Intro ספר שמות

This book is commonly referred to by the authors of the Midrash as Sefer Shemos, (The Book of Names), as it is [for example] stated in the third parashah of Bereishis Rabbah, “‘And there was light,’¹Gen. 1:3. corresponds to Sefer Shemos, etc.,” and similarly in many other locations.²The Netziv appears to be referring to the numerous Torah commentaries who refer to the Bok of Exodus as Sefer Shemos. And Nachmanides, at the end of his commentary [to Sefer Shemos], calls it the Sefer HaGeulah (The Book of Redemption).³Nachmanides concludes his commentary to Exodus with a paean expressing praise to the Eternal for enabling him to complete his commentary to the “Book of Redemption” and to “He who saved him from the hand of him that hated him, and redeemed him from the hand of his enemy.”

ויוסף היה במצרים lit., AND JOSEPH WAS IN EGYPT — But were not he and his sons included in the seventy? What, then, is this statement intended to tell us? Do we not know that he was in Egypt? But its purpose is to inform you of Joseph’s righteousness: this is the same Joseph who tended his father’s sheep; this is the same Joseph who was in Egypt and became king there, and yet he remained steadfast in his righteousness, and the change from a humble position to exalted rank in Egypt caused no deterioration in his character (cf. Sifrei האזינו; Exodus Rabbah 1:7).

Perhaps the Torah wants to put Joseph and family on a par with the other members of Jacob's family who descended to Egypt at the invitation of Pharaoh and Joseph by phrasing it thus: כל נפש…ויוסף היה במצרים, "all the persons …including Joseph who happened to be in Egypt already at that time." They were all righteous though some had been born in Egypt, etc. The Torah uses the word נפש for persons in the singular to show that they all formed a single spiritual unit. This is a tremendous compliment for Joseph whose life-experience was so totally different from that of his brothers and who had been mistreated by them. The Torah testified that Joseph was in no way less of an Israelite or part of the common heritage than his brothers who had remained in the land of Canaan all these years. If anything, Joseph was the prime example that given the proper strength of character, one could maintain one's spiritual integrity even after having lived in Egypt for many years and having occupied a position of power and prominence in that society. I have already mentioned this aspect of Joseph when I explained why Jacob was willing to die happy the moment he had made visual contact with Joseph in Genesis 46,30.