From Creation to Redemption: Why the Book of Shemot Is the True Continuation of Bereishit

We are all familiar with the names of the Five Books of the Torah: Bereishit, Shemot, Vayikra, Bamidbar, and Devarim.

In addition to these familiar names, early commentators gave each book additional titles based on its content. Bereishit is also called the “Book of the Upright,” because it tells of the patriarchs, who were known for their righteousness. Shemot is called the “Book of Redemption,” as it recounts the redemption from Egypt. Vayikra is known as the “Book of the Priests,” since it contains the laws of offerings and many commandments related to the priests. Bamidbar is called the “Book of Counting,” because it begins with a census of the people of Israel and includes another later on. Devarim is referred to as “Mishneh Torah,” since it reviews much of what was already taught in the earlier books.

One of the early authorities, the author of Halachot Gedolot, attributed to Rabbi Shimon Kayyara, gives the books the following names: “The Book of Bereishit,” “The Second Book,” “The Book of the Priests,” “The Book of Counting,” and “Mishneh Torah.”

The name given to the second book immediately stands out. Why does he not assign it a unique name based on its content? It would seem easy to call it “The Book of Redemption” or “The Book of the Giving of the Torah.”

Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin, known as the Netziv of Volozhin, explains in his introduction to Shemot that the essential name of the second book is simply “the second book,” because its main role is to serve as a continuation of Bereishit. Bereishit describes the beginning of creation, the formation of the world, the patriarchs, and the early development of the people of Israel. The second book completes that process, bringing creation to its purpose through the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Torah. The entire creation was intended for these events: the Exodus, Mount Sinai, and the formation of Israel as a nation. For this reason, the second book is fundamentally a continuation of the story of creation.

The Growth of Israel and the Beginning of Exile

The portion describes how the children of Israel multiplied and grew strong in Egypt. Joseph, his brothers, and that entire generation passed away, and a new king arose over Egypt who denied the good that Joseph had done. He began to enslave and oppress the Israelites.

Decades earlier, God had already told Abraham that his descendants would live in a land not their own for four hundred years, where they would be enslaved and afflicted. But afterward, they would leave with great wealth. This “great wealth” refers not only to material riches, but primarily to the giving of the Torah and their becoming a chosen people, an eternal nation.

The Furnace That Refines a Nation

Just as a soldier cannot join an elite combat unit without training and testing, so too the people of Israel had to undergo a process of refinement in order to become a chosen nation. This is the purpose of the Egyptian exile, described as an “iron furnace”: “For You brought them out of Egypt, from the iron furnace” (Kings I, 8:51).

Through exile and redemption, they became prepared and worthy of standing at Mount Sinai and receiving the Torah.

Just as a child is born into the world through the pain of the mother, as reflected in the divine decree to Eve, “In pain you shall bear children,” so too the birth of the people of Israel was accompanied by the pains of exile. This was part of the divine plan.

The portion describes the moment when these “birth pains” began to intensify: “They made their lives bitter with hard labor, with mortar and bricks, and with all kinds of work in the field” (Exodus 1:14). The decrees grew harsher, until Pharaoh commanded, “Every son who is born shall be cast into the Nile” (Exodus 1:22). The suffering reached a breaking point: “The children of Israel groaned from the labor and cried out” (Exodus 2:23).

The Seed of Redemption Within Exile

Exile is painful, but God brings redemption together with exile.

Yocheved was the mother of Moses, the redeemer of Israel. There is a unique detail about her: everyone knows exactly where she was born, at the very entrance to Egypt. When Jacob and his family descended to Egypt, she was born between its walls.

This detail carries a powerful message of comfort.

Jacob and his family are entering Egypt, a place of darkness and suffering. Yet when God brings hardship, He brings the solution along with it. Right there, between the walls of Egypt, at the very moment they entered, the mother of Israel’s future redeemer was born.

When God brings difficulty, He brings with it the seeds of comfort and redemption.