What does Exodus 1:10 mean?

Pharaoh continues his discussion with his people (Exodus 1:9) by declaring an answer to the threat of a large Hebrew population: to be crafty and clever, plotting against them. His fear is that the Israelites will become numerous enough to join Egypt's enemies during war and escape from the land. This policy was likely enforced for many years since two cities were built following this command.

This effort to deliberately oppress Israel included forced labor: what we today would define as "chattel slavery." This would serve as the first of several phases of oppression noted in this chapter. Despite this first phase of enslavement, the population of Israel continued to grow (Exodus 1:12). This led to the Egyptians cruelly overworking the Israelites, resulting in unhappy lives overflowing with harsh labor. This included serving as brick makers and field workers (Exodus 1:12–14). The pharaoh will later tell Hebrew midwives to murder newborn Hebrew sons. This infanticide was intended to reduce population growth (Exodus 1:15–22). Yet the midwives let the children live out of fear of God, causing Pharaoh to extend this murderous command to all the Egyptian people (Exodus 1:22). Despite these efforts, nothing could stop God's plan to turn the Jewish people into a mighty nation (Genesis 12:1–3).