וכאשר יענו אתו כן ירבה וכן יפרץ
“But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they grew”. (Shemos 1:12)
The pasuk describes a cause and effect; the increasing severity of the servitude was followed by a corresponding increase in the rate of birth. The Gemara (Sotah 11a), cited by Rashi, explains that the Egyptians wanted to decrease the Yidden’s numbers so they increased the workload (Sifsei Chachomim). Yet, Hashem decided to do the opposite. Thus, the more the Jews were afflicted, the more they increased.
According to the Ohr HaChaim on this pasuk, the additional children were to help the Jews with the extra work. Hashem responded to the greater and more difficult amount of work with a commensurate increase in children. By having more people at work, the load was lightened for them all.
Rav Yosef Kalatzky, however, offers a different explanation, which also explains the pasuk’s sequence. When the Jews first descended to Mitzrayim, they totaled only seventy souls (Bereishis 46:27). The galus of which Avraham was foretold was to last four hundred years (Bereishis 15:13). We also know that there had to be 600,000 among Bnei Yisroel to be the holy nation that would receive the Torah. Thus, presumably the plan was that in the course of four hundred years — the planned duration of the exile — the seventy souls would naturally grow and multiply, and that after four hundred years they would number 600,000. They would then be redeemed from Mitzrayim, and go to Har Sinai to receive the Torah. Speak to any sociologist and he will confirm that barring war or pestilence, such growth is within the expected mean.
The problem was that we were not in Egypt for four hundred years, only 210 years; in actuality, the Jews were enslaved less than 210 years. The standard explanation for this is: “Koshi hashibud mashlim.” The intensity of the servitude made up for the decrease in years, and we performed four hundred years of work in less than 210 years, with the Egyptians essentially working us more than double-time.
However, in that amount of years we would still not have had enough people with which to receive the Torah. Because of this, the birthrate had to pick up so that we would have 600,000 souls in 210 years in Egypt, not the planned four hundred years. This, now, is the flow of the pasuk: “The more they afflicted them” and increased the severity of the work, bringing the end faster and ever closer. As a result: “The more they multiplied and grew,” the birthrate had to pick up as they now had less years to work and still needed the magic number of 600,000 to be able to leave.
With this in mind, I believe we can explain another difficulty in a pasuk in the next perek (verse 23): “Vayamas melech Mitzrayim vayei’anchu Vnei Yisroel min ha’avodah vayizaku vataal shavasam el ha’Elokim min ha’avodah — The king of Egypt died, and the Children of Yisroel sighed from the labor, and they cried out, and their cry ascended to G-d from the labor.”
According to Rashi, the king of Egypt did not die, but he was stricken with leprosy. To cure himself, he would slaughter Jewish babies and bathe in their blood. The Medrash Rabbah (Shemos 1:34) explains that the pasuk says that Pharaoh died because a leper is deemed as dead. The Medrash then details that the magicians of Egypt said to Pharaoh, “There is no cure for you unless we slay 150 Hebrew children in the evening and 150 in the morning, and you bathe in their blood twice daily.” When the Jews heard this terrible decree, they began to sigh and lament. If Pharaoh was killing innocent children, why does the pasuk say that the Jews sighed and cried out from the work and not from the pain of losing their children? In addition, why do we find, only now, that they were crying out from the work? What changed with the king’s death that they began to complain about the work?
In light of what we wrote before, the answer is quite simple. Until now, as hard and dreary as the work may have been, it was a cloud that came with a silver lining. Even though the work was oppressive, they were able to take solace and say, “Yes, we are working hard. But this means that we will leave Egypt earlier. We are working off four hundred years of servitude in just over half the time. Just look how fast the kids are coming; we’ll hit 600,000 in no time. At least our grandchildren will taste freedom.” Therefore, they did not complain about the work. But now that the king contracted tzaraas and began slaughtering the children, the Jews may have said, “We are working as hard as before, with the commensurate increase in birthrate.
But now that those children are being killed off by Pharaoh, we realize that we are spinning our wheels. We are working as hard as ever — but with no benefit or future payoff.” For this reason, only at this point did they start sighing and crying about the work, which, from a psychological standpoint, was no longer bearable.