Today marks the beginning of the greatest exit of all time – the Exodus. Just the chapter title itself packs a powerful punch. We left off in Genesis with Joseph and Jacob’s deaths, and now we have jumped ahead a few generations, long enough that all of Joseph’s brothers have died, and the new pharaoh has no clue (nor does he care) who these people even were. He does know, however, that they now are known as the Israelites (also the first mention of the Hebrews. You could look at them as a “people group”), and they have basically colonized the land of Goshen. If you have a map, you can see that Goshen takes up a proper chunk and the better part of the eastern border of Egypt. Plus, it’s right on the fence with the Israelites’ homeland of Canaan. Whether or not the now-Israelites realize this was their homeland or not, the fact that they are basically a small, somewhat-independent and self-sustaining country teetering on Egypt’s borders was threat enough to a good portion of pharaoh’s kingdom. So, in an attempt to contain any chance of revolution, the ruler wields his royal whip and does what all nasty rulers do: he turns this minority group into slaves. When that doesn’t produce the satisfactory results he desires, he attempts to kill off their baby boys via the midwife circuit. When that fails, he just tells everyone in Egypt: “You’re free to throw baby Hebrew boys into the Nile River!” I wonder how many people took him up on that? From the sounds of it, not very many. The midwives, though they were Egyptian, had taken a liking to the Hebrews, and more importantly, they’d taken a shine to their God. This passage really paints a beautiful picture of integration if you slow down and appreciate it.
Writing prompt: appreciate
I think we’re all getting pretty familiar with integration these days. We’re on day 27 of COVID-19 self-quarantine. We’ve done pretty well with just three of us in the house, but I won’t lie, it’s felt a little cramped at times! I have loved, however, the outpouring of appreciation and love I’m reading on social media. People are being forced to slow down, kick back and appreciate all the blessings that are right in front of them, toilet paper included. Write about the pros and cons of an integration you’ve experienced, and most importantly, write about the blessings you’ve received from each.
(This post was written April 8, 2020.)
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