According to Genesis, Abraham became the father of Isaac (Gen. 21:3), and Isaac became the father of Jacob (Gen. 26:25).  Jacob in turn became the father of the twelve patriarchs (Gen 29:32 - 30:25).  Of these twelve, Joseph was the second to the youngest.  Joseph had a couple of dreams, which when interpreted, seemed to indicate that Joseph would come to rule over his brothers (Gen. 37:5 - 37:11).  The youngest of the brothers, Benjamin, was close to Joseph but the other ten despised Joseph and sold Joseph to some men traveling to Egypt (Gen. 37:13 - 37:28).

Joseph became a slave in Egypt and was victimized by the wife of a man by the name of Potipher.  Potipher's wife accused Joseph of committing adultery with her even though Joseph really hadn’t; as a result Joseph was put into an Egyptian prison (Gen. 29:1 - 20).  Joseph later interpreted a couple of dreams in prison, apparently correctly, and was brought before the Pharoah to interpret his dreams.  When Joseph gave a satisfactory interpretation to the Pharoah's dreams, Joseph was advanced to a position of authority in Egypt (Gen. 40:1 - 41:57).

A famine in Palestine led Joseph's brothers to seek grain in Egypt.  Not knowing their brother was promoted to a position second only to the Pharoah, they came to Joseph seeking grain and what would seem to be a fulfillment of Joseph's earlier prophecies as a child.  Later when Joseph revealed to his brothers his true identity he swayed them to move to the land of Goshen, the northern region of the Nile delta.  At first the Hebrews were accepted in Egypt but when the reigning Pharoah died, the next Pharoah placed the Hebrews in bondage for fear they would become outnumbered by the Hebrews and eventually be overcome by them (Gen. 42:1 - 46:5).

The Hebrews spent, according to Biblical records, four hundred and thirty years in Egypt before Moses, the Hebrew deliverer, led the Hebrews out of Egypt.  During this four hundred and thirty year time span, the Hebrew people were subject to the customs and religious practices of the Egyptians. For instance, in the Jewish book of Daniel, Belshazzar was told he was "weighed in the balances and found wanting" (Daniel 5:27); this idea of being weighed in the balances came from the Egyptian concept of the journey of the soul (see The Egyptians).