Arrows in the Quiver
But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and with them the land was filled. {Ex. 1}
Sometimes you need to start the Epic in the middle. There’s precedent; it works. I-Moses (i.e. 'Genesis') contains the prequel episodes; it is the buildup to the Great Cosmic War as it will play out in the First Age of the Church. II-Moses (i.e. Exodus, or the apropos "[Book of] Names" as it is called in the Torah) is where the campaign against the Dragon-Prince formally commences. God is ever on the attack— by His gracious blessing, through His Church; the devil is always on his back heels: for "...the Gates of Hell shall not prevail." But here we need to pause and briefly touch on the Story of Joseph— which is how the Israelites get to Egypt in the first place. We won't get to Joseph's story in detail until much later in this series but: there is (arguably) not a more important Christ-type in the Old Testament than Joseph. The reason I put Joseph above them all: not only is he presented by Moses as above reproach in his manner of living out the Faith, but for the regular images of typology associated with him— particularly one specific bit of imagery. Let's set the scene: The 7-Year Famine hits the nexus of the Ancient World. (Remember that '7' is the Biblical number-symbol for GOD's perfect-holiness.) 7 years prior, Joseph had provided GOD's wisdom to the king concerning his apocalyptic visions of the famine (legitimized by Joseph's having interpreted-by-GOD the dreams of the royal baker and the royal cup-bearer; let the reader understand). His reward: Joseph was made the Viceroy of all Egypt to prepare the empire for the famine. "Joseph was thirty years old when he entered service to the king." All peoples of the Earth came to Egypt- to Joseph, GOD's chosen, for bread. For 7 years, Egypt became Bethlehem, the center of the Cosmos from which GOD fed the world. We don't know if the king and all Egypt collectively converted to the worship of the one true GOD. But certainly such worship and Faith had free reign while Joseph and his family lived. This allowed the nation of Israel to explode in population for nearly four centuries. Right at the beginning of his Book-II, Moses makes sure we understand exactly what we are about to witness on a cosmic level. In the opening verses we see the picture of God's people— the Holy Church: Jacob and his 70 descendants. ('7' x '10'—the Biblical number-symbols of GOD's perfection and completion; with Jacob standing in as the Christ-type in this picture.) So the trap has been baited and Satan is the one caught by the neck; he has to strike. Following on the brief genealogy, we have the emphatic statement that, by this time, the king of Egypt no longer knows Joseph, a literary way of saying that he and his court is no longer deferent to the one true GOD as were previous Egyptian kings. Satan perceived what GOD was laying down with Joseph and the Famine, so he moves in on the land, certain he'd have a shot at eliminating the Seed of Woman. Thus Ancient Egypt collectively becomes a cathedral-capital of the contra-Church, now in league with the fallen Dragon-prince of Babel— the manifestation of the Kingdom of Hades on Earth. To back this up, Moses shows us the marks of this Babel-Church. The Deceiver-Prime has GOD's people in a slavery scenario building two idolatrous monument-cities; A Babel-redux, indeed. And how the Devil mocks his Divine Master: The two cities are dedicated to the Egyptian gods of Atum and Pharaoh; the former being the serpentine(!)-god of creating and uncreating, as well as the father of the pharaoh; the latter being the god-ruler of the Egyptian contra-Church believed to be incarnated as the kings and queens of that ancient people; the hell-twisted version of 'God the father' & 'God the son'. Although the text doesn't tell this directly, we can discern through Holy Wisdom that Satan has inspired the Egyptian king to place hard bondage upon Israel because he's inflamed fear and anxiety in the king that the Israelites will get so numerous they will cease to be a mere subculture; they will come to wield significant political and economic power (“...Joseph?!”); or worse, they will spark a coup and depose him entirely in alliance with the enemies of Egypt. But then the king says something a little odd: he reveals that he's afraid Israel will leave Egypt entirely. One would think this is exactly what the king would want. It may be that (and is likely) the Israelites have come to contribute to Egypt as an economic and political power in the ancient Middle East; that to lose them would create a significant void and reveal vulnerabilities so as to lead to collapse in one of these spheres, and maybe the ultimate destruction of Egypt. Pharaoh could have detailed, properly enough within the context, that he's afraid the Israelites will abandon/forsake them, and leave them to be (literally) "tilled under" by others (נָטַשׁ is the Hebrew root, two senses used by Moses in the four times he employs the word in the Pentateuch); full stop. But instead, Moses records him being ultimately concerned that Israel will "go up out of the land (עָלָה or alternately ascend)." This is the word Moses records concerning the Patriarchs as they move by God's command or allowance from region to region. So we can only conclude that, although it is the king speaking as Pharaoh, it is perhaps not his words per se, but those of the Arch-Foe; and the Devil is using God's verbiage, because his KING is living rent-free in his mind. Truly, the Promised Land is geographically above Egypt. Although it's unlikely he knows just what role the Promised Land will play in his chosen eternal destiny, Satan has no interest in Israel ascending there so he can find out. When Moses records that the rulers of Egypt "were in dread of the children of Israel" we can consider that this was quite literally true of the Devil's heart: he is the one in fear and anxiety summed up in dread, and it is coming out in the actions of Egypt's people against God's Chosen. In this Cosmic War, be revolutionary: have children, adopt children, encourage your fellow faithful Christians to the same, expand the ranks of the Ecclesia militans; the LORD will bless you, give the growth, and honor to your household before your community, and you will bless your congregation as we prepare to ascend to the New & Eternal Promised Land. +++ Quest Waypoint {Read Exodus 1-2}
Also in this series:
“Paladins: הַקְהֵל!”
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