A PERSPECTIVE

 

Many years ago when I was going through the darkest time of my life, I had a priesthood blessing from my Bishop during which he told me that my life was planned for me before I was born and that I agreed to that plan. Still, part of me did not fully accept that painful period or my life until a year ago when I gained a deeper perspective regarding the matter. It was revealed to me that because of the goal I had for myself in pre-earth life, an opportunity of self-sacrifice was offered to me as a means of becoming who I wanted to be and I took that choice. I agreed to a painful path for myself so that another can benefit from it.

I reflected on this yesterday because of the children of Israel who fell into Egyptian bondage  for 430 years. Before I expound on the relevance, here is how that servitude came about:

“And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.” (Exodus 1:6-8)

This new king was no doubt Egyptian and not of the Hyksos dynasty of Semitic people that Joseph governed Egypt  under (Old Testament Student Manual 1 p 103). The Egyptians hated Semitic people in their land and erased all mention of Joseph from their history, but one piece of evidence remains. Apparently, “they exaggerated their ‘successes’ and immortalized them on a stone slab of Merneptah, which in listing conquered peoples claims proudly: “Israel is laid waste and his seed is not.” (Jewish Antiquities, “The New Complete Works of Josephus” p 95)

Josephus tells us when the children of Israel came into Egypt they numbered no more than seventy souls (see also Genesis 46:27). By the time Jacob and Joseph died and the Egyptian king came to power, they numbered above 600,000. This frightened the Egyptians to the point of severe affliction of the Hebrews in an attempt to eradicate them (see Exodus 1:9-14).

Imagine 430 years of bondage. Imagine being born into it and dying in it. Imagine all you know of life is slavery, for yourself, your family, your ancestors….and you cannot see the end. One would wonder why would God allow this to go on for so long. This is where my theory of sacrifice comes in…..because there is an explanation. It would seem their servitude was a sacrifice that helped tremendously in developing and preserving their identity for the future generations:

Palestine was a battleground for warring nations…and Israel needed stable conditions to become a ‘peculiar people’ and this is how:  Firstly, the hatred that existed between the Hebrews and the Egyptians and the length of their trying servitude fused Jacob’s children into a united people; and secondly, Israel had to remain a pure race and the hatred between these two nations prevented intermarriage (otherwise the validity of the priesthood would have been compromised as the Egyptians were descendants of Cain and did not have the right to the  priesthood…see Abraham 1:21-27) (Mark Petersen, “Moses” pp 27-30, “Old Testament Student Manual” 1 p 103)

Both James Talmage and Bruce R. McConkie claimed that valiant spirits earned the privilege of being chosen before they were born to come to earth as members of the House of Israel (see “Articles of Faith” pp 193-94; “The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary”, 1:23)

I wondered if those valiant early members of the House of Israel chose to be born in Egypt for the purpose of building a strong House of Israel and its destiny. I rather think they understood the principle of self-sacrifice for the greater good of others and accepted this responsibility. I imagine the resilience and the survival of Israel over the course of history had its beginning in Egypt where the task masters of bondage built the strength of the tribe that could not be broken……the tribe that gave birth to the Lion of Judah…..and we know what HIS destiny was.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Saviour and King by Greg Collins)