Expert: Mel and Guyna Horne - 3/9/2006

Question
Hi folks - this is the first time I have seen your name on the list. I ask a lot of questions and so I decided to pose one to you -


     All the times the Jews were captured by another nation such as the assyrians, babylonians, or persians it was always a chastisement from God because they were committing Idolatry and other sins. That being the case - Why were they subjected to slavery in Egypt- I cant find a reason in the bible. Did they do something wrong.
Thanks Pete

Answer
Hi Pete,

You wrote:
Hi folks - this is the first time I have seen your name on the list. I ask
a lot of questions and so I decided to pose one to you -


     All the times the Jews were captured by another nation such as the
assyrians, babylonians, or persians it was always a chastisement from God
because they were committing Idolatry and other sins. That being the
case - Why were they subjected to slavery in Egypt- I cant find a reason
in the bible. Did they do something wrong.
Thanks Pete


Hi Pete,

We assume you are asking about the slavery of Israel after Joseph died as covered in Ex.1 (and not the occasion in the time of Jeremiah Jer. 42:14-19, also whole book).

Ex. 1 covers the transition from Joseph to enslavement at the time of Moses.
Egypt was ruled by different family dynasties at different times. Sometime after several generations of Israelites (Ex.1:6-7), the family that had known Joseph and how God used him to save Egypt from famine was no longer in power (Ex.1:8).
The Israelites had entered Egypt as “guests” of Pharaoh and as “guest workers” (Gen. 47:6). They were allowed to live in Goshen, a fertile E. Nile delta region associated with the city of Rameses (v.47)(Pi-Ramesse/Qantir/Avaris).
http://www.bibleorigins.net/RamesesMapAvaris.html

Because of God's promise to Abraham for his faith and obedience (Gen. 18:18, 22:16-17), the Israelite population grew much faster than the Egyptian. In Ex. 1:9, Pharaoh says “more and mightier than we”; the word “mightier” trans. from “atsuwm” (mighty, vast, numerous).
This is reflected in Ex. 5:12 “So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.”
And in Ex. 7:5, “And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”

Either the Israelites had grown to the point that they were living throughout “all Egypt”, or they were forced to travel throughout “all Egypt” to work, or both. The point is that they were not all living in an isolated area of Egypt, separate from the Egyptians. They were in daily contact with the Egyptians and their culture. This had an effect on them that they demonstrated by their behavior during and after their leaving Egypt. After the first three plagues in Egypt, God “severed” Goshen from the rest of Egypt as the place “in which my people dwell' (Ex. 8:22) and the plagues had no effect on the Israelites (Ex. 9:4).  Prior to this, the Israelites had endured the same plagues as the Egyptians.  At this point, any Israelites living or working outside Goshen had to return or suffer with the Egyptians. It appears that there were also Egyptians living among the Israelites (“strangers” (Ex. 12:19, 48, 49; 20:10, Lev. 17:8, 12, 18:26, 19:33-34, Num. 1:51, Deu. 31:12, Jos. 8:35).

Jacob entered Egypt about 1706 BC with “70” people (Ex.1:1-5) and the Exodus was about 1491 BC, or about 215 years later. Moses and Aaron were the third generation from Levi (who entered Egypt as an adult).
In the books of Judges, Samuel and Kings, we often read of the Israelite nation going from “righteous” to “evil” in only one generation (Jud. 2:10-19) partly because the Israelites refused to drive out all the Canaanites and allowed them to remain and practice their culture of idolatry (Jud.1:27-36).  The Israelites did not learn from their own history that living next to or among evil people would be their downfall (Jud.1:1-3).
After the death of Joseph, the Israelites had three generations to mingle, marry, and absorb the culture of the Egyptians.

This is why God had so many problems with the Israelites while leaving and after leaving Egypt.  Just like Lot's wife, they kept looking back and wanting to go back.  The Israelites did not suddenly invent or learn about idolatry while in the “wilderness” (Ex. 32:1-7, golden calf, drunken orgy). God called them “stiff-necked”, because they refused to change from the ways they had learned in Egypt (verse 9).

Not only had they absorbed idolatry from the Egyptians, they had no knowledge of what God required of them as participants in the covenant of Abraham.

God declared the Sabbath on the seventh day after he began Creation of the world as we know it, about 2,513 years before the Exodus. But God had to show the Israelites which day it was (Ex.16:1-30) and use both food and the death penalty (Ex. 31:14, Num. 15:32-36)  to demonstrate how important it was to him that they keep it “holy” (Ex. 20:8).

God had commanded Abraham about circumcision as a “sign” of the covenant (Gen. 17:9-27).  Moses nearly died at God's hand, because he had neglected to circumcise his own son (Ex. 4:23-26).  It appears that Zipporah had to do it because Moses was too weak and dying. God had to have Moses instruct the Israelites about circumcision (Lev. 12:2-3).

Cain and Abel both knew about the significance of making offerings to God, but Cain didn't understand it fully enough to do it correctly (Gen.4:1-7) as demonstrated by his jealousy, anger (a form of hate which is a spiritual form of murder), and the physical murder of his brother. Cain demonstrated the breaking of both of God's laws in one act, by not showing love toward his brother, nor toward God.  All of God's laws given at Sinai, are extensions of these two “great” laws (as Christ later also explained). Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all offered sacrifices, but God had to instruct Moses in teaching the Israelites about how to prepare and offer sacrifices.

Throughout his life, Abraham demonstrated love toward God and love toward others. But God had to expand the two laws (“love God”, Deu. 6:2, “love others” Lev. 19:34)  (which had existed since Adam and Eve and which they both broke, Gen. 3) into ten laws (Ex. 20) in order for the Israelites to understand which acts do “not” show love toward God and toward others. The two laws, expanded into ten, had to be further expanded into the book of Leviticus for them to understand it further, and to prevent their using loopholes or human reasoning to get around the purpose of God's two laws.

The Israelites were not enslaved when Joseph died. They did not become enslaved suddenly.  From the time they entered Egypt, they did work with and for Egyptians.  Because the righteousness of Jacob and Joseph did not get taught and accepted from one generation to the next, the Israelites absorbed the unrighteousness of the people around them.  When people do evil, they often suffer.  The employment developed into an economic slavery and eventually became a physical slavery.

By the time of Moses, and the fulfillment of God's prophecy of Gen. 15:13, the slavery had gone from economic oppression to whips (Ex. 2:23-25).

To answer your question, “Did they do something wrong?”, the answer is yes, they absorbed the evil of the society around them. The evidence of this is in their actions during and after the Exodus out of Egypt.

Their slavery in Egypt could have been avoided, but predictably, wasn't. It serves, and has been preserved, as a lesson for us today.

Hope this answers your question. If not, feel free to ask again.
Sincerely,
Mel and Guyna