Exodus 1:10
“Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land.””
What does Exodus 1:10 mean?
The Egyptian Pharaoh is expressing his fear that the Hebrew people, growing rapidly in numbers, might become a threat to his power. His "wisdom" is actually paranoia dressed up as strategy, the kind of calculating fear that leads rulers to oppress rather than understand. He's trying to justify what comes next: forced labor and harsh treatment, supposedly for security. This moment shows us how injustice often begins with manufactured worry about "the other," and how those in power use fear to rationalize cruelty toward vulnerable people. It's a sobering reminder that what gets called "wisdom" by the powerful often masks something much darker underneath.