Exodus 1:4
“Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.”
What does Exodus 1:4 mean?
This verse is simply listing the names of four more of Jacob's sons, continuing the genealogy that traces how Jacob's family grew into the nation of Israel. By the time we get to Exodus, these weren't just individuals anymore, but names representing whole tribes of people living together in Egypt. The reason these genealogies matter is that they show God was faithful to his promise to Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation. Even in the opening of Exodus, before the dramatic plagues and the exodus itself, we see God keeping his word through the sheer multiplication of Jacob's offspring, each tribal name representing thousands of people.