THE countries mentioned in the Old Testament show forth many valuable lessons, according to what is described in them. This is especially true of those which play a considerable part in carrying out God’s purpose and ways in connection with His people Israel. Egypt is conspicuous in this, as it portrays a character of the world, showing its direct bearing upon the spiritual history of the people of God. In Egypt we have a picture of the world in its moral character, and the way in which the spiritual welfare of God’s people are hindered by contact with it.
The great system of the world began geographically at Babel, its inception being complete ignoring of God; and we know from the New Testament that the god of this world is Satan. We must therefore expect that its principles, course, and maxims are of an order entirely opposed to faith, and the realm of Christianity which is governed by the Spirit. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” The King is absent, but He came to establish a kingdom, and the principles of that kingdom He inaugurated in His sermon on the Mount. He has gone away to receive the kingdom and to return, and has delivered His goods to His servants, saying to them, “Occupy till I come.” The acting’s therefore, and history of God’s people from the days of Abraham to the coming of Christ are a kind of allegory, and they form a picture book to those who want to maintain faithfully the kingdom of God in its moral character.
As the first principle of that kingdom is faith, so Israel’s history begins with Abraham who was called to go out of the land of Ur of the Chaldees, not knowing whither he went, and God brought him into the land which was afterward to be his possession. This figures what God does when He calls a soul to Himself. He brings him out of the world into peace and rest where he is guided and comforted by His word, and His Spirit.
The first connection of Egypt with God’s people was Abraham’s visit there, and we find an element of the world strangely marked. Hitherto Abraham had had an altar and worshipped his God, but when he went into Egypt, we find that he had none, and his first action was to conform to Egypt’s ways. Fear led him to deny his wife, and act inconsistently, and so it is with all who try to mix with the world for present advantage. God graciously preserved him and led him back, but we find that though he had wealth and cattle, and apparently God overruled his error, yet he brought back with him an influence that was like a spiritual weight and which was a cause of sorrow in his household ever after. Hagar came, with him, and formed a bone of contention never overcome until ultimately, after Isaac was born, she was cast out of the house.
Many a Christian has had to learn what this means to their sorrow. Isaac, the child of promise and resurrection, is a type of the risen Christ and it is only when He becomes everything to them that sin in the flesh is judged, and the Holy Spirit becomes free to lead us into the pathway of faith. Then Hagar and her son, so to speak, are “cast out” (Gal. 4:3030Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. (Galatians 4:30)).
If we go on further into the history of the children of Israel, Egypt becomes a land of slavery, for the King who knew not Joseph and did not fear the God of Israel, enslaved His people. It was from this place of bondage, God sent Moses to deliver them. In this connection we see Egypt’s king as a picture of Satan, God’s enemy, trying to hinder His people from acknowledging the just claims of God.
When God says, “Let My people go that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness” (Ex. 5:11And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. (Exodus 5:1)), and the children of Israel desire to respond, serving the Lord in freedom from idolatry, Pharaoh at once says, “Who is the Lord?” We learn in this another phase of the world, opposition to God. Man’s sin and disobedience to God originally brought on him death, and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. Now this sentence rests upon all flesh, and Satan having the power of death, it is always his effort to intimidate and hinder anyone from coming to Christ. But as we read elsewhere, “God... doth devise means that His banished be not expelled from Him” (2 Sam. 14:1414For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. (2 Samuel 14:14)), so it was in Egypt and so it has been with us, God has raised up a Saviour even Jesus, “that whosever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Moses’ intervention therefore on behalf of God’s people, is a picture of this, and he comes with the authority of God to Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s refusal was met by judgment, and we here have a wonderful picture of the way in which God’s deliverance was to be effected.
In the first place, it was to be by blood, as the first plague showed, and in the second place, by death, as the slaying of the firstborn proved. We see both these illustrated in the final proceedings of redemption in the provision of the Passover lamb. Pharaoh’s stubbornness could not resist the power of death, and we are told that when the firstborn was slain, there was not a house in the land of Egypt where there was not one dead.
In spite, however, of God’s judgments, there was not real repentance, though they rose up in the night and thrust the people out. The people borrowed such things as they needed and spoiled the Egyptians thus they were free to follow the Lord. The world can do nothing but thrust us out. In the last book of the Bible, Egypt is mentioned in its moral character as a picture of the world. It is where also our Lord was crucified (Rev. 11:88And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8)). To serve the Lord, the people had to go out from Egypt and dwell three days march in the wilderness, where they encamped.
As to the people of Egypt and the people of Israel, there was no difference in their character as sinners, but what was death to the Egyptians, was deliverance to the Israelites. The sentence of death carried out on the Egyptians was averted for Israel because God had sent a message through Moses to say they were to take a lamb and hold it for four days — beautiful type of the coming Lamb of God. They were to kill it in the evening on the 14th day of the month, and put the blood upon the lintel and two door posts of their houses. Then within their homes, under the shelter of that blood upon which God’s eye rested, they feasted on the rich provision for their coming journey, namely, the roast lamb. So while Christ is our Deliverer from death and judgment, because the sentence was carried out upon Him, we feed on Him as the One who has borne the judgment. He gives us life for the journey and we step forth in faith to go out to God as worshippers. Thus we can walk through the world completely delivered and defended, and dependent upon God; until He brings us into the promised land, the heavenly Canaan, where sin and sorrow cease.
A. E. Walker.