Down Into The Land Of Slavery Series

How many of you own gold?

Not many of you do. And do you know why most folks don’t own gold? Because it’s so expensive to buy! And, back then, frankincense and myrrh cost more per ounce than gold did. So, Joseph is a very wealthy man. In fact, Joseph could probably afforded to buy the Inn that turned them away, and still have had enough left over for a sizable 401K.

His family had more than enough money to survive in the land of Egypt.

But still - why Egypt?

I mean, Egypt would have been the last place I’d have thought God would have sent them.

Now granted, Egypt is mentioned A LOT in Scripture… 569 times. And, as one man noted, Egypt is the only other place aside from Jerusalem that is mentioned at least once in almost every book of the Bible. (Abraham Shanklin)

But almost every time Egypt is mentioned in Scripture the Bible is hardly complimentary.

• In the 10 Commandments God declared: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Exodus 20:2

• Repeatedly God reminds Israel “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you...” Deuteronomy 15:15

• God uses Egypt as a reminder to call His people to be honest: “Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” Leviticus 19:36

• And God reminds them of Egypt to call His people to purity “You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live…. Do not follow their practices.” Leviticus 18:3

In addition, every year, Israel took part in a Passover Feast to remind themselves that once upon a time - they were slaves in Egypt, and that God had redeemed them and rescued them from that slavery.

One author noted that “Egypt is forever to be locked in Scriptures as a place of bondage, oppression, pride, arrogance, idolatry, and sinfulness.”(Abraham Shanklin)

And this is where God sends Mary and Joseph to escape from Herod?

Egypt’s not a nice place!!!

If you asked me – it seems like jumping out the frying pan into the fire.

If you asked me there’d have much better places to send this family for safety.

But, of course (pause) God didn't ask me.

He didn't ask my opinion.

True artists don’t ask for opinions.

True artists create works of art that convey the message THEY want to express.

And Egypt was chosen by God for ONE purpose: to express the message God wanted to declare.

Egypt wasn't JUST a convenient place for Joseph and Mary to go and hide. God had planned for them to go there. It fulfilled prophecy made 100s of years before Christ was born.

"Out of Egypt I called my son."

You see, God was painting a picture for us here and Egypt was His canvas.

There was something – in sending Jesus to Egypt - God wanted to say to us.

And if we don’t look at His artwork from His perspective we’ll miss the point

I believe Egypt was chosen specifically because of its reputation.