Exodus 1:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

From the initial seventy-five individuals, the descendants of Israel grew to six hundred thousand. Observe how the Scriptures purposefully reveal the count of those who entered Egypt, allowing us to understand that from such a small beginning emerged a vast multitude. This serves to strengthen our faith in the divine promises. In biblical texts, humanity is often mentioned holistically, sometimes referring to the soul, other times to the body. Just as it was stated earlier that Jacob went into Egypt with seventy-five souls rather than specifying “seventy-five husbands and wives,” here it emphasizes the number of bodies (Gen. 47:12), indicating every individual.

This entire lineage does not simply denote the descendants of Joseph and his siblings as a whole, for they did not cease to exist; indeed, it is noted that they multiplied over time. Rather, it specifically pertains to those men of their lineage who were alive during the time of Joseph and his brothers, having been born in their era. The text continues to illustrate how the dominion of death was vanquished by the authority of life in the generations that followed.