What we see here in Egypt is a change in Pharaohs. This new Pharaoh from a new dynasty doesn't know about the history of why these Israelites were in Egypt. What he sees is a large number of strong independent people who don't fit in with the rest of Egyptian culture. He judges them, I guess, on the condition of his own heart. He thinks that this group might join with their enemies to gain either more recognition or power. It's what most groups did and still do today. If he had learned their history and knew they were to go to another land he might have helped them and instead of making an enemy gained a friend. Of course that didn't happen and God knew it wouldn't. Thus the story of the Exodus begins with the assumption that Israel will do evil.
The lesson here for me is that we need to guard our hearts so we do not make the same mistake as Pharaoh. Let's not assume that others will do evil. This doesn't mean we need to be naive about the brokenness of people but it does mean we need to obey the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
No comments:
Post a Comment