done for the people of Egypt and has been lost from memory. We infer from the text that the Israelites had been successful and prospered. But with new leadership, and changing circumstances, Israel’s status quickly deteriorated from welcomed guests to feared aliens and oppressed slaves: “Look how numerous and powerful the people of the children of Israel are growing, more so than we ourselves!”

A tempting political strategy for new leaders, whether an Egyptian pharaoh or a Nazi Hitler, involves trying to solidify power by singling out a relatively weak minority or outsider group and calling them an enemy. Fear of others can be a powerful source of unity. What Genesis describes as God’s faithfulness in blessing the Israelites through many descendants (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-6; 28:1-4; Exodus 1:7), Pharaoh describes as a terrorist threat that may endanger Egypt’s security and way of life: “in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us.”

In a few short verses, we learn of Pharaoh’s three different tactics to stem the growth of the Israelite people. First he enslaves them (Ex 1:11-14), next he commands midwives to kill Hebrew boys at birth (vv. 15-21), and finally c) he commands all Egyptians to throw Hebrew boys into the Nile River (1:22-2:10). He essentially decreed the mass genocide of all infant Jewish males. Apparently, Pharaoh does not perceive the threat of women.

This sets in motion the events well known to us. Moses will be born and after three months when it is no longer to hide him from Pharaoh’s order, the youngling is placed in a reed basket and set adrift on the river (presumably the Nile) where he is found by Pharaoh’s daughter who was there to bathe (part of tomorrow’s first reading)

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