Joseph's outstanding success at Pharaoh's court and the way in which under his administration the people of Egypt were delivered from the ravages of famine led to Pharaoh's cordial acceptance of Joseph's father, Jacob, and of his eleven brothers, together with their large families and numerous retainers. Living in the rich territory of Goshen, near the delta of the Nile, "the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them" (Ex. 1:7).
For some time this amazing increase in the population of the Hebrews seems to have gone almost unheeded by the Egyptians. Joseph was still considered a national hero. The Pharaoh under whom he had served so well was in all probability one of the last members of the Hyksos line of conquering shepherd kings, who came originally from Asia and ruled in Egypt for several centuries. This fact would further explain the acceptance of the Israelite shepherds. Not only so, but it has been contended by some scholars that the Pharaoh with whom Joseph was associated was to some extent a monotheist, thus providing an additional link with the Hebrews, who so stanchly upheld the worship of one God.
The apparently sudden transition implied in the Bible from the events which close the book of Genesis to those found in the early chapters of Exodus might lead one to the conclusion that the lapse of time between the two books was relatively short, but the Bible suggests elsewhere that it was considerably longer than one might suppose, extending for some four hundred years or even more. (See Gen. 15:13, 14; Ex. 12:40.)
