Transcendence 2

One: Slaves In Egypt

Three hundred and fifty years had passed since Joseph died and his family moved to Egypt. They had moved there to survive the terrible famine, and to be closer to Joseph who was able to provide all they needed. They were well appointed guest, living on choice land with the permission of Pharaoh himself. Joseph's generation had been fruitful and multiplied greatly, their descendants had became exceedingly numerous so that they filled the land.

However, three hundred and fifty years later ancestors of Israel, the Israelites, were still living in Egypt; no longer as guest, but as slaves.

How did that same family, generations later, become slaves in Egypt?

The terribly severe famine was the reason they had moved to Egypt, but through hundreds of years both the famine and Joseph had long been forgotten. New generations grew up and only saw the Israelites as foreigners. The once well respected family no longer had an ally at the right hand of the king. Egypt was not their home.

There was a new and particularly ruthless Pharaoh in charge, he never knew Joseph. He didn't care why the Israelites had came, he only knew that they were becoming increasingly numerous among them. He feared they could be a problem if war broke out and they joined forces with the enemy. The shrewd Pharaoh's objective was simple, to ultimately destroy the Hebrew people living among them. His plan was to oppress them by appointing slave masters over them. He wanted them to be ruthlessly worked in fields, with brick and mortar, and other hard forced labor until they died. 

The corrupt king also gave discrete instructions to the Hebrew midwives who helped the Israelite women in childbirth to observe the child when it is born and only allow the girl babies to live. If it was a son they were to kill him. The midwives however feared God and did not do what the king had told them to do. When asked why they did not obey they told the king Hebrew women were unlike Egyptian women and usually gave birth before the midwife arrived. God protected the women, and their sons, and the Israelites continued to increase in number.

In time Pharaoh became more desperate to control the Hebrews. In sheer malevolence he gave the command to enforce a new law intended for all Hebrew people. It stated that every baby boy born must be thrown into the Nile, only the baby girls were allowed to live. The guards and men in command would go around and check the homes to make sure no young boys were living. Pharaoh enforced the law ruthlessly! The pregnant women were forced to abide by the new law. The men were out working as slaves in the fields and in the towns, being beaten and forced to work until they were unable. The women were forced to work at home preparing meals and making clothes, baskets, and other necessities. 

When babies were born, the boys were taken and drowned in the Nile.

A man of the house of Levi's descendants married a Levite woman. ( Hence the name of this book Leviticus, which means of Levite descendants. Levi was one of the sons of Israel. ) When his wife became pregnant she gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a fine child and loved him very much. She couldn't bear to have him killed so she hid him. He was three months old when she could no longer hide him because the guards were checking so often. She was desperate to keep him, but there was no choice, she knew if the guard saw him he would drag the boy right out of her arms and kill him on the spot. So she got a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. She then went down to the Nile and placed the child in the basket then pushed it out so that he floated among the reeds along the bank. The woman's daughter stood at a distance and watched to see what would happen to her little baby brother.

Sometime later Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe. Her attendants were walking along the riverbank while she washed. Something caught her eye and when she looked closer she saw the basket among the reeds. She quickly sent her slave girl to go get it. When she opened the basket she saw the baby boy crying. She thought he was a handsome little baby, and she felt sorry for him. She said, "This is one of the Hebrew babies."