bound to idolatry . We bowed to false gods and worshipped them . Joshua / the Haggadah then tells us how our ancestors turned away from idolatry and toward the one true God . The story of the Patriarchs is then recounted in brief form : Abraham emigrates to Canaan and has a son , Yitzhak . He in turn has two sons , Esau and Jacob . Although Joshua recounts all of Israelite history until his own day , the Haggadah ’ s citation of Joshua ’ s words ends with the following words :
“ And I [= God ] granted Esau Mount Seir and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt .” 10
To end the citation of Joshua ’ s speech at this point is curious . Joshua goes on to describe the redemption from Egypt , which is after all what we are celebrating . Why not include those words ?
It seems that the Haggadah is acknowledging and wrestling with a troubling fact that was ignored in the first telling . True , God brought us up from Egypt , but it was also God who brought us there , not least by encouraging Jacob to go to Egypt . Why would God do this ? Would it not have been a much greater kindness to spare us from slavery altogether ?
The Haggadah offers an impenetrable answer to these questions . As part of its response , it conveys a promise that is simultaneously troubling and consoling : “ In every generation they have risen up to exterminate us .” The enslavement
10
Joshua 24:4
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