Genesis 46:27
And the sons of Joseph, who were born to
him in Egypt, were two. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into
Egypt were seventy.
Not a single person belonging to the family
of Israel was left behind. Everyone went to Egypt. Going forward, anyone who
looks back at Israel as the source of their namesake will have a heritage interwoven
with Egypt. Years later, God will draw another Joseph to carry His Son to Egypt
in order to protect Him from destruction in Israel and then call Him back out
of Egypt to deliver His people from their bondage.
I loved the thing Wendy Alsup pointed out about much of the Old Testament being dedicated almost solely to God's preservation of the line of Christ. Moses makes a point of highlighting that not a single member of Abraham's line was left behind in Canaan. It's also interesting to note that their enslavement was a large part of how God preserved them as a nation and fulfilled their inheritance - none of them died in the famine, but were preserved in Egypt. None of them left Egypt before the appointed time, thereby missing out on the promise of Canaan. By the time they left Egypt, they were numerous enough to fill the land God gave them. God fulfilled his promise by actively using something really, really hard. And like you said, their story can't be extricated from the story of Egypt.
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