(1) ואלה שמות, seeing that the Torah wanted to let us know how the Israelites had increased and multiplied (verse 3) it became necessary to repeat that when they had arrived in Egypt they had numbered only 70 souls. The dramatic increase in numbers of Israelites began only with the death of the generation that had moved there from the land of Canaan. As a result, when a new king came to the throne in Egypt, he wanted to diminish their numbers and did not succeed in doing so.

(7) They swarmed - birth. There were no miscarriages. There were children everywhere, crawling on the earth.

(7) ויעצמו, they did not even die in early adulthood, but they were all healthy specimens. במאד מאד, until the whole country became full of them, ותמלא הארץ אותם. The Torah describes a perception of fullness, much as Ezekiel 10,4 describing והחצר מלאה את נוגה כבוד ה', “the inner courtyard was filled with the glow of the Glory of Hashem.” This was a perception, not something tangible. Similarly, Isaiah 6,1 ושוליו מלאים את ההיכל, “and its skirts filled the Sanctuary.”

(1) ואלה שמות בני ישראל Now these are the names of the children of Israel — Although scripture has already enumerated them by name whilst they were living, when they went down into Egypt (Genesis 46:8-27), it again enumerates them when it tells us of their death, thus showing how dear they were to God — that they are compared to the stars which also God brings out and brings in by number and name when they cease to shine, as it is said, (Isaiah 40:26) “He bringeth out their host by number, He calleth them all by name” (Exodus Rabbah 1:3; Tanchuma Yashan 1:1:2).

(7) וישרצו And they increased abundantly (more lit., they swarmed, a word used of the prolificness of reptiles) — they bore six children at one birth (the six words from פרו to מאד suggest or imply the number six) (Midrash Tanchuma 2:1:5).

(7) They were giving birth to six children at one time.

(1) אלה, the ones mentioned here were deserving to be mentioned with their names. The reason is that each one of them possessed sufficient individuality to give meaning to his name. They were all of them an inspiration to their children as not one of them abandoned his family tradition. However, after the death of that generation even the relatively righteous ones among them did not rate so highly in the eyes of G’d or man so that the Torah deemed it necessary to tell us their names.

(7) פרו וישרצו, after the last of the original 70 migrants had died, their whole lifestyle became more like that of creeping insects, creatures headed for destruction. This is why when

(8) "And Yosef and his brothers and their entire generation passed away", to teach you that as long as one of them was still alive from the original ones that came down to Egypt, the Egyptians did not enslave the Israelites. "And the children of Israel reproduced and spawned", even though Yosef and his brothers died, their God did not die, instead the children of Israel reproduced and spawned.

Another point: Each one gave birth to six children in each pregnancy, as it says: "And the children of Israel reproduced and spawned ..." Some say: Twelve [children in each pregnancy] as it is written: "reproduced" - two, "spawned" - two, "they were many" - two, "they were massive" - two, "very much" - two, "and the land was filled with them" - two, for a total of twelve. "They were massive", some say: six children in each pregnancy. And don't be incredulous, since the scorpion is one of the creatures like a vermin and it gives birth to seventy at a time. "And the land was filled with them", like a field of reeds.

"A new king arose", since the Egyptians saw this, they enacted new decrees upon them. That which is written: "A new king arose", Rav and Shmuel [interpret it]. One says: literally new. And one says: his decrees were new, he established decrees and punishments on them. The reason of the one that says it was literally a new king, as it is written: "new". The reason of the one that says it is referring to new decrees, since it is not written: "and he died", "and the king was anointed", "that did not know of Yosef". According to the opinion that it is a new king, everything is clear. According to the opinion that they established new decrees, how does he explain ["that did not know of Yosef"]? That he was like one who did not know of Yosef at all. The Rabbis say: Why was he called a new king, it was the same Pharaoh as before? Instead, the Egyptians said to Pharaoh: "let us intermarry with this nation". He said to them: "You are crazy! Until now we have eaten from their produce, how can we intermarry with them?! Were it not for Yosef we would all be dead." Since they didn't listen to him, they deposed him from the throne for three months, until he said to them: "Whatever you want to do I am with you", and they re-appointed him, there it is written: "A new king arose". The rabbis segue to the following verse (Hoshea 5:7): "Against God they have rebelled since they have given birth to foreign children, now the month will consume their parts". To teach you, that when Yosef died they stopped performing circumcision. They said: Let us be like the Egyptians, from this you learn, that Moshe circumcised them when they left Egypt, and since they did this [stopped observing circumcision], God converted the love of the Egyptians for them into hatred, as it says (Tehillim 105:25): "He converted their hearts to hate his nation, to harass his servants", to fulfill the verse (Hoshea 5:7): "Now the month [new] will consume their parts" [translator's note: the word "month" has been amended by the Midrash to the word "new" which uses the same letters but different vowels for the purposes of the interpretation]. "A new king", that stood and enacted new decrees upon them. "That did not know of Yosef", and did he really not know of Yosef?! Rabbi Abin said: It is like a parable of one who stoned to death the king's lover. The king orders his men to puncture the head of the person, for tomorrow he will attempt to stone the king as well, therefore the text speaks of him [pharaoh] - in other words: today - "he did not know of Yosef", tomorrow - he will say in the future (Shemot 5:2): "I do not know of God".