Welcome back to Time in the Word! I trust you’re implementing new practices to help you spend productive time in bible study and prayer.
Today, we begin our bible adventure in Exodus 1:8-14. If you are reading this digitally, you can catch the link I embedded in the scripture listed above. Otherwise, grab your bible and turn to Exodus 1:8-14. Here we find a new Pharaoh, who remembered nothing of Joseph and how he blessed Egypt with his leadership, as well as the blessings of the Israelites living outside of Egypt.
The Israelites were blessed and flourishing in number, and Pharaoh is quite concerned with them having the potential to take over Egypt. So, he says “Come, we must deal shrewdly with them…”. As I am reading through Exodus, I became particularly interested in the Israelite’s bondage. I began to wonder if we Americans are in bondage too.
The Bible is living and breathing
Would you not agree that the Bible is living and breathing? Does it not have themes that resonate through time? As I began to mull over America being in bondage, Pharaohs and Moses began to pop up in my mind. My thinking led me to some interesting aspects of our current American life. How can we take today’s scripture and begin to apply it to our situation?
Pharaoh
When we look at Pharaoh, he is very powerful, loves his control, and is proud. Joseph and his God-given interpretation of the then Pharaoh’s dream, led to saving enough food to feed Egypt and surrounding areas during the seven-year bounty, followed by the seven-year famine.
During that famine, the people of Egypt bought grain with their money first. When they ran out of money, they bartered with their property- jewelry, other possessions, and land. And finally, when they ran out of property, they sold themselves as slaves in exchange for grain- work to eat. This is how the Pharaohs’, that followed Joseph, became so wealthy.
-Hold that thought, we’ll come back in a little bit.
Israelites
God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as “numerous as the stars”. Isaac, Abrahams’s son, had Jacob and Esau. Jacob went on to marry Leah and Rachel. Rachel gave birth to Joseph. Joseph’s brothers became irritated with Jacob’s favoring Joseph. All the brothers conspired to kill Joseph, but Reuben gave better thought to that idea.
Reuben planned to return to the well and retrieve Joseph and quietly smuggled him back to Jacob for safekeeping. But a caravan of Midianite traders came by, and the brothers sold Joseph into slavery. Fast-forward seven years and we find Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dream and subsequently elevated to the second highest in the land.
Through a series of events, Joseph moves his family to Goshen, which is near Egypt, with the blessing of Pharaoh. This is where the Israelites take hold and flourish. This flourishing blesses Egypt as well!
Thoughts to ponder
Friends, we are going to have to stop here. My writing meter is beeping and I’m out of allotted space. But do some homework; read and ask God to show you where America is in that story. Who are the Pharaohs? The Israelites and Moses? Next week is going to be very interesting!
Till next week. Thank you for joining me today for Time in the Word.
Michele Bruxvoort is sure to draw you in with her delightful sense of humor and love for living life. She enjoys reading, repurposing, as well as remodeling the family home with her husband. Drawing from her life experience as wife, mom, and follower of Jesus, Michele brings you a very honest and real perspective on life. When you don’t find her writing, you can find her mowing lawns, stocking shelves, taking care of her grandbaby and tackling her latest life adventure.
Wisconsin native and empty-nester, she now makes her home with her husband of 27 years in the South West Prairie plains of Minnesota.
