Egypt, Courage, and a Podcast

Hello folks!

As promised this week I tidied up the two postings on COURAGE, by adding in the Hebrew text. You can  review these below:

Amats

Revisiting Amats

Since this posting will be quite short, I thought I’d to share with you a fantastic episode of one of my favourite podcasts. You may know the Bible Project from YouTube and their fabulous Bible explainer videos, but before they make a video they do a multi-episode podcast series to hash out the book or theme they are working on. They are currently discussing the Exodus theme and this week the podcast was particularly excellent. It was titled:

How did Israel end up in Egypt?

I highly recommend you take a listen (click above, or check it out wherever you find your podcasts). It’s a great discussion which dives into the connection between Egypt, the Israelites and the Ishmaelites, as well as the rather complicated relationship between Abram, Sarai, and Hagar. 

I don’t like having a week without at least one lesson on a Biblical Hebrew word, so we’ll take a quick look at:

Egypt

Mitsrayim [mits’rah’yeem]

מִצְרַיִם

Egypt shows up over 600 times in the Tanakh (Old Testament). It was both the place of slavery and the place of liberation. It was also the location of the first Passover and it acts as a reminder of all exiles, throughout the ages, that have separated us from YHWH. 

Egypt may remind us of slavery and exile, but it was also, surprisingly, a place of refuge for Mary, Joseph, and the infant Yeshua (Jesus). An Angel told Joseph in a dream to leave Israel and head to Egypt, in order to protect Yeshua from Herod:

Matthew 2:14-15

So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt [Aigypton]. He stayed there until the death of Herod; this happened so that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”

The prophet, mentioned above, was Hosea:

Hosea 1:1-4

[YHWH:] When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt [u-mi-Mitsrayim] I called My son.

The more they called them, the more they went away from them; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols.

Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I pulled them along with cords of a man, with ropes of love, and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; and I bent down and fed them.

Wherever we are, be it a place of exile or refuge, YHWH is there for us! He wants to guide our steps, hold us in His arms, heal us, feed us, and lift our burdens. We may be in exile, but with God on our side, we can live courageously free!

Next week: tidying GIFT and remembering PURIM