The connections with Genesis 46 are particularly important. The opening phrase of Exodus 1:1 is an exact quotation of Genesis 46:8 (These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt
). Both passages contain a genealogy with a reference to Jacob’s seventy descendants (Exodus 1:6; Genesis 46:27). Furthermore, in Genesis 46:3–4, God had promised both to make Jacob into a great nation in the land of Egypt and to bring him back to Canaan. By the time of the events recorded in Exodus 1, the first promise is being fulfilled in Israel’s stunning growth (Exodus 1:7, Exodus 1:9, where Pharaoh refers to them as a people
) but the second has yet to be accomplished. Jacob had anticipated its fulfilment by asking to be buried in Canaan (Genesis 47:29–30; Genesis 49:29–32). Joseph also asked to be buried in Canaan, after reminding his brothers of God’s promise to bring them up from Egypt (Genesis 50:24–25; see further Hebrews 11:22). Against this background, Exodus begins with a sense of anticipation that the time is ripe for God to bring his people back to the Promised Land. And in doing so, God will reveal his power and majesty in his defeat of Egypt, and his patience and faithfulness in his dealing with Israel in the wilderness.
These promises in Genesis 46 in turn echo the promises that God made to Abraham in Genesis 15. God had told Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars (Genesis 15:5). He also foretold that they would be afflicted in a foreign land but that God would bring them out with great possessions (Genesis 15:13–14). Thus, the events that begin in Exodus 1 are ultimately a fulfilment of God’s promises to Abraham.
1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: