According to Genesis 46:3–4, God had promised Jacob that he would make him a great nation in Egypt and would bring him back to Canaan. Pharaoh, by trying to prevent Israel’s growth and to keep them in Egypt, is directly opposing God’s will for Israel. As becomes clear in the rest of the chapter, Pharaoh is the seed of the serpent who attacks the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) and oppresses God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22). Wherever God’s people experience his covenant blessing, as in the case of Israel’s growth, Satan is always eager to attack.
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”