No 8

(Egypt)

There is so much archaeology in Egypt that I won’t even attempt to cover it in this brief study, but I will talk about Egypt as they relate to Israel. There is a specific word for Egyptian archaeology – Egyptology and when you think about it, archaeology is all that Egypt has today. It was one of the most powerful nations that ever existed. Its beginnings date back to 3200 BC and through the centuries, it has been ruled by many foreign powers; beginning with the Hyksos nomadic people in 17^th century BC down to the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans and recently (1882), the English; Egypt was declared an independent Muslim monarchy in 1922 by Britain.

There are no less than 668 references to Egypt in the Old and New Testament and God used Egypt many, many times to advance His plan for His people Israel. There were times when Egypt was useful for the Lord – Joseph, the son of Jacob (Israel) was sent there to prepare the arrival of his family during a famine in Israel“I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes” (Gen 46:4).; Egypt also served as a refuge for the child Jesus when Herod wanted to kill Him “When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt” (Matt 2:14). There were also times when Egypt was a curse for the Lord’s people – Moses delivered the Israelites from pharaoh’s hand as told in the book of Exodus with much pain and suffering “Then the LORD said unto Moses, go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, let my people go, that they may serve me” (Exod 9:1). Recently, when Israel became a nation in 1948, Egypt was one of the Arab nations who wanted to throw the Jews in the Mediterranean Sea. They were soundly defeated by Israel in the ensuing wars.

The pyramids and the ancient structures stand as a testimony to the world how a powerful civilisation such as Egypt can crumble under the hand of the God of the Bible. I personally believe that Egypt is in the situation that it is today because of it’s ill-treatment of the children of God, the Jews.