In the Bible, Egypt often symbolizes oppression, idolatry, and exile, representing both a physical location and a spiritual condition of separation from God. It is frequently mentioned in the context of Israel’s slavery and deliverance, particularly during the Exodus.
Scripture
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,
12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”
14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”
20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.
Biblical Significance of Egypt
In the Bible, Egypt emerges as a multifaceted symbol, representing not only a geographic location but also a state of spiritual bondage and moral corruption. It is in Egypt that the Israelites endured significant oppression, which is poignantly illustrated in Exodus 3:7-10, where God hears the cries of His people and reveals His intention to deliver them from their suffering. This narrative culminates in the Exodus, serving as a pivotal moment in Israel’s history that mirrors the broader theme of redemption and divine intervention. Egypt’s role as a land of slavery is thus foundational to understanding God’s redemptive plan for His people, making it a powerful symbol of deliverance and hope.
Moreover, Egypt frequently represents idolatry and the allure of worldly desires. In Isaiah 31:1, for example, the Israelites are admonished against seeking help from Egypt, emphasizing their need to trust in God rather than relying on foreign powers. This warns against the spiritual dangers of turning to secular sources for security, suggesting that Egypt embodies the temptations of sin and separation from God’s will. Ultimately, Egypt serves as a metaphorical backdrop for the struggles between faith and fear, vocation and temptation, underscoring the idea that true liberation comes not only from physical bondage but also from the spiritual enslavement that turns one away from God. Through its complex symbolism, the narrative surrounding Egypt invites deeper reflection on themes of sin, redemption, and the ongoing journey of faith.
Beyond its representation of slavery and idolatry, Egypt also serves as a contrasting symbol of prosperity and worldly power in the biblical narrative. The initial experiences of Joseph in Egypt highlight this aspect; he rises from a position of slavery to become the second most powerful man in the land (Genesis 41). This transformation showcases Egypt not only as a land of oppression for the Israelites but also as a place where God’s providence operates, hinting at a duality within its significance. Egypt thus embodies both the potential for earthly success and the stark reality of spiritual depravity, forcing readers to grapple with the ambiguity of wealth and power when they are disconnected from a relationship with God.
Furthermore, Egypt appears in prophetic literature as a symbol of judgment and impending doom. The prophets often use Egypt as a metaphor for nations that turn away from God, illustrating how reliance on worldly practices leads to downfall. For instance, the decline of Egyptian society is often associated with divine judgment against its idolatry and injustice, a stark reminder that human achievements and power are fleeting in the face of divine authority. This prophetic literature cautions believers about the transitory nature of earthly allegiances and the ultimate futility of turning to external sources for validation or strength. Through these layers of meaning, Egypt ultimately serves as a lens through which to examine the broader implications of faithfulness, the dangers of misplaced trust, and the nuances of divine justice, urging believers to seek their true foundation in God rather than in the temporary allure of the world around them.
Symbol of Oppression and Bondage
In the biblical narrative, Egypt often represents a place of oppression and bondage. It is depicted as a land where the Israelites were enslaved, suffering under harsh conditions. This symbolism extends beyond the historical context, serving as a metaphor for any form of spiritual or physical captivity that individuals may experience. The narrative of the Israelites’ liberation from Egypt signifies the hope for freedom and deliverance from all forms of oppression.
Representation of Worldly Temptation
Egypt is frequently portrayed as a symbol of worldly temptation and moral compromise. The allure of its wealth, power, and cultural practices can be seen as a distraction from spiritual commitments. This representation serves as a cautionary tale for believers, warning against the seductions of secular life that can lead one away from faith and righteousness. The biblical narrative encourages individuals to remain steadfast in their spiritual journey, resisting the temptations that Egypt embodies.
Contrast to the Promised Land
In the biblical context, Egypt is often contrasted with the Promised Land, which represents divine promise, hope, and fulfillment. While Egypt signifies a place of struggle and hardship, the Promised Land symbolizes a destination of peace and abundance. This contrast highlights the journey of faith, illustrating the transition from a state of suffering to one of divine blessing. It serves as a reminder of the ultimate goal of spiritual pilgrimage, encouraging believers to persevere through trials in pursuit of their promised inheritance.
How to Embrace Faith for a Transformative Journey
Embracing faith is not just a one-time decision; it’s a transformative journey that unfolds daily in our lives. To truly deepen your faith, start by cultivating a personal relationship with God through prayer and scripture reading. This connection allows you to understand His love and guidance more profoundly. Surround yourself with a community of believers who can support and challenge you, as fellowship is vital in our walk with Christ. Remember, faith is often tested in trials, so embrace those moments as opportunities for growth and reliance on God’s promises. As you surrender your worries and doubts to Him, you’ll find that your perspective shifts, and you begin to see the world through a lens of hope and purpose. Trust in His plan, and let your faith be the compass that guides you through life’s ups and downs, transforming not just your heart, but also the lives of those around you.
Bible References to Egypt’s Significance:
Genesis 41:1-57: 1 After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile.
2 And behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows, attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass.
3 And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.
4 So the ugly and thin cows ate up the seven attractive and plump cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.
5 And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk.
6 And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them.
7 And the seven plump ears and the seven full ears were blighted by the east wind.
8 So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.
9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today.
10 Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the captain of the guard’s house, me and the chief baker.
11 So we sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Please give us food. For why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.”
12 And there was with us a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream.
13 And there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.
14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.
15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”
16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
17 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile.
18 Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile.
19 Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt.
20 And the lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows,
21 And when they had eaten them up, the appearance of the cows that came up first was still ugly, as at the beginning.
22 And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears, full and good, were growing on one stalk.
23 And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them,
24 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.
25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one.
27 The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine.
28 It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt,
30 but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,
31 and the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.
32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.
33 Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.
34 Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.
35 They should gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.
36 And that food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”
37 This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.
38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.
40 You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”
41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.
43 And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.
44 Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.”
45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
46 Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.
47 During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly.
48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years that the land of Egypt produced, and stored up the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it.
49 Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.
50 Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph.
51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”
52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
53 The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end.
54 Then the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”
56 So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
57 Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.
Exodus 1:8-22: 8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.
12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.
13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves.
14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”
17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
18 But the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”
19 Then the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.
21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
Exodus 12:31-42: 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said.
32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also.
33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”
34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37 And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
41 At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Deuteronomy 4:20-24: 20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.
21 Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
22 For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land.
23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you.
24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Isaiah 19:1-25: 1 An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3 And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers.
4 And I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord God of hosts.
5 And the waters of the sea will be dried up, and the river will be dry and parched,
6 And they will turn the Nile into blood, and it will be dried up.
7 And the plants of the Nile will be dried up, and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched, will be driven away, and will be no more.
8 Then the fishermen will mourn and lament, all who cast a hook in the Nile; and they will languish who spread nets on the water.
9 Moreover, the workers in combed flax and the weavers of white cotton will be in despair.
10 And they shall be broken in the land of Egypt; and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out.
11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools,
the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.
14 The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 And there will be nothing for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
16 In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them.
17 And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.
18 In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.
19 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.
20 It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them.
21 And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them.
22 And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
Jeremiah 46:1-28: 1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2 About Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.
3 “Prepare buckler and shield,
and advance for battle!
4 Harness the horses;
mount, O horsemen!
Take your stations with your helmets,
polish your spears,
put on your armor!
5 “Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and have turned backward. Their warriors are beaten down and have fled in haste; they look not back— terror on every side! declares the Lord.
6 “Let not the swift flee away, nor the warrior escape; for in the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen.”
7 “Who is this, rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge?”
8 Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge. He said, ‘I will rise, I will cover the earth, I will destroy cities and their inhabitants.’
9 Advance, O horses,
and rage, O chariots!
Let the warriors go out:
men of Cush and Put who handle the shield,
men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow.
10 For that day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11 Go up to Gilead, and take balm,
O virgin daughter of Egypt!
In vain you have used many medicines;
there is no healing for you.
12 The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry; for warrior has stumbled against warrior; they have both fallen together.”
13 The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:
14 “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol;
proclaim in Memphis and Tahpanhes;
say, ‘Stand ready and be prepared,
for the sword shall devour around you.’
15 Why are your mighty ones face down? They do not stand because the Lord thrust them down.
16 He made many stumble, and they fell,
and they said one to another,
“Arise, and let us go back to our own people
and to the land of our birth,
because of the sword of the oppressor.”
17 “They cried there, ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise; he has missed his moment.’”
18 As I live, declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea, shall one come.
19 Prepare yourselves baggage for exile, O inhabitants of Egypt! For Memphis shall become a waste, a ruin, without inhabitant.
20 “A beautiful heifer is Egypt,
but a biting fly from the north has come upon her.
21 Even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fattened calves; yes, they have turned and fled together; they did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment.
22 The noise of battle is in the land, and great destruction!
23 They shall cut down her forest, declares the Lord,
though it is impenetrable,
because they are more numerous than locusts;
they are without number.
24 “The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north.”
25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh, and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
26 I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the Lord.
27 “But fear not, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.”
28 Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
Ezekiel 29:1-21: 1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me:
2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt;”
3 Speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’
4 But I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. And I will draw you up out of the midst of your streams, with all the fish of your streams that stick to your scales.
5 And I will cast you out into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your streams; you shall fall on the open field, and not be brought together or gathered. To the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens I give you as food.
6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord. Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel,
7 When they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake.
8 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast.
9 And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Because you said, ‘The Nile is mine, and I made it.’
10 therefore, behold, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush.
11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited for forty years.
12 And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries.
13 Yet thus says the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered,
14 And I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom.
15 It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations.
16 And it shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations. And I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations.
17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me:
18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her.
19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army.
20 I have given him the land of Egypt, as a recompense for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord God.
21 “On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Hosea 11:1-11: 1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
2 The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of kindness,
with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.
5 They shall not return to the land of Egypt,
but Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword shall rage against their cities,
consume the bars of their gates,
and devour them because of their own counsels.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me,
and though they call out to the Most High,
he shall not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my burning anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall go after the Lord; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west;
11 They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
and like doves from the land of Assyria,
and I will return them to their homes, declares the Lord.
Matthew 2:13-15: 13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt.
15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Acts 7:17-36: 17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt”
18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph.
19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive.
20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house.
21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son.
22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.”
24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.
25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’
27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 ‘Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.”
31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord:
32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’”
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
Rev. François Dupont is a dedicated church minister with a wealth of experience in serving spiritual communities. With a calm and serene demeanor, he has been devoted to sharing the message of love, compassion, and tolerance for over two decades. Through his thoughtful sermons, compassionate counseling, and unwavering support, Rev. Dupont has touched the lives of countless individuals, allowing them to find solace and strength during difficult times. His serene presence and deep understanding of the human condition make him a trusted guide for those seeking spiritual nourishment and guidance.