Exodus 1:1  says,  Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.  We are once again giving a brief listing of Jacob's sons.  Verse two says, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,  Verse three adds, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,  Then verse four concludes, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.  These were all the sons of Israel to come into Egypt at that time, because Joseph was already there.  Verse five declares, And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.  There were a total of seventy descendants of Israel at that time.  This was still not many to fulfill God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, since it was a continuing promise that did not stop with Abraham.  Salvation through Christ is also a continuing promise that did not stop just with those who physically walked and talked with Christ.  Verse six states, And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.  Joseph and all of his generation died while they were still in Egypt.  Joseph lived most of his life as a slave in a strange land, since Egypt was certainly not the Promised Land.  No matter where we live today, we are strangers in a strange land until Christ returns again, and unless we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are slave to sin.  If we are in a better country than most, it is not because we deserve it more, but because God has blessed us more and I believe expects us to use what He has blessed us with for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom.  Verse seven adds, And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.  God's promise was finally coming to pass.  The number of the Israelites increased abundantly and the land was filled with them.  Still, they were foreigners in the eyes of the Egyptians, just as we as followers of Christ will always be foreigners in this world.  Verse eight declares, Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.  Eventually, there arose a king who did not know, or remember, Joseph.  We today need to pray that there never arises a generation of rulers who do not remember God, but even if there does, we are still to continue to attempt to advance His kingdom by sharing the gospel.  Verse nine adds, And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.  This king decided that the children of Israel outnumbered and were more powerful than the people of Egypt.  The children of Israel were still immigrants in Egypt, and the Egyptians were becoming afraid of them.  We are never told that the Israelites did anything to provoke this fear, but the Egyptians feared them because they were different.  Though as followers of Christ we should never do anything to provoke fear in others, they should realize that we are different than them and because of that they may fear, or hate, us.  Verse ten states, Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.  This king said that the Egyptians needed to deal wisely with the Israelites to prevent them from fighting against them if a war ever occurred.  The king feared that the Israelites might do so to gain their freedom, not realizing that it wasn't the Israelites but their God that he needed to fear.  The world today may fear or despise Christians, but  it is our God that they need to fear.  Verse eleven adds, Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.  The king, or pharaoh, felt that the Egyptians would be acting wisely to set taskmasters over the people if Israel and force them to work to enrich Pharaoh.  We might wonder why God didn't step in immediately to help the Israelites, but we need to once again acknowledge that God's time is not our time.  Verse twelve adds, But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.  The more that the Egyptians afflicted the Israelites, the more they grew.  The question for us then is if the world afflicts us as followers of Christ, do we continue to grow.  Sometimes, we seem to feel that material wealth and power are an indicator of God's blessings, but in actuality, our relationship with Christ is our real blessing.  The Israelites were not a threat to Egypt because of who they were, but because of Who their God was.  He is still the same God today.