English: “and he became there a great nation” — this teaches that Israel was distinctive there. “Great, mighty” — as it is said (Shemos 1): “And the children of Israel were fruitful and teemed and multiplied and became exceedingly strong, and the land was filled with them.” “And numerous” — this teaches that the eye of Israel was evil toward the Egyptians.
In Sifrei Devarim 301: Each adjective in the verse is given a concrete referent drawn from the experience in Egypt, turning the brief phrase into a full description of Israel’s distinctiveness and growth.
Type of Learning
Custom (phrase-by-phrase expansion of the declaration / distribution rule).
What Is Learned
The midrash extracts concrete legal and historical referents from each phrase of the verse, turning the brief biblical language into a detailed map of the mitzvah’s requirements and the experience it recalls.