The chapter opens with a change of leadership in Edom. Baal Channan, son of Achbor, dies and the Edomites reach out to find a new king. They settle on a man named Hadad. He reigns for forty-eight years. What does Hadad do? He decides he wants to bring Moab back under Edomite control, just like things used to be.
But Moab? They're not having it.
The Moabites hear about Hadad's plan and they don't just sit around. They band together, elect their own king, and even reach out to their Ammonite brethren for backup. Talk about a united front! Hadad, suddenly facing a much tougher fight than he anticipated, gets cold feet and backs down. Sometimes, the threat of a fight is enough, right?
Now, while all this political maneuvering is happening, something else is brewing. We're introduced to Moses, son of Amram, who's hanging out in Midian. He marries Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel, a Midianite. The text makes a point of telling us that Zipporah is righteous, comparing her to the Matriarchs: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.
Zipporah has two sons. The first is named Gershom, which Moses explains means, "I was a stranger in a foreign land." But here's a detail that raises an eyebrow: Gershom isn't circumcised right away, because Reuel, Moses’ father-in-law, commanded it. The second son, Eliezer, is circumcised, and his name is explained as a thank you: "Because the God of my fathers was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh."
Why the difference in circumcision? The text doesn't explicitly say, but it hints at the tension between Moses' loyalty to his heritage and his life in Midian.
And while Moses is building a family, back in Egypt, things are going from bad to worse for the Israelites. Pharaoh, feeling the pressure, decides to ramp up the oppression. He issues a cruel decree: no more straw for making bricks! The Israelites have to gather their own straw, but they still have to meet the same impossible quotas.
"Give no more straw to the people to make bricks with, let them go and gather themselves straw as they can find it. Also the tale of bricks which they shall make let them give each day, and diminish nothing from them, for they are idle in their work."
The Israelites, understandably, are devastated. They mourn, they sigh, and, most importantly, they cry out to God.
And here's the turning point: "The Lord heard the cries of the children of Israel, and saw the oppression with which the Egyptians oppressed them. And the Lord was jealous of his people and his inheritance, and heard their voice, and he resolved to take them out of the affliction of Egypt, to give them the land of Canaan for a possession."
God hears their cries, sees their suffering, and decides to act. The Book of Jasher frames this as God being "jealous" for his people, a powerful way of saying that God isn't indifferent to their plight. He's about to intervene in a big way.
So, Chapter 78 sets the stage. We have political instability, a family being built in exile, and unbearable suffering escalating into a desperate plea. All the elements are in place for a major shift, a divine intervention that will change the course of history. What happens next? Well, that's a story for another time… but you know it's going to be epic.