What happened to the Hebrews during the time that they were in Egypt?

Answer 1

During the time of Joseph, the people of Israel were taken as slaves into Egypt for four hundred years. When the slaverly of them stopped is when Moses, God's first prophet, took them back to Israel, which took forty years of walking threw the desert.

NOTE: Nationality: Israelite; Race: Jewish; Language: Hebrew

Answer 2

According to tradition, the Israelites (Hebrews) at first enjoyed a prosperous period in Egypt (Genesis 47:27), since the Egyptians were grateful to Joseph (a leading Israelite) for having enabled them to survive a famine (Genesis ch.41). Later, the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians (Exodus ch.1), with backbreaking labor and cruel decrees (ibid). By the time of the Exodus, many of the Israelites had given up hope (Exodus ch.6).

See also:

Why did the Israelites go to Egypt?

Why were the Israelites enslaved?

Answer 3

According to tradition, the Israelites (Hebrews) at first enjoyed a prosperous period in Egypt (Genesis 47:27), since the Egyptians were grateful to Joseph (a leading Israelite) for having enabled them to survive a famine (Genesis 41). Later, they are said to have been enslaved by Egyptian pharaohs who knew nothing of Joseph.

Historians, on the other hand, tend towards the view that the Hebrews never were in Egypt or enslaved as an entire nation, as portrayed in The Bible. Furthermore, the consensus is that there was no biblical Exodus from Egypt. Many scholars now say that the Israelites were actually rural Canaanites who left the region of the rich coastal cities to settle peacefully in the hitherto sparsely populated hinterland.

Answer 4

They were harshly enslaved by the Egyptians.