If you stopped the story of the Jewish people at the end of the book of Genesis, you would think everything is just going great. Joseph is second-in-command, his family moves to Egypt, and every need of their’s is taken care of (Genesis 45:20).
How, then, is it possible that they end up becoming slaves?
If you jump forward a few chapters into Exodus, you’ll notice the transition is as quick as it is deliberate. Two things happen, according to Exodus 1. First, there’s a Pharaoh that doesn’t know anything about Joseph (or doesn’t care). Second, the Israelites begin to multiply and the Egyptians fear an internal uprising and eventual loss of their nation.
How they were enslaved is a topic for another passage, but notice how all of that begins – with a simple invitation by Pharaoh. The slavery begins by Egypt rolling out the red carpet for Joseph’s family, but it ends with them fleeing in the middle of the night.
Isn’t this how sin operates in our lives? Nobody ever decides to go full-board into sin because they know it’ll end in their destruction. Instead, they are “drawn away by their own lusts and enticed” (James 1:14). Sin is so destructive precisely because it looks so appealing in the beginning.
None of this is to suggest that Joseph was wrong in bringing his family to Egypt. As he testifies in Genesis 45, their existence in Egypt is what saves their life. God told Abraham long ago that they would be slaves in a land that wasn’t their own (Genesis 15:14), but it’s unclear if Joseph saw his family’s existence in Egypt as a direct fulfillment of that prophecy.
Most likely, none of them knew what would eventually befall their ancestors. That is, until first decree came down from Pharaoh to enslave and oppress the Jewish people. Then they might have all wished they had stayed in Canaan to begin with.
