8/6/2019 Egypt in the Old Testament - a few comments

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EGYPT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT: A FEW NOTES

Genesis 10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim [or Egypt], Put and Canaan. (Egyptwas a great nation long before Israel came onto the scene.)

Genesis 45:4f Joseph said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now donot be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me beforeyou to preserve life. (Gods providence works to bring good from evil and to save HisChosen People from famine).

Genesis 50:24 Joseph said, I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out ofthis land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacoband you shall carryup my bones from here. (Compare Exodus 13:19, a biblical basis for our preserving thebones of the saints. God keeps His promises to the Fathers.)

Exodus 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. Israelsdeliverance now turns into slavery. But again the LORD intervenes. Exodus 10:3 Moses saidto Pharaoh, Thus says the LORD, Let My people go, that they may serve Me. (Our primarytask is to serve the LORD and to worship Him. The Pharaoh is unnamed.)

Exodus 15:1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, I

will sing to the LORD; for he has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider, He has throwninto the sea! Coptic Sunday Midnight Praise - recited on Saturday night as preparation forthe Liturgy - recalls Israels deliverance as a symbol of our salvation through Christ. CompareHosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son. (OurLord sums up Israel in His own person when the Holy Family visits Egypt. Compare Matthew2:15. As well, Herod parallels Pharaoh, and Our Lords 40 days in the wilderness parallelsthe 40 years that Israel wandered in the desert.)

Exodus 16:3 Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when wesat by the pots of meat, and when we ate bread to the ful lYou have brought us out into thiswilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. (Jesus Christ also feeds His People inthe wilderness with the true bread. Compare John 6:51 I am the living bread which camedown from heavenThe bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of theworld. Egypt can symbolise the evil world which enslaves us and from which we mustescape.)

Isaiah 30:1f Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, who take counsel, but not of Me,and who devise plans, but not of my Spirit, to strengthen themselves in the strength ofPharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

Isaiah 36:6 You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, itwill go into his hand and p ierce it. (Compare Ezekiel 29:6f. Around 700 BC, it often seemedpolitically sensible for Judah to ally with the Egyptian super -power against Assyria, but it was

not the Lords will.)

Isaiah 19:19ff In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt,and a pillar to the LORD at its border The LORD shall bless them saying, Blessed is EgyptMy people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance. ( Despiteeverything, God can reconcile enemies through Christ. Our Lord visited Egypt and blessed it.As well, the Greco-Egyptian civilisation of Egypt provided a sound basis for the spread of theChristian Gospel. From around 200 AD, the Catechetical School of Alexandria is important inteaching the Faith and commending it to educated people. In the Patristic period, the greatnames of the Egyptian Church include Clement of Alexandria, Origen, St Athanasius theApostolic, St Antony, St Pachomius, St Macarius, and St Cyril the Pillar of Faith).