These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,
Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there.
In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren.
In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.  Exodus 1:1-7 (NLT)

“I will make you into a great nation.”  Genesis 12:2 (NLT)

“I am God, the God of your father,” the voice said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make your family into a great nation.”  Genesis 46:3 (NLT)

Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.  He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are.  We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don’t, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us.  Then they will escape from the country.”  So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor.
They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.  But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became.  So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy.  They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.  Exodus 1:8-14 (NLT)

Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.”
Genesis 15:13 (NLT)

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”  Genesis 50:20 (NLT)

“In all probability, if they had been left to themselves, they would have been melted and absorbed into the Egyptian race, and lost their identity as God’s special people. They were content to be in Egypt, and they were quite willing to be Egyptianized.”  

 

Charles Spurgeon