This far-reaching quotation has a double application. In the first instance it refers to God’s dealings with the Israelites, and their removal from the land of Egypt. The later application is to Christ, who was taken to Egypt to escape the diabolical decree of Herod, and then subsequently returned to the land of Israel.
For a full understanding of the quotation in its relation to the Israelites, cognizance must be taken of the promise made to Abraham, and then renewed to Isaac and Jacob—the promise of an eternal inheritance in the land of Israel.
The question presents itself: why were the Israelites withdrawn from Egypt after such a lengthy sojourn? There is a prima facie reason and it is given by God: -For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people.” These moving words were conveyed to the Israelites by Samuel, God’s prophet, in calling the nation back to the way of righteousness.
The Mosaic utterance had previously made a similar declaration: -For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” Many such stirring appeals to recalcitrant Israel were made by the prophets of God.
In the purpose of the Almighty their long sojourn of four hundred years in an alien land was brought to finality with a demonstration of Divine authority and power that crushed Egyptian opposition to their release. Pharoah was made to realise that God had a particular destiny for His people and that He would not be thwarted:.”And it shall be a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand the Lord brought thee out of Egypt.”
Jacob, before he died, remembered the covenant that God had made with him and his fathers, and he solemnly declared that his bones be taken and buried in the land of promise: “But I will be with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.”
Egyptian religious observance and worship was historically pagan and steeped in idol-worship, whereas the earliest religious belief of the Israelites was one of monotheism. It was inevitable that the abominations of Egyptian paganism should incur the displeasure of God and that Divine Judgement should be pronounced upon their practices: -Thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy their idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.”
History has endorsed the accuracy of the Divine prediction. The status of Egypt down the centuries has been one of debasement and degradation: “And it shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.”
Moses, the man raised up by God for a tremendous task of establishment and administration, though comfortably appointed in Egypt, remembered God’s promises to the fathers, and his eyes were continually towards the land of the covenant. Moses made his early choice: “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”
In his book, “Races of the Old Testament”, the celebrated archaeologist, A. H. Sayce, says, “The Egyptians have always been subject to fits of fanatical excitement and ferocity”. He goes on to say that many of the ancient Egyptian deities were adopted from Arabia. Thus we find Hathor and Ra migrating to Egypt from the Arabian land of spices. The Egyptians also imported -sacred” trees from Arabia and planted them beside the temples of their deities, trees such as the persea and the sycamore.
Both A. H. Sayce and Sir Flinders Petrie agree that there was an intimate connection between the Egyptians and the people of Pun, the name alluding to the southern coast of Arabia as well as the opposite coast of Africa.
The author T, R. Glover, in his book, “The Ancient World”, says, “Egypt was the first place where the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was taught and believed”. This confirms a similar statement by Heredotus, the most ancient historian. Glover continues his theme and reveals something of the pagan rites of Egyptian religion: “The Egyptian priests took him into the inner court of a certain temple where stood a number of wooden statues; every high priest there, they said, inherited his office from his father and set up a statue of himself.”
Glover also reveals something of the utter depravity of Egyptian religious practices: “The Greeks watched with amazement the practices of the Egyptian religion, and in later days they had a half-proverb about an Egyptian temple, splendid without, and inside was a priest singing a hymn to a cat or a crocodile. . . . Heredotus was quite clear that many of the Greek beliefs about the gods, many of the religious practices of the Greeks were borrowed outright from the Egyptians.”
The Westminster Bible Dictionary discloses that in the earliest period each Egyptian town had its own deity. Their religion was centralised mainly in the worship of the sun and the Nile. Osiris, the god of the Nile, was also the god of the underworld. Ra, the sun-god, was worshipped at Heliopolis (On), while the moon was worshipped at Hermopolis. Ptah, a god of Memphis, was known as the “great chief of artificers”. They also had “sacred” animals such as the bull, cow, cat, baboon, jackal, crocodile, while some of the deities had human bodies and animal heads.
David, the great warrior-king, chosen by God to play a momentous part in Israelitish history, acknowledges the abiding purpose of God in the destiny of the nation of Israel: “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make them a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt.”
The land of Israel has been the battleground of successive world empires and surrounding nations, and, when analysed in the light of the Scriptures, it will be realised that the only explanation for their survival as a nation lies in the Divine surveillance that has overshadowed them.
It was also significant that the Son of God was called out of Egypt. But before this happened the angel of God conveys a poignantly urgent message to Joseph: “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
It was not in the purpose of God that the child Jesus should remain indefinitely in Egypt. He was destined to return to the land of Israel to fashion the greatest religious movement that the world has ever known. He was to fulfil the words of the prophets, who had prophesied of the Messiah who was to come. When Herod was dead, Joseph took Mary and the child Jesus back to the land of Israel: “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.” God had called His son out of Egypt.
The great call to the believer, today, is to come out of the Egypt around us, even as the Israelites and Jesus were called out of ancient Egypt. If we are to be in the congregation of the living, the call must be heeded: “Behold, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
The Scriptures abound with the names of the men of God who were called to His service. From righteous Abel to Malachi, and onward to the time of the disciples and apostles of Christ, the Almighty called men to His service. By Divine appointment men and women acceptable to Him were drawn from the world to serve the Divine purpose. The Apostle Paul comforts the Corinthian brethren with the assurance that God is selective in His choice: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.”
We are assured that today, as in all ages, God is calling out of universal Egypt a people for His name, and that the certitude that we look for is offered by our Heavenly Father through the limitless mediatorial capacity of Jesus Christ, the son of His love: “Because I live, ye shall live also.”
As the present age moves on to its climactic the call is still to those who will hear. The way of salvation is still open to those who honestly seek the answer to life’s problems and who submit themselves, in humility, to the requirements of God’s will. Salvation is only through Christ—there is no other way: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”
The Scriptures are explicit upon the prerequisite to redemption: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” There must be a spontaneous desire to cease from serving sin and to turn in meekness to God through the saving name of Christ Jesus. There must be a stirring of conscience—an awareness of the need for redemption.
The Apostle Paul articulates the necessity for a revision of outlook in order to be acceptable to God: “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” There must be a reorientation of the perceptive and reflective pattern to conform to the new concept in righteousness as exemplified in the life of Jesus Christ. For only then can the called have peace with God through the High Priest of our profession.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One