It would be correct to say that the book of Genesis primarily explicates and demonstrates the inherent connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. That idea is indeed, stated in the first commentary of Rashi on the Torah. (Genesis 1:1).
Rashi asks, why does the Torah begin with the story of creation? As primarily a book of law, should not the proper beginning be the first law that was given to Israel, namely, the method of calculating the calendar? (See Exodus 12:1) Rashi answers as follows:
Should the nations of the Earth say to Israel, you are thieves because you conquered the land which belonged to the seven nations, they (the Jews) could say to them (nations): all the Earth belongs to God. He created it, and he gave it to whom he desired. He first gave it to them (the seven nations) then according to his will he took it from them and gave it to us. (Rashi Genesis 1:1).
As the Book of Genesis continued, we saw that over and over again, God promised this land to each of the patriarchs. There could be no doubt that through an act of covenant, the land of Israel was destined to become the land of the Jewish people.
Near the end of the Book of Genesis, a major betrayal of this covenant was committed by the people of Israel. After going down to Egypt to avoid the great famine that took hold of the world, the text tells us, “Israel dwelled in Egypt, in the land of Goshen and held onto it and they multiplied exceedingly.” (Genesis 47:27.) To most commentaries, Rashi explained the term “held onto” (Vayeiachzu) comes from the term, “achuza” which normally means inheritance.
It is true that it was Joseph in accordance with the command of Pharaoh who originally gave them a temporary stake or ownership in a parcel of land that was the best section of Egypt. (47:11). But, as they increased in numbers, they extended their possession and began to view Egypt as their true inheritance. It was no longer a temporary condition, but became a permanent home. The need to return to the land of Israel was forgotten. The promise made to the patriarchs now became irrelevant.
The beginning of the Book of Shemot is God’s response to this betrayal. It is a prime example of the principle, midda keneged midda or measure for measure.
As the Jews became more settled in Egypt, they did their utmost become more accepted by the Egyptian majority and strived to receive citizenship in the new country which they adopted. They practiced all aspects of Egyptian life, including the depravities of the Egyptians (Tumah) as well as an acceptance of their idolatry. To demonstrate their good citizenship, they were rigorous in paying their taxes and in volunteering their services to the needs of their new country. It was their yearning and striving for acceptance which led to their eventual downfall. It allowed Pharaoh to use various means of deceptions that paved the way to unspeakable slavery.
We see this process described in the Talmud by Rabbi Elazar (see Sotah 11b). Rabbi Elazar interprets the word “parech” which is normally under understood as hardship or harshness as a contraction of two words, “peh rach” a soft or smooth mouth. Pharaoh used guile and trickery to fool them. This is explained in the following manner in the midrash.
When Pharaoh said to his people, “let us deal craftily with them” and placed upon them taskmasters, he gathered all of Israel and said to them, “please do me a favor.” He then took out a basket and a rake. . .and immediately all of Israel went with diligence with Pharaoh and made bricks with all the strength which they had. . . at the end of the day, they were ordered to make a tally of the bricks and were told that they must now make this tally every day. (Medrash Rabah, 15; 20 in Bamidbar.)
Thus, it was their great desire to please Pharaoh which allowed them to be deceived and brought about their downfall. It was also the ultimate betrayal which they experienced.
The Ramban explains this reversal of fortune in a slightly different manner.
Pharaoh and his advisors did not consider to kill Israel outright by the sword for it would have been a great outrage to kill gratuitously a people who came to the land of Egypt through the command of the previous king. Also, the people would not tolerate such violence . . .also, the children of Israel were many and strong and would wage a great war against them. He (Pharaoh) said, however, that this undertaking should be done slyly, so Israel would not sense that they were being attacked with enmity. Thus he imposed upon them special taxes, for it the nature of the world that those who come to live in a new country would pay taxes to the king . . .he also did not want to command his own troops to kill the male children with the royal sword, so he simply told his people that anyone who found a Jewish child should toss it into the Nile. It was all done craftily to hide the true nature of the violence. (Shemot 1:10)
The fact that the Jews were totally fooled and were actually willing to live under slavery is indicated by the Ramban, by their reaction to Moshe when he first attempted to redeem them and restore dignity to their lives.
And this is the reason for the statement by those who said to our teacher Moshe, “you have made us smell bad and have put a sword in their (Egyptians’) hands. For now, they’ll increase in their hatred of us and they will find an argument for killing us openly with a sword in front of all, for we are now rebellious against the king. They will no longer need to do it surreptitiously. (Ramban, Shemot 5:21).
It is painful to behold how low Israel had sunk. They were now living under the greatest of betrayals and felt grateful just to be alive and not to be slaughtered openly en masse. That is the price which they were paying for the betrayal of God. Betraying God and relying on the largesse of human beings never ends well. It is a lesson that is always current in Jewish life.