The Sages link the four cups to the four expressions of redemption in Exodus 6:6-7: ve'hotzeiti -- I will take you out from under Egypt's burdens; ve'hitzalti -- I will save you from their bondage; vega'alti -- I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgements; and velakachti -- I will take you as My nation and I will be your G-d."

The first expression, ve'hotzeiti etchem, promises that the Israelites will no longer have to suffer from Pharoah's harsh decrees. "Not only did the Israelites have to do slave labor for the king, but the Egyptians also forced them to perform work in their houses and fields after they returned from the site of building. An Egyptian would assign a job to a Jew withought telling him how long it would last, adding mental agony to the physical strain. The Egyptians used to order the Israelites to perform work suitable for day by night and work suitable for night by day. Trying to decrease their numbers, Pharoah gave orders that the men should be detained in the labor camps in the fields overnight while the women would remain in town" (The Midrash Says). 

It is freedom from these backbreaking decrees that we celebrate with the first cup of wine. Slavery ended six months before the Jews actually left Egypt. 


haggadah Section: Kadesh
Source: ArtScroll Chumash: The Stone Edition